With all the hullabaloos of the recent FIFA selection of far flung Russia for the next World Cup and an grog-free oven for the one after that, the spotlight has been trained on the 22 gentlemen of the FIFA Executive Committee who voted a few days ago.
Who were they, and were they representative of world football? Of the 25, 2 were suspended or banned (actually they should all have been) so that should have left 23, so I wonder if there was a third person suspended, or was either Blatter or Valcke a non-voting member?
Here’s the list of the persona dramatis:
President
1. Joseph S Blatter – Switzerland
Senior Vice President
2. Julio H Grondona – Argentina
Vice Presidents
3. Issa Hayatou – Cameroon
4. Chung Mong Joon – South Korea
5. Jack Warner – Trinidad & Tobaggo
6. Angel Maria Villar Llona – Spain
7. Michel Platini – France
8. Reynald Temari – Tahiti (suspended/banned)
9. Geoff Thomson – England
Members
10. Michel D-Hooghe – Belgium
11. Ricardo Terra Teixeira – Brazil
12. Mohammed Bin Hammam – Qatar
13. Senes Erzik – Turkey
14. Chuck Blazer – USA
15. Worawi Kamudi – Thailand
16. Nicolas Leoz – Paraguay
17. Junji Ogura – Japan
18. Amos Adamu – Nigeria (suspended/banned)
19. Marios Lefkaritis – Cyprus
20. Jacques Anouma – Ivory Coast
21. Franz Beckenbauer – Germany
22. Rafael Salguero – Guatemala
23. Hany Abo Rida – Egypt
24. Vitaly Mutko – Russia
Secretary General
25. Jerome Valcke – France
One wonders why traditional football powerhouses such as Italy and Holland weren’t represented and why China wasn’t there whereas minnow countries like Guatemala and Tahiti made the list (ban aside). Maybe it is a zone based thing – Jack Warner for example represents the CONCACAF and Hammam represents the AFC.
Anyway – there you have it and it’s not hard to see why countries like England, US and Australia fared so badly, pitch strategies aside. The above countries aren’t exactly great fans of the old country and its new outposts of the empire and they would be only too happy to get rid of these candidates. The English bidding group have suggested that maybe the answer really is to expand the power base and make it more like IOC. On the one hand you’d think the English would say that given they succeeded with the IOC to bring the games to London in 2012. On the other hand, expanding the base would tend to eliminate shoddy practice which everyone is convinced is happening big time with the current mob.
Ante 