The cliche is “a cesspool of corruption”. A mere pool would be a pleasant upgrade for Fifa, currently buried under a Pacific-sized ocean of excrement after Sepp Blatter’s reign.
As many have pointed out, there is likely no point in hoping that any of the five candidates to replace the Swiss big cheese in Friday’s presidential election will be a massive upgrade. The fact that even persistent claims linking a candidate’s name to torture and other human rights abuses are not enough to dent his campaign tells you all you need to know about Fifa politics.
The candidates have also been markedly uninterested in engaging with actual football supporters, spurning opportunities to take part in televised debates etc. Why would they, when the people who actually pay for the game – whose money for example helps Uefa candidate Gianni Infantino jet around the globe in a private jet to gladhand with football association bosses – have absolutely no say in its governance?
The five-star hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich, Switzerland, a popular spot to be arrested. Photo: EPA
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“Vote with your conscience,” Blatter told delegates this week, stunning those who assumed he had never heard of that noun. There’s probably plenty of people at Fifa who have the good of the game at heart, though it does seem at times that almost anyone who’s set foot in their luxurious Zurich HQ has at least attracted the interest of anti-corruption investigators.
Perhaps the best result many of us will hope to come out of Switzerland as football’s not-so-great-and-good gather again is yet another dawn swoop by police. Guests at the Baur au Lac, the luxury hotel which has recently become a popular spot for authorities to drag football officials into paddy wagons, may not need to ask reception for early wake-up calls. While Sheikh Salman is favourite at bookmakers offering markets on the election, I was disappointed not to be able to find odds on ‘match abandoned – police stopped play’.
Harry's view.
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But perhaps there is a small glimmer of hope to be found at this week’s shindig.
