It was not long ago in the Rwandan capital Kigali following FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s re-election by acclamation that Fatma Samoura yelled “I love you, president,” but the love story between the world federation and its current secretary general has come to an end.
Football has long had a problem with female executives. At the UEFA Congress, the Norwegian FA president Lise Klaveness clearly lost the election for the Executive Committee against the male majority, many of whom have questionable CVs.
Investors assembling a portfolio of football clubs is changing football and existing regulation may not be big enough to cope with the burgeoning phenomenom of multi-club ownerships, which has tied up more than 9,000 football players and swathes of financially weak smaller clubs.
The IOC and the Olympic federations are obliged to punish Russia and its warmonger, Vladimir Putin. Jens Weinreich calls for a comprehensive independent criminal investigation of the longstanding deep connection of the Olympic institutions with the Kremlin within the framework of the EU.
Low level club friendlies remain at greater risk of match fixing but football’s international governing bodies are doing little or nothing to try and regulate what are essentially privately organised fixtures with no integrity safeguarding.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah has been sentenced to prison. Our author has observed the Kuwaiti Sheikh for many years and has been threatened by the Sheikh’s aides several times. He describes the methods that brought Ahmad to power and the implications of the conviction for Al-Sabah and the Olympic system.
An incomparable era is coming to an end. In 97 years of the FIS, there have only been 5 presidents, 70 years of which two Swiss men determined the course of events in their federation. In these 97 years, the Catholic Church has had 8 popes, at least. An obituary for Gian Franco Kasper (1944 - 2021).
L’élection la semaine dernière du nouveau président de la Confédération africaine de football, le Sud-Africain Patrice Motsepe, a montré, au grand jour, l’ingérence de Gianni Infantino. Mais peu de voix osent s’en offusquer ouvertement.
Hacking implies criminality. Leaking implies opportunism. Whistleblowing implies heroism. A reflection on the subtle differences of publicising dirty dealings.
