According to Norte Desportivo Macau will host, in August 2006, the first edition of the CPLP games.

The Olympic Games of the Official Portuguese Language committe will include also futsal, even if only in the male tournament.

These nations will take part in the CPLP Games in Macau 2006:

Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé e Príncipe, East Timor and Equatorial Guinea

Delegations of the Association of the Portuguese Speaking Olympic Committees (ACOLOP) gather in Macau today for the General Assembly of ACOLOP to be held on 17 July. There will be Signing Ceremony of co-operation agreement between the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe and Macau Olympic Committee.

The General Assembly of ACOLOP will be held at MEAGOC's Headquarters at 10:00 on 17 July. Issues about the 1st ACOLOP Games held next year will be discussed in the meeting. ACOLOP Games Organising Commission will conven the delegations at Hyatt Hotel tonight. The Signing Ceremony of co-operation agreement of the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe and Macau Olympic Committee will be held before the gala dinner.
The delegations will visit some sports venues and the Embassy of Portugal in Macao, and meet chairman of European Committee Durão José Barroso in the afternoon as well as having dinner with representatives of Portuguese community in Macao. They will officially visit Chief Executive of Macao SAR Government Edmund Ho Hau Wah at the Macao SAR Government Headquarters in the Monday morning and attend the Inauguration Ceremony of Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre and test events of Dragon Boat and Rowing in the afternoon.

The Association of the Portuguese Speaking Olympic Committees was established in Portugal on the 8th of June. Its purpose is to build up a system to stimulate through sport the cooperation between the Portuguese Speaking countries and regions. Newly elected office bearers were Vicente Moura (President of Portugal Olympic Committee) as President, Manuel Silvério (1st Vice President of Macau Olympic Committee) as Vice President and Rogério da Silva (President of Angola Olympic Committee) as Secretary General.
The Association's founding members include Portugal, China Macau, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissa, Cape Verde, Brazil, East Timor, São Tome and Príncipe, and Equatorial Guinea which is an associate-member country.
In the constitutional assembly, it was agreed that the 1st Games of the Association of the Portuguese Speaking Olympic Committees would be held in Macao in 2006. The dates for the Games and detailed information about the Games will be developed by Macao.

At the ACOLOP General Assembly on 17 July, several resolutions were approved, including the official name of the Games ¡V Lusofonia Games (Jogos da Lusofonia), the Emblem and Mascot, the numbers of the athletes and medals, as well as sports venues arrangements.

Chairman of the General Assembly President of ACOLOP and Portugal Olympic Committee Vicente Moura expressed gratitude to the 1st ACOLOP Games Organising Commission and Macao Olympic Committee for the warm reception. He looks forward to promote the preparations for the Games through discussions.

Chairman of the Organising Commission Manuel Silvério also thanked the attendees' support and presence in the meeting.

"The Macau SAR Government has accepted our Organising Commission suggestion that the hardware and human resources of the 4th East Asian Games will be applied in the 1st Lusofonia Games. In the Shareholders Meeting of the Macao 2nd Asian Indoor Games Organising Committee (MAIGOC) Limited held in 2004, MAIGOC was approved to organise the preparations for the Games and can utilise the available resources in cooperation with the Portuguese Speaking Olympic Committees, as to host the 1st Lusofonia Games successfully" said Manuel Silvério.

During the Assembly, all members approved the official name of the Games ¡V Lusofonia Games, the Mascot and the Emblem, of which the colour is yet to be approved. It was announced that the Games will be hosted in October next year in Macau. The actual hosting dates of the Games will be decided by the Organising Commission and to be announced to ACOLOP members within six months. Seven sports will be held during the Games, including Football, Futsal, Athletics, Table Tennis, Beach Volleyball, Taekwondo and Basketball.

