FIFA Going to 48 Teams ... Winners and Losers

On 10-JAN-17, FIFA unanimously approved a plan to increase the number of participating teams in the World Cup from 32 teams (established in 1998) to 48 teams. It is my opinion there are some clear winners and some clear losers based on this move by FIFA. Based on FIFA's twitter feed, fans of The Game are not reacting well ... but it may not be all bad.

Losers:

• European Clubs: 
• Between friendlies, tuners, qualifying, and tournament play, I believe European Clubs, and maybe more specifically, the individual players, are going to get stretched beyond all belief with this move. Even with 32 teams, Clubs have had to sacrifice significant portions of their schedule to accommodate (ultimately) FIFA to meet their requirements. A move to 48 teams I believe will compound this existing issue. 
• Developing Countries:
• While FIFA has erred substantially in awarding host privileges to countries that may not have the necessary infrastructure to host such an event (ahem Qatar), their move to 48 teams I believe is a death knell to any developing country with aspirations to host a World Cup. Such an increase in teams will now create a market uptick in necessary infrastructure to accommodate these teams, staff, media, fans ... At this point, only true "1st tier countries" (as FIFA puts it) can realistically be considered. On the flip side, I believe the US just got vaulted into a top spot for hosting 2026.
• The World Cup:
• I am hard pressed to believe that quality of play is going to increase with 16 more teams involved. To get the heart of this point is the question of how does this move increase the quality fo play worldwide? This is after all one of FIFA's goals, yes? How does 18 more teams in the World Cup help this?
• FIFA's integrity:
• This move serves to once again hit at FIFA's integrity. This is so not because there is anything inherently unethical about increasing the team pool, but because it would seem at first blush this move is not to better The Game, but to increase revenue. Consider this, FIFA's first move after coming off a historic ethics catastrophe is to increase the scope of the World Cup. I may have thought a far more benevolent first move from a scandal ridden FIFA may have been more appropriate.

Winners:

• Sponsors:
• To me they are one of the largest winners. In a brilliant move, FIFA's new president found a way to provide more exposure to existing (and in some cases wavering) sponsor support for the World Cup. As the footprint for sponsors increases in at least 18 new countries, so goes their revenue opportunity. 
• FIFA's bank account:
• It is estimated that FIFA will net on the order of $500 million in revenue for the broadcast and marketing rights for the addition of these 16 new teams. This to add to the $1.4 Billion (yes with a B) reserve they have. Let's not fool ourselves kids, this is the highlighting reason why FIFA (in my opinion) is taking this move.
• AFC, CAF, and OFC:
• It is estimated that these football confederations will receive some or all of the 18 teams that will be joining the tournament. This is a huge win for these regions of the world and frankly FIFA's best arguement as to why they added these teams. 16 Additional berths to the World Cup is substantial for these regions of the world who are working to develop top quality teams. My contrary question is, will they be ready by 2026?
• Referees:
• Another big winner are the referees of the world and specifically UEFA referees who dominate the tournament. There will be a HUGE (relatively speaking) number of matches that will be played. Each will need a qualified FIFA referee team to manage the match. This in turn may also require particular national programs (such as within the new 18 countries) to develop a more robust FIFA referee program to assist in accommodating the sheer number of matches. FIFA may have backed themselves into an area of referee development as well.

In summary there are some clear winners and losers with this move. On balance I think this is not great for The Game, even with some good results for referees. 

The scene behind the scene

The IFAB: How it works

The IFAB is the universal decision-making body for the Laws of the Game (LoG) of association football. Its objectives are to safeguard, compile and amend the LoG as they apply within the scope of world football as organized by FIFA, which includes ensuring that the LoG are uniformly applied worldwide and monitored accordingly, and that organized football is practiced consistently.

While the IFAB is made up of the four British football associations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and FIFA, any football association or confederation can suggest amendments to the LoG through one of The IFAB members. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of FIFA.

Kicking Back Comments: All my prattling aside about FIFA and corruption this is compulsory reading for anyone truly interested in The Game. It details the underpinnings and shows the deep history The Game has. A worthy read and a significant tease to the new site they are launching net month www.theifab.com.

