Tag: Gianni Infantino

 

The FIFA Executive Football Summit held in Nigeria between February 20th and 22nd in Lagos which had in attendance the FIFA President Gianni Infantino, CAF President Ahmad Ahmad, FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura among others may have come and gone.

Again the maiden NFF award may have come and gone but the lessons to be learnt from both events cannot be overemphasized.

Some have quarreled with some of the awards and in particular the legend 11 which had late Rashidi Yekini, Muda Lawal and many dead and living legends conspicuously missing.  Others have also frowned at the idea of combining both men and women in the same legend 11, describing it as a misnomer better still a caricature of a serious matter.

The reason given by those throwing pebbles at the Glass House over what they dubbed serious blunder is that though the men and women play the same round leather game they are usually categorised differently but trust Nigeria to do things differently even if it does not have a place in the acceptable way of doing things.

With all the agreements and disagreements, the unanimous agreement however is that, it was a good thing to have flagged off the award and that it is hoped that continuous improvement will be recorded with every edition in quest of perfection or near perfection since a school of thought still believe in this age and time that nothing can be perfect.

So let’s just leave the argument at that and say congratulations to all those who were recognised and urge those who were omitted to please exercise patience in the hope that improvements are on the way and that indeed a time will come when a Hall of Fame will come on stream to put on record all those who have done the nation proud on the pitch, on the tracks, in the pool, in the ring and indeed other sports arenas.

However it is important to underscore one observation made by Infantino in the course of the programs. His submission appeared to have been consumed in the euphoria of the moment with no one particularly interested in having any negatives.

Of course that is understandable but basic truth cannot hide even if covered with a silver pot.  I recall meeting Infantino in Rwanda at the 2016 edition of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN). Then he was more or less campaigning in his bid to head the World soccer ruling body after the unceremonious exit of Sepp Blatter only bridged by 141 days of Issa  Hayatou’s reign on acting capacity.

He outlined what he intends to do including the possibility of increasing the number of countries participating in the World cup to 48.

The new format being proposed for the 2026 edition of the world cup will see Africa for instance getting 9 slots up from current 5.  Asia – 8 (up from 4 or 5) Europe – 16 (up from 13) North, Central America and Caribbean – 6 (up from 3 or 4) Oceania – 1 (from 0 or 1) South America – 6 (up from 4 or 5).

In the course of the campaign he emphasised that players who are the main actors of the game must always remain the face of the game and the center of attraction whenever and wherever football events are taking place.  This again he repeated while in Nigeria that ‘footballers must be the face of the game’

The submission is not unconnected with our usual culture of introducing and saluting so many political figures in sports events to the point that an on-looker may begin to wonder whether the event is a sports event or a political or social gathering.

Sometimes three to four pages are used to recognise and eulogise political big wigs some of who mistake the arena for another party convention.

This sort of arrangement does not go down well with Infantino and FIFA’s idea of ensuring that the players are the major focus in their own business.

Popular awards like FIFA Best player award, Puskas award,

Ballon d’Or among others, often take very short time to conclude as embellishments are completely cut off.

The reason is not farfetched, strictly sports event is not an arena for too much talk.  Most times it is recognition of achievement made by a sportsman or group of sportsmen at the case may be.  It is usually based on verifiable statistics, so announcement of a winner or winners does not take hours but indeed minutes.

That is not to say recognitions should not be made at such events but such recognitions should never be allowed to take the shine off the event and the footballers who are the reason for gathering in the first place.

In fact in some of the awards mentioned above, those recognised outside the nominated are mostly past players, past winners, and perhaps those who missed winning by whiskers.

The new approach these days is to go straight to the points after one or two recognitions and cutting off others by adding “All Protocols Observed”

We can’t afford to be different, we must key into world standard and this should be put into consideration in planning the next edition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World football governing body FIFA revealed on Friday it made a loss of 369 million dollars in 2016 as legal costs rose following a series of corruption scandals.

Accounts showed a total loss of and the organisation said 2017 would see further losses approaching 500 million dollars, though these can partly be explained by a switch in accounting practices.

However, the 2018 accounts are predicted to be much healthier as they will include television income from the World Cup in Russia, leading to a predicted profit of more than one billion dollars.

Explaining an increase in expenditure, FIFA said a “number of events caused these increases such as an increased budget for development expenses and higher competition costs, but also unforeseen costs such as legal fees and costs or extraordinary meetings.”

Investigation and legal fees were marked down as 50.465 million dollars as the era of former president Joseph Blatter draws to a close.

FIFA also blamed the Blatter regime for certain poor investments, such as the World Football Museum in Zurich, which proved costly.

“The challenges of the past 12 months are reflected in our financial
results for the year,” president Gianni Infantino said.

“These results stand as a cautionary tale of what can happen if we lose sight of the primary responsibilities of our mission, and if we fail to take the necessary steps to protect our organisation against wrong-doing.”

The organization made a loss in 2015 for the first time in 14 years but despite a second successive difficult year, retains cash reserves of 1.048 billion dollars.

“FIFA’s healthy financial reserves, built up when the
sun was shining as a prudent insurance against unforeseen risks, have served to further stabilize the organisation, and to give us the breathing space we need to put things right,” Infantino said.

“This strong financial position overall means we are more than capable of weathering the current storm.

FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has defended his pet expansion of the World Cup as a mission to bring the most popular global sports event fully into the 21st century.

He gave the explanation in a press statement obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

The 46-year-old Swiss head of the world federation was speaking after its council meeting in Zurich.

The council unanimously approved a proposal for a leap from 32 to 48 teams at the 2026 finals.

“We are in the 21st century, so we have to shape the World Cup for the 21st century.

“We have to look into the future; football is more than Europe and South America; it is global.

“The FIFA Council felt this is positive and will help football development,’’ Infantino stated.