Futsal On-Line

Beceiro Acknowledges Postponement of KL World 5s

KUALA LUMPUR (5-13-04) - Victor Beceiro, director of
futsal operations for FIFA, acknowledged that the
Kuala Lumpur World 5s Futsal Tournament has been
postponed, due primarily to the arrival of a new
sports minister in Indonesia.

The new government official has "legitimate needs to
understand what is going on around her area and the
financial commitmentments engaged by her predecessor,"
Beceiro said in a statement distributed on the
Internet.

He added that the KL 5s "will keep having all the
support of our community so that the current Malaysian
authorities fully understand the positive impact of
this tournament for their country in the sporting,
social, youth, tourism and financial fields."

(Photo: Victor Beceiro.)

Beceiro noted that the tournament was staged for
several years in Singapore, and once it moved to
Malaysia it "did not only keep its values and interest
but improved them."

The FIFA official issued the statement in response to
a report posted on Futsal Planet that the second
edition of the KL World 5s would not be organized.

"This edition was supposed to start in the beginning
of June," he said. "A change in the Malaysian
government, with the substitution of the sports
minister, should be the cause of this bad news for
International Futsal. We'll keep you updated on the
next news about the KL World 5s."

Beceiro remained optimistic that a way would be found
to stage the tournament.

"Futsal is stronger than ever and ESPNStar Sports
officials and Futsal deserve all our support," he
said. "I will be stating officially which is my
position and view on the future of futsal and it will
be done through Futsal Planet. In the meantime, I
would like to ask you to prove our respect and
gratitude to (KL 5s organizers) Richard Young and
Daniel Metcalfe for their constant efforts for Futsal.
We all have so many international projects to develop
together that we need to stick to each other without
any hesitation."

Futsal On-Line





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