FIFA’s mission is to bring football to the world, especially those regions flush with fossil fuel wealth and conveniently lax ethical standards. Mired by multiple scandals, FIFA delegates voted to bring the game’s talents to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. The fishy choices resonate with the mantra that will be Sepp Blatter’s enduring legacy, “Straight Cash, Homie.”
The process is a corrupt political system with no accountability. Cash exchanges are made. Distinguished politicians and future kings are forced to kowtow before fat, despicable FIFA bureaucrats. Regardless of the result the whole thing is shameful and disgusting. England and the United States had the best stadiums, the most stable infrastructure and would have been the most profitable. Both earned a perfect 100% rating from a consulting firm. They lost out to Russia (86%) and Qatar (70%). Both countries were the most practical choices, but that may not have been a compelling selling point.
So with the World Cup NOT to be held in England I was not so concerned that we didn’t actually secure the competition. I mean it is probably a financial burden best left for others to deal with. However it was brought to my attention earlier today that someone did get a big bonus payout based on the host of the 2022 World Cup. Now obviously England were not involved in this selection in the final run up but it does raise questions about where money ruining football is justified. It was reported today that former French footballer, Zinedine Zidane, (yes the head-butt guy!) was due to get $15million if Qatar did actually get the ‘22 Cup.
Qatar is a small country, but an exceedingly wealthy one. Though, the slavery and human trafficking should be a concern. The heat is an issue with the average temperature that time of year is 106 degrees, meaning it could get as high as 130 on the field. However, Qatar will be constructing all new stadiums for the event, with sophisticated air conditioning systems. The government has also confirmed it will allow alcohol and, despite not recognizing Israel, would treat them as any other team if they qualified. But Zidane is a small fish in a big pond, the real Prince of the Paper bag is Sepp Blatter.
Blatter has a long and varied employment history including posts such as Head of Public Relations of the Valaisan Tourist Board in his native Switzerland, as well as General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. He was Director of Sports Timing and Relations of Longines S.A. and was involved in the organization of the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. In the early 1970s, Blatter was elected president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders, an organisation which tried to stop women replacing suspender belts with pantyhose.
Since 1975 Blatter has been working at FIFA, first as Technical Director (1975–1981), then General Secretary (1981–1998) before his election as FIFA President in 1998. He was re-elected as head of FIFA in 2002 and was re-elected unopposed for another four years on 31 May 2007 even though only 66 of 207 FIFA members nominated him. Sepp Blatter sought another term as FIFA president in December 2009 and was elected once more.
Sepp Blatter's 1998 election to the presidency of FIFA over UEFA President Lennart Johansson occurred amidst much controversy. His 2002 candidacy has been marked with rumours of financial irregularities and backroom dealings, culminating with direct accusations of bribery, by a third party, made in the British press by Farra Ado, vice-president of the Confederation of African Football and president of the Somali Football Federation, who claimed to have been offered $100,000 to vote for Blatter in 1998.
Amidst internal divisions, FIFA's secretary-general Blatter's deputy and former protégé, Michel Zen-Ruffinen drew up a 30-page dossier outlining allegations of financial mismanagement within the organisation. The dossier alleged that the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner ISL had led to losses of up to $100m under Blatter's management. The allegations were backed by Johansson, and the dossier was handed to the Swiss authorities, but they cleared Blatter of any wrong doing and FIFA had to pay all the costs. An internal investigation within FIFA was halted by Blatter because members of it broke confidentiality agreements. This questionable behaviour led him to remove Zen-Ruffinen from office immediately before the FIFA World Cup 2002.
After a controversial second-round match in the 2006 World Cup between Portugal and the Netherlands, which saw referee Valentin Ivanov issuing a record 16 yellow cards and four red cards, Blatter lambasted the officiating, and said that Ivanov should have given himself a yellow card for his poor performance as a referee. However he later regretted his words and promised to officially apologise to Ivanov. This apology was never given, and the referee was removed from further officiating.
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup final in Germany, Blatter's absence during the prize-podium event was noted and criticized in international media. It was claimed that the reason Blatter did not attend was because he was upset that Italy won instead of France. Blatter later apologised and said the reason he had shunned the presentation ceremony was because he was afraid of being whistled.
Blatter publicly laughed at a request by the Football Association of Ireland that Ireland be the 33rd entrant following a controversial hand ball incident in their qualification. Ireland had been drawn against France after a highly controversial seeding system was put into place. This seemed to favour higher ranked teams and Blatter's very late decision to implement it was seen by many as a last ditch attempt to ensure that the higher ranked teams went through. Ireland had lost the first leg 1-0. However, during the second leg, with Ireland leading 1-0 and minutes to go, Thierry Henry used his hand twice to control the ball in the penalty area and deliver a pass to William Gallas for an easy goal.