Stay tuned for that!

Refereeing Legend Dr. Bob Evans Passes Away

While there have been a number of touching tributes for the man who has contributed so much for so many, there are two in particular that bear special attention.

Please read, Bob Evans, Former FIFA Referee, Passes Away from the California North Refereeing Association and also a beautiful biography about the man, courtesy of NISOA.

I would also personally have a look at the archive of his blog at For the Integrity of Soccer, which provides many wonderful insights from Bob, Ed Bellion, and a few others who are highly influential in their thoughts about The Game. May he rest in peace.

Please vote now!!!

FIFA seems to be looking for feedback on the concept of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

Want to be heard. Vote Here ==> http://quality.fifa.com/en/VAR/

How Herbert Hainer and @adidas look like fools again

Manchester United’s style of play criticised by chief executive of Adidas

Manchester United’s style of play under Louis van Gaal has been criticised by the chief executive of Adidas, who signed a £750m kit sponsorship deal with the club last summer.

Manchester United launch retro Adidas kit following their £750m deal

United ended a run of eight matches without a victory with the 2-1 win over Swansea on Saturday and despite widespread criticism for a stagnant style of play, Van Gaal claimed afterwards that in their last two matches – also including the goalless draw against Chelsea – his side had adopted a riskier approach. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of The Guardian.

Kicking Back Comments: My initial title was going to be "Nero fiddles when Rome burns," but thought that was paying just a bit too much homage to Herr Hainer, CEO of Adidas.

What is frosting my cookie is not that Herr Hainer is criticizing Man U's incredibly unspectacular play. The man is an accomplished footballer as well as businessman. Just take a look at his CV here, from Adidas. There is no question in my mind that he knows his football.

A blind man (no referee jokes please) could see how poorly Man U is playing.

Even his criticism in his capacity as CEO I can stretch. I can ... he is looking to maximize his $1.2B (yeah that's a B for billion) investment in the team, and that makes sense. Although as he admits, business is booming and things are "better" than expected.

What I take issue with is that people are dying in Qatar and FIFA is absolutely on fire with corruption and Herr Hainer, leading Adidas, is willing to step out there and criticize Man U for their play, but do nothing but send a "strongly worded" letter with other sponsors to FIFA, asking them to do better.

Really?

How about at least criticizing FIFA for it's open human rights violations? How about saying Adidas will suspend or pull its sponsorship from future World Cup's, beginning with Qatar, if this goes on? How about Adidas wants to see the situation first hand and will send an envoy to Qatar, or maybe just aid?

What not +adidas?

It makes you look foolish to stand back and cry about Man U when there is so much more you can do first. Look at the bigger picture and for the love of Adolf Dassler, do the right thing and at least get involved with sorting out the mess that is Qatar and FIFA.

Clearly Valcke did not get that stitch in time

FIFA Recommends Nine-Year Ban for Valcke

The investigator for FIFA’s independent ethics committee on Tuesday recommended a nine-year ban for the organization’s former secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, who served as Sepp Blatter’s top deputy for nearly a decade before he was placed on leave in September amid a corruption inquiry.

The investigator, Cornel Borbély, also recommended that Mr. Valcke’s provisional suspension, which was to expire Tuesday, be extended by 45 days, as well as a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs (about $99,000). The judge of the ethics committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, will issue a final ruling on the recommended punishment.

Mr. Valcke, 55, has been on disciplinary leave from FIFA since September, when he was accused of being involved in a scheme to sell 2014 World Cup tickets for personal profit. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the NYT.

Kicking Back Comments: While I expect Valcke to both deny any wrongdoing and appeal the ban, FIFA continues to step up to clean up its act. Or at least remove the bad actors that inhabited these offices previously.

One area I do not understand is, here is a person who is suspected and has been suspended for pilfering at least $10M, yet his fine is only about $100K, an order of magnitude less. Why not make Valcke pay back the full amount?

Also, while FIFA is starting, just starting, to grow a spine on some of these issues, I am far more interested in both the Qatar debacle and also what permanent reforms will be put in place to prevent something like this from occurring again.

