Reward, suspensions and no hope

Sam Schweingruber picks up the AFC Asia Dream NGO award

Phnom Penh Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber was a speaker at last week's Sports for Development 2014 Conference in Ho Chi Minh City and at the same time was on hand to receive the prestigious AFC Asia Dream NGO Award on behalf of the SALT Academy, an NGO that he founded in Battambang a few years ago and for which he is still a director. He collected the award from AFC General Secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay and commented: “We started with a very small set up and continued to grow with the help of friends. It’s really good to see that the news of our good work has reached AFC and we feel honoured to receive this award. It is really a proud moment to be an NGO of the year and this recognition will surely boost our morale.” A really fabulous achievement for an NGO in northwest Cambodia to receive an award that spans the whole of Asian football. It doesn't get much bigger than this. Well done to SALT and their Mighty Girls, who already have a very close bond with PPCFC.

How remiss of me not to mention the recent announcement by the football federation that they have suspended 3 players from national and domestic football, as a result of an investigation into their activities. Okay, the federation have forgotten to say what those activities were, but the 3 players have been banned from the national team for a year and from domestic league football for six months. It all began when the federation president stopped 4 players and the team manager from travelling to the SEA Games in December, indicating they'd brought dishonour to the team. Six months later comes the verdict. The players who've been suspended are Cambodia national team regulars, Boeung Ket skipper Keo Sokngon, Naga's Sok Rithy and Svay Rieng's Tum Saray. They won't kick a ball in anger for at least six months. Police's Say Piseth and the national team manager are unscathed and their names haven't even been mentioned in the announcement. I think that's the last we will hear of it, unless the federation feel inclined to say more. Which they won't. It's now a closed chapter. And of course not a peep from the head coach on the matter, even though he's lost three important players ahead of October's qualifying rounds of the AFF Suzuki Cup.

The Korean coach of the Cambodia national team has selected 24 players to get together for training in order to see who will represent their country at the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy to be held in Brunei in August. The competition is at U-21 level with a few over-age players thrown in. Three Phnom Penh Crown players have been invited to the training sessions, Thourng Da, Ngoy Srin and Touch Sokheng. 

This week two teams from Cambodia will take part in the RHB Singapore Cup. C-League reigning champions Svay Rieng meet Albirex Niigata later today, who are one of the top teams in Singapore, they finished 2nd last term and their team consists of all-Japanese players. NagaCorp also put their names down and got into the competition, and they will come up against Home United on Friday, the current holders of the Singapore Cup. I don't hold out any hope that the Cambodian teams will get through these one-off matches. The two Singapore sides are currently in their league's top five places. So no hope at all. If they do, I'll eat a whole Burger King Whopper, and chips.

Community engagement

PPCFC players and schoolboys enjoying their afternoon

Phnom Penh Crown undertook their latest community engagement project at 3G this afternoon, as they joined forces with Chevrolet and SALT Academy to officially launch the One World Futbol into Cambodia. Its the second event they've held but this was the 'official' one - which will see Chevrolet donate 5,800 of these nearly indestructible futbols to schools and organisations around Cambodia, including 15 schools in Phnom Penh. The distribution of the futbols will be through Crown and the SALT Academy, who operate out of Battambang. For today's event, two elementary schools in Phnom Penh supplied 80 young boys to play with the futbols, aided and abetted by the whole of the Phnom Penh Crown senior squad. After the press conference, the boys got down to playing the games and prizes were awarded to the top five teams in each of the two groups. Everyone had fun thanks to the organisation by the Crown staff and the local Chevrolet dealership.

One World Futbol & PPCFC

The One World Futbol - photo by Bob Guerrero

The One World Futbol Project and Chevrolet joined forces with Phnom Penh Crown and SALT Academy to launch the One World Futbol into Cambodia today. The RSN Stadium was a hive of activity this morning as Phnom Penh Crown hosted a Football Festival and the launch of the One World Futbol Project in association with Chevrolet, here in Cambodia. A fantastic initiative designed to bring football and fun into millions of lives through a remarkable invention, the One World Futbol. With partners Chevrolet donating 5,800 of these indestructible balls to Cambodia, Crown and our great friends from the SALT Academy are joining forces to take these futbols around the country.

Today was the first step and 150 young children, mostly boys and some girls too, had a lot of fun with the Crown senior players, Academy and coaching staff at the club's training ground to kick it off. A massive thanks to the One World Project and Chevrolet for their partnership to bring joy to disadvantaged children all over the world, and especially here in Cambodia.

One of the world's largest car brands, Chevrolet have donated 1.5 million virtually indestructible footballs to children living in communities affected by war, natural disasters and extreme poverty. More than half a million children in 137 countries have so far benefited from the project in the last three years and now Cambodia is joining the list, with Chevrolet donating 5,800 One World Futbols all over the country through a partnership with Phnom Penh Crown and the SALT Academy.
The One World Futbol never goes flat and never needs a pump. The balls are made from a rugged material that cannot be punctured or crushed. Whether for use on the street, at the beach, at home or on the roughest landscapes in the world, the One World Futbol will last for years.

