International seminar on Professional and Grassroots Sports and Development, Sponsorship and Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia The first edition of the Asian Forum on Sports Innovation held in Indonesia was concluded the day after the historic victory of Iraq over Saudi Arabia in the final of the Asian Cup, also held in Jakarta. Forum speakers attending the game were warmly greeted by

England football great Bobby Charlton is touring the South East Asian nation of Cambodia as part of a mission to raise awareness for the country's continuing land mine problem. An estimated 4-6 million mines and other pieces of unexploded ordinance remain buried in Cambodia after more than three decades of armed conflict. "We are going to try to teach young people how to recognise the dangerous

Six Villages for 2006, the official charity campaign of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, is continuing to go from strength to strength. Box office takings for Sonke Wörtmann's Germany – a summer fairy tale documentary have now raised more than three million euros for the joint SOS Children's Villages International and FIFA campaign. Ahead of the EURO 2008 qualifier between Germany and Slovakia, SOS

The Football for Hope movement is the key element of a strategic alliance, led by FIFA in its capacity as world football's governing body and streetfootballworld as the driving force behind a global network of non-governmental organisations, developing projects on the ground, in which football is the common denominator. The movement already uses the power of football to support more than 60

The United States military reportedly issued a statement regreting it had handed out soccer balls emblazoned with the name of Allah as part of a public relations exercise in Afghanistan. At least one of the balls - which were dropped by helicopter to children in Khost province in eastern Afghanistan - carried a small picture of the Saudi Arabian flag.

A signed pair of Lionel Messi's boots have been sold for 4,000 euros at an auction in Beijing during Spanish Primera Liga club Barcelona's commercial tour of Asia, Spanish media reported. They were the boots the Argentina forward wore when he scored a goal for Barcelona in the King's Cup semi-final first leg against Getafe in April. Other items of Barca memorabilia auctioned included the shirt

English Premier League clubs have launched a new initiative to increase their support for community projects and charities. From research by Deloitte the ‘creating chances' enterprise will increase clubs' spending on community issues to £122 million next season representing a 50 percent increase since the last research was taken in 2003. The central part of the scheme is entitled ‘Places for