That will be the true acid test for me.

Double Trouble or a Great Idea?

Presidential candidate Salman wants to divide FIFA in two

MIAMI (Reuters) - The frontrunner in the FIFA presidential election, Asian football chief Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, says he wants to divide the organization into two separate entities as part of a 'turnaround' plan for the crisis-hit organization.

Salman, who is president of the Asian Football Confederation, said in a statement on Wednesday that FIFA's governance and business functions would be separated if he took over the helm following the Feb. 26 elections. ...

See the whole article here, courtesy of Yahoo Sports.

Kicking Back Comments: First off, hat tip to Elie for brings this one forward.

I am of two minds regarding this proposition of splitting FIFA into a "football" side and a "business" side, likely with a "Chinese Wall" between them.

Part of me thinks this is a great idea where you separate out the money generating portions of the business from the football operational side. On the surface this would seem to allow better auditing abilities of the finances while maintaining operational integrity. In fact this is done regularly in business or for projects with particularly sensitive information that must be kept compartmentalized. These methods could be actuarial as well as physical in nature. 

I am not so sure however that such an arrangement would meet the needs to prevent corruption. A slightly closer look at how the operational side can substantially influence the money side is not far away however. A first and stunning example is the choice of Qatar as a venue in 2022. Here is a nearly purely "operational" decision. Take a look at the FIFA report on the US bid for 2022 here. With the exception of a couple of sections, it is all about the "how" things will be done. Yet, as we know, as the events unfolded a substantial amount of corruption (and money exchange) occurred as part of a venue decision.

Let's say for sake of argument World Cup decision are relegated to the money side of the house due to the very large financial gain FIFA realizes from each. How about the surface for play?

Well, here too we seem to have created some conflicts of interest as I detailed in a 2014 article, "The case of Dr. Turf and the Cowardly Judge." Here, we had the dispute about use of a synthetic surface or not, and shockingly (not) FIFA rolled out "Dr. Turf" to advocate that turf was equivalent to grass in all respects. Only issue was Dr. Turf was affiliated with a company that produced such surfaces. So even here with something purely operational the opportunity for abuse exists.

Where Asian football chief Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa gets it completely right is where he believes FIFA has to be torn down completely and rebuilt before it can be effective. I share that opinion. Great danger and opportunity exist in such a case however as nature abhors a vacuum and such a void may be filled with exactly the wrong people.

Don't get me wrong, the idea brought forward while not novel and I believe has issues, is one of the most original for FIFA in years. All credit is due for that to be sure.

For Once Sepp is Right

Sepp Blatter dares FIFA's American sponsors to leave

Sepp Blatter, the banned president of FIFA, called out the organization's American sponsors on Tuesday, saying they will not end their sponsorships even if reform demands are not met.

"Companies, commercial partners are queuing up to get in," Blatter told The Wall Street Journal. "If the Americans want to leave, others will come. But they don't want to get out ... They won't leave." ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of CNN Money.

Kicking Back Comments: As sad a comment as it is, Sepp seems to be 100% correct. 

I personally take great stock in how people (or companies) act, not in what their press release says. I and scores of other folks have written about the saber rattling the mighty sponsors of FIFA have done saying how unacceptable FIFA's behavior has become. Yet, for all that rattling, there has been no action from many.

In this same way, there are several companies that should be applauded for taking action. Castrol, Johnson & Johnson, Continental, Sony, and Emirates had the courage to stand up and drop their sponsorship of FIFA. While some have stated in a few of those cases the sponsorship was up for renewal, the salient point is, they did not renew due in part to the deplorable mess that is FIFA.

Even in the face of the ethical challenges outright corruption (this is a brilliant video) and employment contract issues human right violations, several companies continue to fund these activities. Several others are also cued up ready to hand over the monies they have earned from customers as well.

At this point I can't classify their desire as less than knowingly supporting corruption and human rights violations. While each of these companies has ethical issues of their own (see ADIDAS,  Coca-Cola, Gazprom, Hyudani, McDonalds, note that Visa to give then their due was recently voted one of the most ethical) their efforts to give monies to FIFA who propagates this corruption makes them no better.