Taking part in today's football festival were teams from PSE, COLT, Prek Pra, Tiklork and others. All enjoyed playing with these fantastic One World Futbols and more mini-festivals will be held throughout March and April to distribute the balls around the country. Phnom Penh Crown and the SALT Academy are proud to be associated with this project where play and sport are used to foster social change.

Panha and his dreams

Sok Panha is looking to the future

There are many hardship stories in Cambodia. It's a country that you can find them wherever you turn. And Phnom Penh Crown football club is no different. Take the example of one of the newest members of the club's youth Academy, Sok Panha. Born in October 2000, the young midfield-cum-striker was just a month old when his mother left him with his grandfather in their Battambang home, to go and work in Thailand. He has seen her just twice since that time. Panha's father remained in Battambang but was out of a job and was a drug-user, whilst his grandfather was sick and confined to bed. Realising that Panha needed help, his grandfather asked Children's Future International, a non-government organisation in the city, to support the boy's education. For the first time, Panha was able to attend school regularly, in grade 5, and was learning Khmer literature, English and computer studies. He also discovered a love for football, when CFI put a team into the league organised by the SALT Academy in Battambang. And that was when Panha really started to shine. His team were well placed at a couple of tournaments and his own potential was quickly spotted. He was invited by Bouy Dary to try out for the Cambodia national team with U-14 tournaments in Thailand and Myanmar on the horizon and he made the team.

After the squad returned from Myanmar, Panha was invited to join the Crown Academy on a permanent basis, where he now plays football every morning and attends Sovannaphumi School, studying in grade 8, and has hopes to go onto university to study English, his favourite subject, as well as Maths, Physics and Chemistry. The youngster said; "I really wanted to play when I first saw kids playing, as it looked fun and you can make a lot of friends. So I started playing for fun but now I want to work hard to make football my future career." He also has dreams of furthering that career by following in the footsteps of his Academy coach Dary. "I want to be like him. He knows English and he can bring national teams to play in many countries. I really wish to be like him one day in the future." But Panha's story isn't one without heartache. His father died just three months ago, and just twenty days later his beloved grandfather passed away too. It was a very difficult time for the youngster, but he remains positive at the direction his life has now taken, with his teammates giving him a lot of support, his schoolwork continuing to improve and his dreams of becoming a professional footballer taking shape.

The Prince cometh

HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan

Red hot news. The vice president of FIFA and the main man responsible for Asia at the governing body of world football, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, will be in Phnom Penh on Sunday. We will try to get him to drop by the Phnom Penh Crown Open Day we are holding that afternoon, if his schedule permits. If not, then he will still be officially opening the new Cambodia Football Development League for youths at U12/U14/U16 levels that kicks-off at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday morning. Matches will start at 8.30am, the opening ceremony will be at 10am with the Prince speaking. The next morning he flies to Battambang for the main focus of his visit to the country, as his Asian Football Development Project sponsors the Mighty Girls program in the second city, part of the ultra-successful SALT Academy that Crown head coach Sam Schweingruber began six years ago. The Prince will return to Phnom Penh and host a press conference on Tuesday morning at Raffles Le Royal Hotel before flying to Bhutan for the next leg of his trip. To get someone as influential in world and Asian football as he is, to visit Cambodia supporting grassroots and women's football, is a major development and cannot be understated. He is the youngest member of FIFA's senior hierarchy, still in his mid-30s, and the man charged with fair play and social responsibility, most recently championing the lifting of FIFA's ban on the wearing of the hijab in women's football.

Conference call

PPCFC president Rithy Samnang addresses the assembled press corps

It's been a week since Phnom Penh Crown held their press conference to announce the installation of Sam Schweingruber as their new head coach. The Swiss national has been in Taiwan for a few days with one of his girls from the SALT Academy programme that he's been in charge of for the past six years, attending a conference on promoting the rights of young girls in Asia. At the end of this month he'll be heading to the prestigious Peace & Sport Awards 2012 in Sochi in Russia, where SALT are shortlisted for the NGO of the Year. In the meantime, starting tomorrow, Crown will hold three days of open trials for potential new recruits, where Sam and his coaching team will be running the rule over a group of hopefuls with dreams of joining the Crown squad for the coming season. You may recall that nine players were selected from similar open trials last season and most of them went onto play at some point in the Metfone C-League season. 855 Media Group, owners of the 855 Sport & Lifestyle Magazine, were at last week's press conference with their camera in hand, as these photos show.

The top table with coach (Sam Schweingruber), president (Rithy Samnang) and press officer (Andy Brouwer)

Head coach Sam Schweingruber listens to the question

The new PPCFC coach answers in fluent Khmer

PPCFC's press officer (right) asks for more questions

The coach waiting to offer up his view of the future at PPCFC

Rithy Samnang responds to a question with the press officer nearby

The new head coach with his staff. LtoR: Bouy Dary, Sam Schweingruber, Prak Vanny, Kao Kiry

Equity Weekly on football

This YouTube video has a 30-minute opening slot on the state of football in Cambodia, both at senior, grassroots and youth level. It's part of a programme from Equity Weekly that was first broadcast at the very end of last year. Fortunately, there's a subtitled translation into English. For more information about the great work of the SALT Academy in Battambang, click here.