Nobody will be expected to remember how the world’s most powerful leader overturned a referee’s decision (or the consequences of) with the connivance and total agreement of FIFA President, Gianni Infantino. We must never mention the disgusting treatment the US authorities were allowed to impose on the Iranian national side placing them at an immediate disadvantage. And let us not forget the finest referee on the African continent, Somali referee Omar Artan, being refused a visa by the Trump administration, thus insulting African football as a whole. ‘Keep politics out of sport’? It’s certainly too late for that and, truth be told, has been for many decades. What happened behind the scenes at this World Cup would turn the stomachs of most football fans.
The gentrified hooligan, Gianni Infantino, wanted, and probably with his mate Trump still does, to sell off the World Cup to private business. This carve up was probably discussed in detail during the World Cup by the two brigands. I read with a feeling of revulsion at first leading to volcanic anger about this man’s plans for the future of the world’s major tournament in football. His plans included selling a 20% stake in the World Cup to private enterprise including transnational corporations.
For me football, the game I was brought up on, became a historical relic found mainly in good sporting history books some years ago. The television companies deciding when games will and will not kick off is one damaging change along with some of the silly rule changes making it impossible to play the game properly. The icing on the poison cake is of course Video Assisting Refereeing (VAR). But all this pales into insignificance by comparison with what Infantino had planned for the future as he plotted to sell off the World Cup!
The FIFA President was telling the 211 member associations to sign up to his proposed sell off by mid-September or lose “$7 billion in extra funding”. According to the Irish Daily Mirror 30th July his letter to the associations stated; “should you wish to proceed, this $10 billion package will become available as of January 1 2027, ushering in the next stage of our journey together”. Who was/is Infantino talking about with this “our journey together”? Is he talking about his journey with the FIFA member associations, which may suggest the associations had some prior knowledge of his plans, or his journey with various transnational corporations? Could he have been talking of the journey embarked on with Donald Trump at the last World Cup? What did these two brigands discuss?
This plan was something straight out of the Trump ‘Get Rich Quick and Fuck the Consequences’ book. Infantino had given the associations until 19th September to accept his proposal. This scheme “would see a private company with links to the extended family of Donald Trump run FIFA competitions” reported in the Irish Daily Mirror 30th July. Was this another deal Infantino concocted with Trump during the World Cup? Perhaps they could launch a new trophy called the ‘Donald Trump World Cup Trophy’ in much the same mould as the previous cup was called the Jules Rimet Trophy, won and kept by Brazil in 1970, giving Trump his name, authority, and finance over all future World Cup competitions!! Little wonder Trumps interference in the last tournament was accepted by Infantino as almost part and parcel of the game. What were this pair of crooks concocting? I think the possibilities may have no boundaries and should be becoming obvious to those who want to see.
The European governing body, UEFA, have voted to boycott any FIFA competitions should this privatisation of the World Cup have gone ahead. UEFA represent 55 European football associations and are, to be fair, not exactly squeaky clean themselves. Was it not UEFA who destroyed the once prestigious European Champions Cup (the European Cup) once the elite European competition? Only a country’s league champions could enter the competition with the second and third places going into the UEFA Cup along with the winners, until 2020, of the English Football league Cup. The winners of the FA Cup would go into the European Cup Winners Cup which UEFA abolished downgrading by de-facto the FA Cup. They replaced these competitions with something called the ‘Champions League’ which is anything but. The league champions qualify but so too do those teams finishing second, third, and fourth who are hardly champions.
The European governing body, UEFA, have voted to boycott any FIFA competitions should this privatisation of the World Cup have gone ahead. UEFA represent 55 European football associations and are, to be fair, not exactly squeaky clean themselves. Was it not UEFA who destroyed the once prestigious European Champions Cup (the European Cup) once the elite European competition? Only a country’s league champions could enter the competition with the second and third places going into the UEFA Cup along with the winners, until 2020, of the English Football league Cup. The winners of the FA Cup would go into the European Cup Winners Cup which UEFA abolished downgrading by de-facto the FA Cup. They replaced these competitions with something called the ‘Champions League’ which is anything but. The league champions qualify but so too do those teams finishing second, third, and fourth who are hardly champions.
However, UEFAs destruction of European competition at club level is small beer compared with what Infantino had, and probably still has, in mind. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have joined UEFA in rejecting Gianni Infantino’s proposals as have Concacaf (North/Central America and Caribbean) football.