Yet they line up and yes ... Sepp is right, they will not leave. So for all the noise they make about ethical behavior, they do nothing.

Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Sepp Blatter in "United Passions" remake

Sepp Blatter blames United States for his eight-year FIFA ban

Sepp Blatter blamed the U.S. for the eight-year ban handed down by FIFA over ethics violations on Monday, an apparent jab at a federal investigation responsible for several indictments of officials from soccer's international governing body.

"If we had awarded the World Cup in 2022 to the USA, we would not be here,” Blatter said in Italian at a meandering, nearly one-hour news conference.

Blatter was found guilty of violating FIFA’s ethics rules, allegations that centered around a $2 million payment Blatter approved for Michel Platini, a FIFA vice president and head of the Union of European Football Associations. Platini, once the former front-runner to replace Blatter, also received an eight-year suspension. Both had already received provisional bans. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of USA Today.

Kicking Back Comments: One of the things I find funny is that Sepp for all his "... it's the USA's fault ..." has hired an attorney from ... yeah, the US. Richard Cullen from McGuire Woods is representing him in the matter. Some may say, the best money can buy. Then again, with Cullen's close ties to the DOJ and FBI, it is a most excellent choice.

My title of course comes from Sepp's exiting line of "I'll be back" when he huffed his way out of the hearing Monday. 

What is certain however is that United Passions was a massive failure, only making $200K at the box office, and having bonafide actors like Tim Roth say United Passions was "awful."  Even the trailer is awful.

I honestly think Hollywood should do a movie on FIFA. Not the shimmering propaganda piece that was United passions, but a real honest to goodness behind the scenes of FIFA.

It has to be better than United Passions ... or the alternate titles they were considering.

Eight years is not enough ... but it is a good start

Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get eight-year bans

Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa boss Michel Platini have been suspended for eight years from all football-related activities following an ethics investigation.

They were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) "disloyal payment" made to Platini in 2011.

The Fifa ethics committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an "abusive execution" of their positions.

"I will fight for me and for Fifa," Blatter, 79, said at a news conference.

The bans come into force immediately. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of BBC.

Kicking Back Comments: While this is a step in the right direction, it is far from over. Eight years is not nearly enough for what Sepp has been convicted of doing. While in essence this is a life sentence from him given his age of 79 (making him eligible to participate again at 87) not so for Platini who is only 50 and would become eligible at 58.

No of course Sepp blamed everyone but himself and was defiant in the hearing. His next step would seem to be the Court of Arbitration and Sport (CAS) which has ethical issues of its own in my view. Even there however, I think Sepp is in some trouble. Not because he is corrupt, but even worse, the world needs a head on a pike to make people start to feel better about FIFA.

That head it would seem, will be Sepp Blatter's.

Francly my dear ... I don't give a damn

Fifa scandal: Large cash sums frozen by Switzerland

Fifty Swiss bank accounts allegedly linked to world football governing body Fifa have been frozen.

US officials believe "corruption money" may have been moved through the now frozen accounts, the Swiss justice ministry said.

Between 50m and 100m Swiss francs ($50.1m-100.2m; £34m-£67m) was in them, media reports say. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the BBC.

Kicking Back Comments: I continue to find it the height of irony that the country who many in the rest of the world feel is a 3rd rate soccer power, is single handedly cleaning it up.

Will this be our legacy to The Game?

And for any who wondered where the title came from ... 

Will the DOJ's investigation into FIFA hurt our efforts with ISIS?

US attorney general hopes Qatar cooperates in World Cup probe

The United States hopes Qatar will cooperate with the World Cup bidding investigation, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Wednesday, insisting that the Gulf nation being a key ally in the fight against Islamic State militants was irrelevant in any considerations about pursuing a corruption case.

The U.S. is working closely on the FIFA investigation with Swiss authorities, whose case started by probing the dual votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups five years ago. ...

See the whole story here, from Fox.