The criticism attracted by Blatter's refusal to allow goal-line technology or video replays intensified following the controversial Lampard disallowed goal in the match between England and Germany on 27 June 2010. Two days later, Blatter stated that he deplored the "evident referee mistakes" in the England v Germany and Mexico v Argentina matches, and apologised to the English Football Association and the Mexican Football Federation (the two organizations directly concerned by the referees' mistakes), acknowledging that Lampard had indeed scored against Germany and that Tevez's goal against Mexico had been scored from an offside position. He added: "It is obvious that after the experiences so far at this World Cup it would be a nonsense not to re-open the file on goal-line technology. We will come out with a new model in November on how to improve high level referees. I cannot disclose more of what we are doing but something has to be changed."
2018/2022 FIFA World Cup
It was reported that Blatter had "cut an unofficial deal with UEFA head Michel Platini" to ensure Europe would receive the 2018 World Cup, such that if the non-European bids did not withdraw from 2018 "they will find themselves frozen out and not given any backing by the FIFA High Command, damaging their chances of being serious contenders for the second tournament." Eleven bids were submitted in March 2009 covering thirteen nations. Mexico and Indonesia withdrew. Five of the remaining nine bids, South Korea, Qatar, Japan, Australia and United States were only for the 2022 World Cup, while all the others were bidding for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. However, since all of the bids for the 2018 World Cup are from European nations, and FIFA's rules dictate that countries belonging to confederations that hosted either of the two preceding tournaments are not eligible to host, bids of England, Russia, Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal are now forced to be for 2018only.
Women's football
Blatter incurred the ire of female footballers in 2004 when he suggested that women should "wear tighter shorts and low cut shirts... to create a more female aesthetic" and attract more male fans, remarks that were ridiculed in the press.
Foreign quotas
Blatter incurred much criticism during 2007 and 2008 for his persistence in attempting to change EU employment law regarding the number of foreign players football clubs can field at any one time. His plans are to set a restriction to 5 foreign players and having 6 players from the said team's own nationality. Blatter believes this would help the countries' national sides by having more national players playing in their leagues. Blatter has often referred to the English Premier League as one of the major problems in football and uses it as an example, due to the influence of foreign players, coaches and owners in the top teams.
Changes to the game made under Blatter.
The silver goal replaced the golden goal rule in extra time of play-off matches. Under the golden goal rule, the match ends immediately if one side scores in extra time. The silver goal rule states that the match will end at the half-time period in extra time if one team is leading – otherwise the match will continue until the end of the extra time period. Some fans believe that this rule change makes the game less exciting, while others felt that the game is more fair as a result. The new rule was first applied in the Euro 2004 competition, but it has since been discontinued along with golden goal. All competitions have now reverted to the traditional extra time rules, i.e. they must play the full amount of extra time, no matter what the score is.
Since the 2002 World Cup, the current World Cup champion no longer automatically qualifies for the next World Cup finals, as was the case for the champions of all 16 previous World Cups.
National associations must now enforce immediate suspensions of all players sent off during a game, even if television replays offer compelling evidence of a player's innocence. In particular, Blatter insists that a referee's judgement must be seen as final and that mistakes are part of the game. The FA, however, has refused to follow this directive, and allows appeals against straight red cards (though not those resulting from two yellows).
Under Blatter, starting in 2004, the game implemented the booking of players who remove their shirts after scoring a goal, as well as those who are guilty of 'over-zealous celebrations'. The rationale for this rule change is that football is a global sport, and thus the sensibilities of conservative nations and spectators must be respected.
In 2007, Blatter decided that no football matches will be played above 2500 metres (8200 ft) above sea level. This number was revised to 3000 metres (9840 feet) on 26 June 2007. This may have been aimed to split the opposition group formed by Colombia, Ecuador (who play at altitudes below 3000 metres but above 2500), Bolivia and Peru (with stadiums above 3000 metres). This has dramatic consequences for the Bolivian national team, whose stadium is located more than 3000 metres above sea level. Blatter commented that football matches at extreme altitudes belong to the past, and that they are risky for players' health. However, no comprehensive medical studies have been shown to prove this. The Andean nations argue that playing in hot, sea level temperature is in fact more dangerous, citing the death of Marc-Vivien Foé as an example.
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