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First Africa, now Asia.
As our exclusive story last week revealed, some of football’s six continental confederations appear to be exploiting the race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to try to drum up some extra windfall cash.
First, it emerged that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had signed an exclusive sponsorship agreement with Qatar 2022 for its Congress to be held in Luanda in two weeks’ time, as the African Cup of Nations nears its conclusion.
Then, insideworldfootball reported that CAF’s Asian counterpart, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), was auctioning sponsorship of its 2010 Annual Awards.
This event is scheduled to be held on November 24 in Kuala Lumpur, just a matter of days before the victors in the World Cup race are determined.
It will be an absolutely critical juncture in one of the most hard-fought and high-stakes contests in world sport.
The perfect moment, or so one would have thought, for the AFC to maximise its earnings.
I wouldn’t criticise the confederations for trying to make the most of a very rare opportunity.
The world economy - and, by extension, the sports sponsorship market - is still on its knees.
The World Cup race presents them with what must seem like the marketing equivalent of a tap-in from two yards for a striker suffering from a goal-drought.
And far from criticising, I would actually congratulate the Qatar bidding committee for its far-sightedness: this sort of tactical nous should convince any remaining doubters that the bid from the small but gas-rich Gulf state amounts to much more than an open cheque-book.
Even so, I think FIFA is going to have to do something about this.
As the International Olympic Committee appreciates better than most, such contests require scrupulous fairness if they are to retain their credibility.
Private events are another matter.
But if a bid’s exposure at official functions – attended by FIFA Executive Committee members who constitute the electorate for the purposes of this competition – is to depend directly on the size of its promotional spend, then frankly the governing body might just as well rip up the rulebook and hold an auction to decide the outcome of the entire competition.
Such an approach would at least have the virtue of simplicity.
But I doubt it would do much for FIFA’s image and would be greeted by a cacophony of protest from the vast majority of member associations, who could never hope to prevail in a contest where money was the sole arbiter.
Allowing the status quo to persist could also, I think, present FIFA with problems of a more practical nature.
If I were a confederation marketing director, witnessing what is currently happening, I’d be mightily tempted to plan an event for, say, November 26, while implementing a three-line whip to ensure the presence of my confederation’s FIFA Executive Committee members.
Before you know it, you could end up with a farcical situation that could be likened to the way seaside developers build taller and taller apartment-blocks so they can always offer their new customers a sea-view.
I am sure FIFA recognises the importance of a level playing-field: why else at last month’s “Media Expo” in Cape Town would the 10 bidders each have been given the same-sized vegetable stand and the same-length video slot with which to market their wares?
So will world football’s governing body take action?
When I asked this week for its official position on the sponsorship deals, this - word for word - is the response I received:
“According to the rules of the Bidding Process accepted by all bidders in the Bid Registration, any of the bidders may attend and promote its bid at the occasion of a competition organised by a confederation, provided that the confederation agrees to such bid promotion and that FIFA is informed.
“There is no explicit prohibition contained in the rules of the Bidding process relating to the congress of a confederation.
“It is important to note that confederations are legally independent from FIFA.
“At the time of writing, FIFA has not received any formal complaint regarding this matter.”
At once, my eyes homed in on the last sentence of that statement: FIFA has yet to receive any “formal complaint”.
I think it would serve the whole competition well if one of the contestants would get around to filing one pretty darn quick.
That way, we’d all know where we stand on the matter.
David Owen is a specialist sports journalist who worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering last year’s Beijing Olympics. An archive of Owen’s material may be found by Twitter users at www.twitter.com/dodo938