The omens were not good for Infantino and the math did not smile in his favour. He would have needed 106 yes votes out of FIFAs 211 member nations and already UEFA with 55 members, AFC with 47 members, and Concacaf with 41 members already have enough to kick the proposal out. The African confederation, CAF, and CONMEBOL in South America will reportedly vote in August. Though now the plan according to reports has been scrapped they may not bother to meet as this was the only item on the agenda. With 143 votes already against Infantino it should be purely academic kicking out the proposal, which is exactly what appears to have happened but don’t hold your breath.
Infantino reportedly turned to the 30 pieces of silver tactic ‘bypassing continental confederations entirely, writing directly to individual national football federations’. He reportedly offered them “$40 million windfall if they accept the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan” by 19th September. This underhand tactic was unlikely to succeed if for no other reason UEFA have voted to boycott any future FIFA World Cup competition if this plan went ahead. Europe has some of the world’s most marketable teams and investors would be unlikely to be interested in a World Cup or any other FIFA competition without these teams present. Talking of teams as “marketable” is bad enough and should have no place but given where we are use it as a counterbalance to even worse extremes.
Back in 1970 British football's greatest manager of all time, in my view, Matt Busby gave a stark warning about the possible future of the game. He pointed out the growing influence business was having on the game stating:
Back in 1970 British football's greatest manager of all time, in my view, Matt Busby gave a stark warning about the possible future of the game. He pointed out the growing influence business was having on the game stating:
I hope we shall never sacrifice our sporting principles on the altar of big business. We must prevent a football club ever being run like a supermarket with profit the only real motive. The fear is that the big business of soccer will dwarf the sport.
Matt Busby gave his warning decades before the inception of the so-called Premier League, massive TV broadcast deals, and multi-billion-dollar corporate takeovers. His comparison with supermarkets directly mirrors modern fan complaints about ticket prices, commercial sponsorships, and billionaire owners prioritising brand growth over local community identity. Busby believed strongly that a football club belonged first and foremost to its working-class community. Rather than purchasing success, like what happens now, with massive corporate funding, he focused primarily on cultivating home grown talent. These were the principles and ethos which gave birth to the immortal ‘Busby Babes’ of the 1950s, a team built entirely on youth development, community identity and sporting romance. This community identity Matt carried through with him and four of the European Cup Final team on the pitch in 1968 came from Manchester. They were Nobby Stiles, Brian Kidd, John Aston, and Seamus Brennan, all signed from school coming through the youth system at Old Trafford, with Bill Foulkes (a Munich survivor) coming from St Helens, Whiston Boys Club, not far away.
Infantino’s proposal to create a $20 billion commercial subsidiary of the World Cup selling a 20% stake to private Wall Street investors goes against everything Matt Busby and other managerial legends, Bill Shankly, Bill Nicholson, Bertie Mee, Joe Mercer, Harry Catterick, Don Revie, and let us not forget Jock Stein in Scotland, plus later, in the next generation no doubt, Brian Clough.
Whether the plan had gone ahead or not is perhaps not the main issue here. The fact the game at the highest managerial level has reached a stage where such ideas are discussed let alone passed is the real concern. The possibility that FIFA chief, Infantino, may have discussed such a move with Donald Trump is also a major question which requires an answer. Like the ill-fated (for now) European Super League which was dropped in the face of supporter opposition this FFE dressed up as something else is likely to return in future decades. This plan of Infantino’s probably with US Presidential assistance was never likely to succeed this time with the voting weights before the Africans were due to meet already stacked against Infantino. Watch this space in the future because another plan with an even fancier name to mask its reality will likely be put forward again.
Whether the plan had gone ahead or not is perhaps not the main issue here. The fact the game at the highest managerial level has reached a stage where such ideas are discussed let alone passed is the real concern. The possibility that FIFA chief, Infantino, may have discussed such a move with Donald Trump is also a major question which requires an answer. Like the ill-fated (for now) European Super League which was dropped in the face of supporter opposition this FFE dressed up as something else is likely to return in future decades. This plan of Infantino’s probably with US Presidential assistance was never likely to succeed this time with the voting weights before the Africans were due to meet already stacked against Infantino. Watch this space in the future because another plan with an even fancier name to mask its reality will likely be put forward again.
On top of this ridiculous plan what else could Gianni Infantino and his partner in criminality, Donald Trump, have discussed?
