The County of Tourism Turkey

Turkey can be called a country of tourism as it is full of archaeological and historical sites worth of seeing, is situated on the coastline of two seas and is rich in seaside resorts along its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts. In the recent years, this country is becoming a popular place of interest, as it is a famous SPA and health care centre. Turkey's largest city, Istanbul derives a number of major attractions from its huge historical status as the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Today Istanbul is also one of the biggest shopping centers of European trade with such places like Metrocity, Akmerkez and Cevahir Mall (the biggest malls in Europe and 2nd largest shopping center in the world). Major cultural and historical attractions of the country include such sites as Troy, Pergamon, House of Virgin Mary, Pamukkale, Konya, religious places in Mardin, and the ruined sceneries of Cappadocia. Most beach resorts that are central for tourism industry are located along the southwestern and southern coast of the Aegean and Mediterranean, especially along the coast of the latter near Antalya. Antalya is also considered the tourism capital of Turkey. Main resort towns include Bodrum, Fethiye, Marmaris, Didim and Alanya. Tourist arrivals increased considerably during 2002-2005, which helped Turkey to become a top-10 destination for foreign visitors and the top-10 biggest revenue owners in the world.

Coach of the Year

FIFA is pleased to announce two new awards for this year: FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s and Women's Football. Apart from the obvious technical and tactical qualities required to earn this prestigious accolade, the other, straightforward selection criteria are as follows: 

• Coaches of national teams or professional clubs can be considered
• Men and women are eligible to win in either category

National team coaches and captains, as well as journalists from all over the world, voted for who they believed to be the most worthy candidate in each category.

The shortlist of three men and three women nominated for the Coach of the Year were revealed on 6 December 2010. Check their names and profiles below.

Shortlist for FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football (in alphabetical order)Del Bosque, Vicente - Spain - Spain national team
Guardiola, Pep - Spain - FC Barcelona
Mourinho, Jose - Portugal - FC Internazionale Milano/Real Madrid CF

Shortlist for FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's football (in alphabetical order)Meinert, Maren - Germany - Germany U-20 national team
Neid, Silvia - Germany - Germany national team
Sundhage, Pia - Sweden - USA national team

Nominees announced for FIFA Ballon d’Or gala 2010

The contenders for this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the best player of 2010 and for the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year 2010 award were announced on Monday during a press conference held at the headquarters of the sports daily L’Equipe in Paris, in which Jérôme Valcke, FIFA Secretary General, François Morinière, CEO of France Football, Jean-Pierre Papin, a former winner of the Ballon d’Or, and Christian Karembeu, a member of FIFA’s Football Committee, took part.

In alphabetical order, the male nominees are Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Xavi (Spain), while Fatmire Bajramaj (Germany), Marta (Brazil) and Birgit Prinz (Germany) will contest the women’s award.

The candidates for the newly created FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football award were also announced. The contenders are the following: Vicente del Bosque (Spain/Spanish national team), Pep Guardiola (Spain/FC Barcelona) and José Mourinho (Portugal/FC Internazionale and Real Madrid CF) in the men’s category, and Maren Meinert (Germany/German U-20 national team) Silvia Neid (Germany/German national team) and Pia Sundhage (Sweden/USA national team) in the women’s category.

All of these nominees were confirmed after a poll in which the captains and head coaches of the men’s and women’s national teams as well as international media representatives selected by France Football voted for candidates. The votes from each of the three groups counted for one-third to obtain the final result.

The winners will be revealed at the first FIFA Ballon d’Or gala as part of a televised ceremony at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 10 January 2011, during which the FIFA FIFPro World XI and the FIFA Puskás Award for the most beautiful goal of the year will also be announced for the second year running. The online vote for fans on FIFA.com for the FIFA Puskás Award has now reached the 1 million vote landmark, with one week to go until the poll closes at noon CET on 13 December. The FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented during the gala.