Kicking Back Comments: I have great hopes that AG Lynch is not so naive that she believes that an investigation which may strip the tiny desert nation of Qatar of its World Cup in 2022, does not have implications regarding the current operations and investigation we have regarding ISIS in the same country.

I learned this lesson long ago from a FIFA referee at a international tournament hosted in the US. While it was in regard to a US v. Mexico U17 match we did, the lesson was impactful that where countries are involved, sport, politics, economics, religion, and a very way of life are part of each match.

Ties between the peoples in Qatar involved in sport and politics are clearly the same ... as I would imagine are several government officials who are aware of various investigations. To think that one will not effect or at the very least, cross paths with the other is preposterous.

Qatar getting an opportunity to host a World Cup is a big deal for them. Countries pay big money for the chance to host ... and while I am speaking about bribes ... I am also speaking about the monies countries lay out to make that happen.

Do I think there are a few good people able to separate out ferreting out corruption from ferreting out bad guys? Yes.

Do I think the majority of people will be able to separate out those two things as distinct from the other and not look for favors in the process? No. Sadly.

To tell you the truth, that may be okay for me. I would rather give up the World Cup and get the bad guys than the other way around. In a perfect world it should be both, but we sadly do not live in such a Utopia.

Yes, it actually can get worse for FIFA

US steps up pressure against banks in Fifa probe

US prosecutors are threatening to punish banks for failing to report suspicious activity on Fifa-related accounts as part of the sprawling corruption probe into world football’s governing body, people familiar with the case told the Financial Times.

The criminal charges could have serious implications if prosecutors proceed. In 2014, JPMorgan Chase paid a $2bn penalty for failing to file such reports in relation to the so-called Ponzi scheme led by Bernard Madoff. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of FT.com.

Kicking Back Comments: The US DOJ is leaving no stone unturned with FIFA. I will be curious to see how many bank "spill the beans" on them in an effort to save their own skin and face very harsh fines if implicated in the matter. Either way, Ms. Lynch is earning her new title as "FIFA Slayer."

There is however a price that may have to be paid with regard to ISIS if the investigation keeps going the way it does. US, FIFA, and ISIS I think are about to intersect in an interesting way. It makes me wonder if Qatar will get its World Cup, so the US can pursue ISIS.

Stay tuned for that though later this week.

FIFA Should Have Stayed At a Holiday Inn Express Last Night

FIFA Corruption: Top Officials Arrested in Pre-Dawn Raid at Zurich Hotel

ZURICH — Swiss authorities began a new series of pre-dawn arrests Thursday in the broad investigation, led by United States officials, into corruption in international soccer. Sixteen people were expected to be charged by day’s end, law enforcement officials said, nearly doubling the size of an already huge case that has upended FIFA, soccer’s multibillion-dollar governing body.

Some of the arrests took place at the same luxury hotel where other FIFA officials were arrested in May. Swiss police entered the hotel, the Baur au Lac, through a side door at 6 a.m. local time. ...

See the whole article here, courtesy of the NYT.

Kicking Back Comments: Listen, the Baur au Lac looks like a great place, but the Sheraton Zürich Neues Schloss Hotel is right down the street and frankly, less full of police looking to drag you off in the pre-dawn hours.

I do still laugh at the Holiday Inn Express commercials though ... here is one of my favorites.

Trust me folks, we will get to the despicable behavior of Columbus fans in yesterdays MLS Cup match ... I am just seeing what the MLS front office says before I comment fully.

Dear FIFA Sponsors: Are You Listening Now???!!!

Five years of human rights failure shames FIFA and Qatar

Labor exploitation remains rampant in Qatar as the authorities fail to deliver significant reforms, Amnesty International said today before the fifth anniversary of Qatar winning the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Despite massive public exposure of the appalling conditions faced by most migrant construction workers, the Qatari authorities have done almost nothing effective to end chronic labor exploitation.

“Too little has been done to address rampant migrant labor abuse. Qatar’s persistent labor reform delays are a recipe for human rights disaster,” said Mustafa Qadri, Gulf Migrant Rights Researcher at Amnesty International. ...

See the whole press release here, courtesy of Amnesty International.

