Ghana made history, as did Egypt, after winning the FIFA U20 World Cup. Inas Mazhar reports Ghana's young men made history for themselves and host nation Egypt. 16 October witnessed the first time in history an African team had won the U20 World Cup, the world's second biggest FIFA tournament, and where else but on African soil. It was arguably the most significant moment for the continent. Before the tournament kicked off, the Local Organising Committee chose "History is hosting" as its slogan and it came true. Confirmation came from FIFA.com which described Egypt as a country which is not new to history. Indeed, it is a country known for making history. "This is a nation built on, and made legendary by, the extraordinary achievements of an ancient civilisation. It should hardly come as a surprise, therefore, that Egypt's hosting of the FIFA U20 World Cup should bring about of a new chapter of football history." In this 17th edition of the FIFA U20 World Cup, records were broken and replaced by new ones; the most goals and the most spectators. There were also impressive and talented players joining the likes of Maradona, Messi and Henry who played in previous U20 tournaments. Ghana were the team to inscribe their name in folklore, and worthy winners they were, too. Led by the tournament's top scorer and outstanding player, Dominic Adiyiah, the Black Satellites combined strength and skill to devastating effect, scoring 16 times en route to the final. Even when the goals finally dried up in the final match against Brazil, Sellas Tetteh's side merely took that as the signal to display another essential attribute of champions: character. In Cairo International Stadium, Ghana beat mighty Brazil 4-3 on penalty kicks after 120 minutes of scoreless football and with Ghana playing with 10 men starting at the end of the first half. It took the lottery of penalty kicks to deny four-time champions Brazil the title and some will sympathise with Brazilian player Giuliano who, while praising Ghana, suggested after the final that the better team had lost. Nonetheless, the Brazil No 10, winner of the adidas Bronze Ball, was one of several impressive performers for A Seleç�o, with the likes of Alex Teixeira, Alan Kardec and Douglas all suggesting that they will be knocking on Dunga's door before long. Egyptians, who love Brazilian football, found themselves caught between who to cheer for but eventually settled on their African brethren. Egyptians remembered Ghana's support for Egypt when it won the 2008 Africa Nations Cup in Ghana and sought to repay the favour. A new record tally of 167 goals was achieved in Egypt 2009, surpassing the tournament's previous benchmark of 165 from Malaysia 1997. With 1,295,586 supporters clicking through the turnstiles with an average attendance of 24,915 per match., they too made history, comfortably outstripping the previous record attendance of 1,195,239 set at Canada 2007. Organisers were worried when the Egyptian team bowed out in round 16 and indeed in the following matches their worries were confirmed when Cairo Stadium attracted a mere trickle of supporters. The exit of Arab sister country the UAE in the quarter-finals did not help but the qualification of Ghana to the semi-finals brought the spectators back. FIFA described the event as 'a tournament of surprises' on its website. "If Tetteh's Black Satellites were the stars of the show, the supporting cast was almost as impressive." It was a tournament of surprises. Few would have guessed when the tournament started, for example, that the semi- final line-up would be completed by Costa Rica and Hungary. "The fact that these sides began their campaigns by losing 5-0 and 3-0 to Brazil and Honduras respectively only made their progress all the more remarkable." Added FIFA.com: "Many records were broken in Egypt and the organisers did very well. This is the most outstanding event in the history of the tournament." Egypt's LOC chairman Hani Abou Rida was happy with the feedback but added, "It was also the tournament that set new records in the number of yellow and red cards. We had hoped it would show more fair play and we could have broken this record as well." Hungary, led by their superb captain, Vladimir Koman, also needed penalties to edge Costa Rica -- Los Ticos -- in the battle for bronze, although a place on the podium was probably the least they deserved for their efforts over the course of the tournament. The Central Americans, meanwhile, head for home with their reputation enhanced by some superb performances from the likes of Diego Estrada, Esteban Alvarado and Josue Martinez, most notably in their last 16 triumph over the hosts. Alvarado was named the tournament's best goalkeeper. At the end of such a successful tournament, it's only fitting that the final word should go to its star. He might have fired his team to the title, become the third- top scorer in the tournament's history and been rewarded with the adidas Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, but Adiyiah was focused solely on the future. "I'm not going to rest on this," he told FIFA.com. "I'm following in the footsteps of the likes of Messi, Saviola and Aguero and I want to emulate their careers -- and I'll work hard to do that. I'm preparing to get to the top." The world will be watching Adiyiah's rise, and the ascent of his fellow Egypt players, with great interest. In Cairo for the U20 final, FIFA President Joseph Blatter inaugurated two football projects: the second FIFA Goal project and a new football turf pitch put down as part of FIFA's Win in Africa with Africa initiative. FIFA has supported 386 Goal projects around the world, each of them worth $400,000, mainly to build technical centres, football facilities and headquarters for its member associations. The continent with the most completed projects is Africa, with 114. The Win in Africa with Africa programme was unveiled in July 2006 and is focused on ensuring that the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa will have a long-lasting effect on the entire African continent. The programme's overall budget is $70 million and includes various initiatives in football development, health promotion and education, each designed to provide Africa with the tools to enhance its own development. One of the initiatives is a football turf pitches in each of the African member associations (44 have already been completed, including the one in Cairo, and eight more are under construction). Blatter also launched the second edition of the FIFA/CIES Programme of sport management with Cairo University. The programme, whose courses start on 6 December, enables people from various professional and sporting horizons to familiarise themselves with modern management tools in key areas such as marketing, law, management, sponsoring, communication, finances and event management. Adapted to regional and national realities, it also offers the opportunity to attend lectures given by international FIFA/CIES experts. Egypt has come across a number of public sports events on the global level where the performance of national sports institutions ranged widely from astounding success at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 to great setbacks in failing in its bid to host the 2010 World Cup in Africa. These extremes of sports events performance cases have helped shed light on the importance of breeding management specialists and professionals in business areas including sports marketing, sports events management, human resources management in sports, sports finance and sponsorships, and performance management and corporate governance at sports institutions. Founded in 1908, Cairo University is one of the oldest and most prestigious academies in Africa. Based on a European model, it was and still is the main liberally-minded university in Egypt. Situated in Giza, the university has more than 200,000 students in more than 25 faculties and institutes. The planned degree programme duration is one academic year and the study plan and structure is as follows: Sport Management, Sport Marketing, Sport Finance, Sport Event Management, Sport Communications and Sport Law.