Last Thursday 30th July marked the sixtieth anniversary of England’s well-deserved capture of the World Cup in 1966. The Manager, Alf Ramsey, was paid by the FA £4,500 per annum which is around £109,000 in today’s money. The FA today pay incumbent manager Thomas Tuchel around the same figure Per Week, and the victorious players sixty years ago were on a bonus of £1,000 before tax! Now six decades on from that day back in 1966 the FIFA President of today wants to sell off the competition England won, the World Cup. I wonder what those great Brazilian teams of the past would make of this abomination? How things have declined as the FIFA President plans to sell off the Word Cup “for Ten Billion dollars”. What do, I wonder, Geoff Hurst, Ian Callaghan, and Terry Paine, the three surviving members of Alf Ramsey’s squad, make of this mess? This report was compiled prior to the scheme being scrapped on 1st August.
I feel sorry for young fans attending football games in the present climate. Due to their age they will never have watched a genuine match, they will never have experienced the atmosphere of Old Trafford, Anfield, Maine Road, Elland Road, Saint James Park, Roker Park, and Goodison Park in the sixties, seventies and eighties when standing accommodation was available along with, for those who wished, seats. Back in the seventies football fans, myself included, were branded ‘mindless thugs’ who would ruin the game. Well, I’ve got news for these Philistines in grey suits who think of money and money only, you have done more to kill football than a hundred pitch invasions could ever have done. Granted we were a little overenthusiastic whereas this shower of money grabbing parasites are thugs of the highest magnitude dressed in suits! As if allowing Donald Trump to trump a referee’s decision in full view of the football public the sycophant responsible for not addressing the problem, interference by Trump, Infantino is now creating more havoc throughout world football.
Manchester United’s Red Army were described as “mindless thugs” who were killing the game with the trouble they caused away from home by the ever-dishonest media as we travelled around England and Europe. Compared with the real thugs in suits like Infantino and his gang our occasional pitch invasion or battle on the terraces did absolutely no harm whatsoever as even some commentators joined in admiring some terrace events, though not pitch invasions or terrace fights. Not only have Matt Busby’s worse fears being realised they have gone far beyond his supermarket comparison. The once great game which for many of us became an obsession has become like the Yeti, abominable!!
Last Thursday 30th July marked the sixtieth anniversary of England’s well-deserved capture of the World Cup in 1966. The Manager, Alf Ramsey, was paid by the FA £4,500 per annum which is around £109,000 in today’s money. The FA today pay incumbent manager Thomas Tuchel around the same figure Per Week, and the victorious players sixty years ago were on a bonus of £1,000 before tax! Now six decades on from that day back in 1966 the FIFA President of today wants to sell off the competition England won, the World Cup. I wonder what those great Brazilian teams of the past would make of this abomination? How things have declined as the FIFA President plans to sell off the Word Cup “for Ten Billion dollars”. What do, I wonder, Geoff Hurst, Ian Callaghan, and Terry Paine, the three surviving members of Alf Ramsey’s squad, make of this mess? This report was compiled prior to the scheme being scrapped on 1st August.
I feel sorry for young fans attending football games in the present climate. Due to their age they will never have watched a genuine match, they will never have experienced the atmosphere of Old Trafford, Anfield, Maine Road, Elland Road, Saint James Park, Roker Park, and Goodison Park in the sixties, seventies and eighties when standing accommodation was available along with, for those who wished, seats. Back in the seventies football fans, myself included, were branded ‘mindless thugs’ who would ruin the game. Well, I’ve got news for these Philistines in grey suits who think of money and money only, you have done more to kill football than a hundred pitch invasions could ever have done. Granted we were a little overenthusiastic whereas this shower of money grabbing parasites are thugs of the highest magnitude dressed in suits! As if allowing Donald Trump to trump a referee’s decision in full view of the football public the sycophant responsible for not addressing the problem, interference by Trump, Infantino is now creating more havoc throughout world football.
Manchester United’s Red Army were described as “mindless thugs” who were killing the game with the trouble they caused away from home by the ever-dishonest media as we travelled around England and Europe. Compared with the real thugs in suits like Infantino and his gang our occasional pitch invasion or battle on the terraces did absolutely no harm whatsoever as even some commentators joined in admiring some terrace events, though not pitch invasions or terrace fights. Not only have Matt Busby’s worse fears being realised they have gone far beyond his supermarket comparison. The once great game which for many of us became an obsession has become like the Yeti, abominable!!
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| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
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