Where now for FIFA?

The resignation of Sepp Blatter as president of Fifa, a post he was elected to just a week before resigning, represents the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end for the global body of football. Although Blatter may cling to power until as late as January 2016, he is a spent force. His credibility is in tatters, his legacy is one of corruption, mismanagement and, possibly, of Fifa’s involvement in the political life of nations — if some tales are to be believed. Two future iterations of the World Cup have a cloud of doubt over them: Russia and Qatar. Russia would be difficult to halt as it is so close, but Qatar, in 2022, may be in the sights of those now probing the darker workings of the largest sporting organisation in the world. Blatter himself is reportedly the subject of an FBI investigation and some of his former lieutenants are now queuing up to spill the beans, largely in an attempt to save their own skins.

It is widely reported that Blatter is in his office and busy working on a Fifa restructuring, but this is going to satisfy few. The organisation remains tightly-knit administratively, and has a long track record of looking after its own interests at the cost of others. Anything that Blatter does by way of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is going to smack of cronyism if those close to him remain in the seats of power. What Fifa is today in need of, is rebuilding, not a cosmetic restructuring. Possibly rebuilding from the ground up; so deep is the rot. That Fifa under Blatter has benefited from countless small and poor nations is undeniable. Equally undeniably, Fifa has built a popular sport up to a global level, enriching many in the process, not least itself. The best of what Fifa has done and come to represent must be protected and endure, but the worst — of which we suspect only the tip of the iceberg has been currently revealed — must be ruthlessly and very publicly excised. Football will survive and we wish it a brighter, cleaner, future.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th,  2015.

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