Sepp Blatter President of FIFA
World football's governing body had its big chance today. But it blew it . The ball was at Fifa's feet. The global audience was gripped. The goal was gaping wide. At which point Fifa fell on its face. If an Arsenal or an Aston Villa player misses a chance in Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley, it will be described as a turning point. So it was with what happened in Zurich. The Cup final, though, is only a game. With apologies to Bill Shankly , Fifa's failure is far more important.
Fifa could have responded to the arrests of many of its top executives by showing that it grasps what has finally happened to the credibility of world football. If Fifa had got it, rather than continuing in denial, today would have seen Sepp Blatter step down, the 2018 and 2022 World Cups put on hold and an independent inquiry into Fifa's future set up. Instead, most of Fifa put its fingers firmly in its ears, with Mr Blatter eventually reselected for a fifth term , amid meaningless promises of internal reform and a determination to go ahead with the tournaments in Russia and Qatar. Judging by some remarks, including Mr Blatter's own, the conclusion that many delegates preferred to draw from this week's events is that they were a political conspiracy against Fifa.
The victory for the status quo nevertheless proves some political realities that cannot just be ignored. Mr Blatter survived because so many interests, not just his own, are bound into the system over which he presides. These interests go far beyond the kickbacks and corruption of individuals, important though that is. They include the national benefits to football in the developing nations, some of them large ones, that secure Mr Blatter's regime. They also include the huge commercial benefits that Fifa can promise to multinational sponsors of its golden goose, the World Cup .
These things are not going to change without a fight. So, to mix sporting metaphors, the ball is now firmly in the challengers' court. They must try to use this week's events to encourage and coordinate Fifa's multinational sponsors and television clients to turn the screw on the Blatter regime. But that will not be easily done.
In the end, it is hard to envisage a convincing transformation of Fifa without boycotts that are enforced and credible. Whether television companies, which provide more than half of Fifa's annual income of £822m, can be persuaded to boycott Fifa games and tournaments, above all the World Cup, must be very doubtful. The global public appetite for football is immense - it is at the root of Fifa's power. Commercial sponsors like Visa, Nike and Coca-Cola, which provide most of the rest of Fifa's income, may be another matter, with more to lose reputationally than the media, not least from Fifa-related boycotts of their own products.
The real issue, however, is whether sufficient national football associations and their publics are truly up for the fight, if the fight involves boycotting the World Cup and the revenues it generates. If they are, all well and good. Football is a sport in which club loyalty often dwarfs national loyalty among fans, and the big western clubs would undoubtedly see advantages in having more of their European players available in the close-seasons when World Cups are contested. But how resilient would public opinion be? In England, fans and the media like to insult Mr Blatter, but they like being in the World Cup too. The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish might also be nervous about their independent international football futures in the face of an anti-Fifa boycott.
Having it both ways may not be high-minded or noble. But human beings are conflicted and contradictory. In the ancient as in the modern world, gambling and graft have always been sporting competition's bedfellows. And sport from Pericles to Putin has always been shot through with politics too. Fifa spent part of today arguing about the expulsion of Israel, an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with sport and absolutely everything to do with politics. Mr Blatter's regime is rooted in political resentment of big countries as well as in the cash football generates. If we want international sport to represent our values, then we must be serious about what that would entail. Given football's grip on our culture, that all seems a bit optimistic.
Fifa could have responded to the arrests of many of its top executives by showing that it grasps what has finally happened to the credibility of world football. If Fifa had got it, rather than continuing in denial, today would have seen Sepp Blatter step down, the 2018 and 2022 World Cups put on hold and an independent inquiry into Fifa's future set up. Instead, most of Fifa put its fingers firmly in its ears, with Mr Blatter eventually reselected for a fifth term , amid meaningless promises of internal reform and a determination to go ahead with the tournaments in Russia and Qatar. Judging by some remarks, including Mr Blatter's own, the conclusion that many delegates preferred to draw from this week's events is that they were a political conspiracy against Fifa.
The victory for the status quo nevertheless proves some political realities that cannot just be ignored. Mr Blatter survived because so many interests, not just his own, are bound into the system over which he presides. These interests go far beyond the kickbacks and corruption of individuals, important though that is. They include the national benefits to football in the developing nations, some of them large ones, that secure Mr Blatter's regime. They also include the huge commercial benefits that Fifa can promise to multinational sponsors of its golden goose, the World Cup .
These things are not going to change without a fight. So, to mix sporting metaphors, the ball is now firmly in the challengers' court. They must try to use this week's events to encourage and coordinate Fifa's multinational sponsors and television clients to turn the screw on the Blatter regime. But that will not be easily done.
In the end, it is hard to envisage a convincing transformation of Fifa without boycotts that are enforced and credible. Whether television companies, which provide more than half of Fifa's annual income of £822m, can be persuaded to boycott Fifa games and tournaments, above all the World Cup, must be very doubtful. The global public appetite for football is immense - it is at the root of Fifa's power. Commercial sponsors like Visa, Nike and Coca-Cola, which provide most of the rest of Fifa's income, may be another matter, with more to lose reputationally than the media, not least from Fifa-related boycotts of their own products.
The real issue, however, is whether sufficient national football associations and their publics are truly up for the fight, if the fight involves boycotting the World Cup and the revenues it generates. If they are, all well and good. Football is a sport in which club loyalty often dwarfs national loyalty among fans, and the big western clubs would undoubtedly see advantages in having more of their European players available in the close-seasons when World Cups are contested. But how resilient would public opinion be? In England, fans and the media like to insult Mr Blatter, but they like being in the World Cup too. The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish might also be nervous about their independent international football futures in the face of an anti-Fifa boycott.
Having it both ways may not be high-minded or noble. But human beings are conflicted and contradictory. In the ancient as in the modern world, gambling and graft have always been sporting competition's bedfellows. And sport from Pericles to Putin has always been shot through with politics too. Fifa spent part of today arguing about the expulsion of Israel, an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with sport and absolutely everything to do with politics. Mr Blatter's regime is rooted in political resentment of big countries as well as in the cash football generates. If we want international sport to represent our values, then we must be serious about what that would entail. Given football's grip on our culture, that all seems a bit optimistic.
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