Kicking Back Comments: Straight on the heels of the nonsense from the sponsors being "outraged" and wanting "assurances" we start to see not much has changed in Qatar. Companies like ADIDAS are (or feign) outrage if child labor stitches their balls ... yet are fine as migrant workers die to build the stadiums they will profit from in 2022. I fail to see the difference.

Yawn

Fifa sponsors including Coca-Cola demand reform overview

Five sponsors of football's world governing body Fifa have written to its executive committee to demand "independent oversight" of reforms.

Fifa has been engulfed by allegations of corruption since US authorities indicted 14 officials this summer.

The letter was sent from Adidas, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Visa and the Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the BBC.

Kicking Back Comments: I am again reminded of one of my personal mantras, facta non verba, or deeds not words.

So far all we have seen from FIFA, which I expect at this point, is words. By now I would have expected more from the sponsors, even one. Clearly I was misguided in my thinking as sponsors like Coca-Cola are clearly apathetic to what FIFA is doing in places like Qatar, to name one.

It is truly all about the money folks and even the one entity (aside from UEFA) that can make a big impact on the World's Game, clearly wants none of it.

Alright FIFA ... WTF are you doing about this one?

Turkish soccer fans chant "Allahu Akbar" during Paris attacks remembrance

Turkey and Greece, neighbors that have been often vicious geopolitical rivals for centuries, have attempted in recent years to reconcile their differences, a move that's been given heightened importance during the growing migrant crisis.

Their soccer teams hadn't played each other in eight years, so Tuesday's friendly match in Istanbul presented an opportunity for a power symbolic display of peace and reconciliation. ...

See the whole article here, courtesy of CBS News.

Kicking Back Comments: Here is another opportunity for FIFA to show some leadership. Can we go beyond signs of support (which have their place) and move to actions in the face of such behavior?

FIFA is rightly willing to shutter stadiums for activities they determine racist. How oh how can this be condoned?

FIFA ... grow a set and take some action. 

The Silent Killer

Suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter Recovering in Hospital From 'Body Breakdown'

Outgoing FIFA President Sepp Blatter is recovering this week after being hospitalized in Switzerland for what has been called a stress-related "body breakdown" and a "small emotional breakdown" in several media reports.

The embattled Blatter, 79, was provisionally suspended last month from his post amid the ongoing corruption scandal involving FIFA, the world's governing body of soccer. He is expected to make a full recovery and be released from the hospital early next week, according to the BBC. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of Newsweek.

Kicking Back Comments: Frankly I am surprised it took this long as the amount of strain he must be under I have to believe is nothing short of suffocating.

I for one hope he makes a full and complete recovery ... and never comes near FIFA again.

I Know Nuzzing ...

U.S. Soccer boss Sunil Gulati addresses range of issues

A few hours before the U.S. World Cup qualifying opener in St. Louis on Friday, U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati met with a group of reporters to discuss Jurgen Klinsmann, the national team, the broader program, FIFA and other matters, including everyone’s favorite, promotion and relegation.

Excerpts …

See the full article here, courtesy of the Washington Post.

Kicking Back Comments: This was a very interesting article and it spoke on quite a few topics. One thing that did catch my attention was that President Gulati was kept from Congress and was very careful about his answers regarding FIFA and others caught in corruption issues. Almost too careful.

I hope truly he does not find himself in those crosshairs.

Say it isn't so

Beckenbauer Is Under Investigation by FIFA Ethics Committee

Former German soccer great Franz Beckenbauer is one of 11 current or former high-ranking FIFA officials under investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee, the organization said in a statement on Wednesday.

His case has been passed on to the adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee, which has the power to ban him from all soccer-related activities. The committee didn’t give a reason for the investigation, but Beckenbauer has been involved in the awarding of at least three World Cups, processes that have drawn intense scrutiny for years. ...

See the whole story here, courtesy of the WSJ.

Kicking Back Comments: I suppose I should not be surprised, sadly. All these once great institutions and men to me once ... FIFA, IOC, and their boards. All once great seemingly serving the thing we love ...  all now proving to be shams.

So sad.