Fifa president has already wrecked his flagship event and with the World Cup taking place on Friday has only one of 20 local sponsors in place and has yet to agree terms for the TV rights with Russian broadcastersGood news and bad news once more for Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, who refuses to abandon his delusions of adequacy. The good news is Gianni has pre-announced there will be no racist incidents at the Russia World Cup next summer. “This is a very high priority,” he explained, “and we will make sure no incidents will happen.”The bad news is there may be no local sponsors at the Russia World Cup next summer. I say “no local sponsors” – in fact, there is...
As world football’s governing body prepares for its congress in Bahrain, it is timely to ask whether there has ever been a new broom quite as useless as the old one or less equal to the task of clean-upCan it really be only 14 months since Fifa’s new broom, Gianni Infantino, took office at world football’s governing body – and a mere 11 since he told the world “I can officially inform you the crisis is over”? Next week’s Fifa congress is in Bahrain (but of course), and Infantino approaches it reportedly on the brink of his second personal ethics investigation since ascending to the presidency. His second! One has to admire his ethics ethic.Then again, there are strong rumours...
We could be roused by the Fifa president’s claim that ‘football’s back’ – if it wasn’t for his bloated new-look tournament that flies in the face of sporting meritocracyWhat a surprise to find that sporticidal maniac Gianni Infantino has added yet another awards ceremony to football’s calendar. As someone who believes that what the world really lacks is a further glittering night of industrial frottage, I am pleased to see the Fifa president identify the need for the football family to come together in this manner.If only there was a tried and tested way for the footballing elite to measure themselves against each other – perhaps in regular competitions, tournaments, championships, derbies, clásicos, leagues, cups, and various other quaint old ideas...
Fifa’s Gianni Infantino has pushed through his 48-team World Cup but those complaining, mostly from Europe, must know that the modern tournament has always been about commerce and politics as much as football gloryIt is still less than a year since Gianni Infantino stood dazzled by destiny at the Fifa congress, tapping his heart in disbelief at really being the president, and already he has swept in the historic, bulky change of a 48-country World Cup. It comes as no surprise, really, that having made it his pitch for votes to expand the World Cup, as he stepped over the fallen careers of his banned former boss at Uefa, Michel Platini, and Fifa’s Sepp Blatter, Infantino has quickly steered through...
How would the new Fifa president best regain some credibility for football’s ailing governing body? A root and branch reform from top to bottom, or a madcap plan to expand the World Cup to 48 teams …Some movies are so bad they kill more than themselves. Sometimes, they kill a series. As George Clooney wryly (and rightly) observed after Batman & Robin: “I think we might have killed the franchise.” Occasionally, a movie is such a disaster it kills an entire genre. The monstrous excesses of Cleopatra fatally wounded the swords‑and-sandals epic genre, and the flop of The Fall of the Roman Empire a year later finished it off so thoroughly that it didn’t return for decades. Heaven’s Gate is...