Election Time ⋆ An Old International

Election Time

Mark the date: June 1 will be the day when FIFA finally admits that it is a corrupt and morally bankrupt organization that is either in need of disbanding or a thorough cleansing process. The reason for this is a simple and obvious one: on that day the FIFA Executive Committee will “elect” a new president of the governing body of world football. Or rather they decide which of the two candidates Blatter and Bin Hammam is the better criminal in charge of FIFA. Either way, the chosen candidate will be a necessary evil sticking to the traditional way FIFA is going and not changing much in the process.

Without going deeper into any allegation against these two, what is more frustrating is the lack of a serious alternative, such as Grant Wahl, a US journalist writing for Sports Illustrated.

Unfortunately he has so far found no national football federation that would support him and therefore we’re left with the evil twins mentioned above. Another point that highlights the rotten core not just of FIFA but seriously puts the integrity of UEFA into question as well as all those football associations who decided to vote for either “candidate” did not decide to abstain from voting. There are just over two hundred national federations and surely there has to be a minimum of votes that are required to render the election valid. If say, all of Europe’s federation decide to abstain, there’ll be fifty odd votes missing from the result, that is 25%! Among those are some of the most powerful footballing nations such as England, Italy and Germany as well as the current world champions Spain. The English FA have decided to abstain from the vote after their bid to host the 2018 World Cup failed amidst allegations of corruption. So far there are no further announcements who might abstain or not. This will not happen as UEFA president Michel Platini aims to succeed Sepp Blatter one day and therefore he has to deliver a united European front to keep his chances alive. Asia will probably vote for Bin Hammam, which leaves us with the Americas and Africa as decisive votes. And it could be that the votes here will be rigged accordingly. And here’s where the biggest controversy lies. Jack Warner has been accused of corruption and other dubious practices, while South American football leaders Nicola Leoz and Ricardo Teixeira have recently been mentioned by Lord Triesman to be asking for favours in return for their vote for the English World Cup bid for 2018.
Having numerous members of its Executive Committee suspended or accused of corruption or other questionable activities, FIFA certainly lacks moral integrity it is so keen on reiterating as being one of their core values. Unfortunately the governing body of world football is an opaque organization not in the slightest interested in transparency. Therefore any claim by Sepp Blatter to “investigate” and clear FIFA of any corrupt element is to be taken very carefully as it sounds like a notorious alcoholic promising to beat his addiction, only to fall back to his common ways at the sight of a bottle of cheap booze.

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