The suggestion to include Volleyball in the sports program will be further discussed for approval. A total of 147 medals in the 46 events, including 46 gold, 46 silver and 55 bronze will be awarded. It is estimated that there will be approximately 1,300 athletes and more than 300 technicians arriving in Macau. As with regards to the limitation in age for the Football players, the Organising Commission basically agrees to comply to the Under 23 standard. However, the issue will be coordinated with Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for a final resolution.

Five to seven venues will be use as competition venues for the Games, they are: Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion, Macau Stadium, Macau Stadium Pavilion, the Arena and the Theatre of Macau East Asian Games Dome, Macao University of Science and Technology Football field and other available training venues. The venues for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are yet to be approved.

Attendees believed that the 1st Lusofonia Games will set an example for future Games, and in consideration of its well development, members of the ACOLOP are required to dispatch Olympic athletes to take part in the Games.

In the afternoon, the attendees visited sports venues and later attended a gala dinner with representatives of the local Portuguese community. A booth for the 1st Lusofonia Games volunteer recruitment was set at the scene for registration of volunteering work in hospitality, linguistics service and competition.

During the meeting with ACOLOP members at the official residence of the Consulate of Portugal in Macau, President of European Commission Mr. José Manuel Durão Barroso in his Macao trip was introduced to the progress preparations of the Lusofonia Games by President of Portugal Olympic Committee Vicente Moura and 1st Vice President of Macao Olympic Committee Manuel Silvério. In an interview with Lusa News Agency, José Manuel Durão Barroso said he is glad to see the cooperation between all Portuguese Speaking Olympic Committees which will establish communications and exchanges of the Portuguese Speaking countries and regions with China through sports. He is also happy that the Lusofonia Games will be hosted in Macau October next year.

All the Olympic Committees agreed to "send, before the end of December, the number of athletes who will came to Macau," explained the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the 1st Lusofonia Games Organizing Committee, Manuel Silvério, at ACOLOP's Extraordinary General Assembly, held today, in Macau. "Only with an idea of the number of athletes who will attend can the Organizing Committee start preparing for the Games," he explained.

In accordance with the provisional data provided at the General Assembly, 1,500 athletes and 400 officials from the 10 Portuguese-speaking NOCs will be in Macau. Portugal, Macau and Brazil will field the most athletes - about 240 - and S. Tome and Prince the smallest delegation of about 40.

The Portuguese Official Language Olympic Committee Association comprises of Macau, Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape-Verde, East Timor and S. Tomé and Prince, and Equatorial Guinea as an associate member. The first Lusofonia Games, between 7 and 15 of October 2006, will be held in a month that Macau will dedicate to the Portuguese language with the accomplishment of diverse cultural and sports events, like soccer, futsal, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, basketball, taekwondo, table tennis and athletics.

The president of the executive committee of the Portuguese Official Language Olympic Committees Association (ACOLOP), Vicente Moura, said that the games date was defined and that volleyball would have both beach and indoor versions.

During the meeting it was decided to nominate two members - Rogério da Silva, from Angola, and João Carrascalão, from East Timor - to support the organizing committee for the first games of the association that is led by Manuel Silvério.

Vicente Moura underlined the importance for ACOLOP associates to be represented at the highest level in Macau in 2006, "the reason why the Olympic committees already had started to work with the involved federations, so that the games will be integrated in the annual competitions calendar."

The first Lusofonia Games will be a great event!

Macau, Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape-Verde, East Timor, S. Tomé and Prince, and Equatorial Guinea is a powerful entry list!

http://juventude.gov.pt/NR/rdonlyres/E5A0864A-D81B-446A-8D72-1171D6C7AA8F/1728/9BB31595573247F6B282122C998B31F21.gif

http://www.lusa.pt/html/acolop/acolop.htm :)

^ oh. what an envy. i hope the CPLP and the Hispanomundo join together. so that Macau and Timor Leste can play with Filipinas in Asia. Iberomundo, vamos!

Buena suerte a los Juegos Lusofonos!