So Malaysia will be represented in the boardroom of the world’s most powerful football league next season – even if Tony Fernandes and Queens Park Rangers are relegated as expected.
Tan Sri Dato Seri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun – Vincent Tan to supporters of Welsh club Cardiff City – has taken the club in the capital of Wales into the English Premier League.
I was going to write ‘controversial’ owner but is he?
As just one of two men in the 56-year history of the Africa Cup of Nations to win the trophy as a player and a manager – the late Egyptian legend Mahmoud El-Gohary being the other – you would assume Nigeria’s Stephen Keshi has earned some well-deserved job security.
But, as mind-boggling as it may sound, the man who managed the Super Eagles to the trophy in Johannesburg might be forced, by a series of bizarre circumstances,
While FIFA is trying to reform its own organisation, the Swiss government is considering changing the laws – changes that will impact on the (about) 60 international sports organisations that are headquartered in Switzerland. However, the non-governmental sports multinationals don’t have to fear too many new rules and laws as the Swiss administration is working closely with the Basel Institute on Governance – the University institute headed by Professor Mark Pieth, FIFA’s chief reformer. This actually means that FIFA has a direct influence on the decision as to whether Switzerland’s lawmakers will eventually put change into place.
It was on 23 June 1998 – Sepp Blatter’s 15th day as FIFA President – that it started to dawn on me that the governing body was probably going to have to do something about compensating clubs for players injured on international duty.
In just the fourth minute of what turned out to be a drab group match between Italy and Austria in the Stade de France, Alessandro Nesta, the elegant Lazio and Azzurri central defender,
Two years ago, whilst at the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament in Khartoum, Sudan, I bumped into a FIFA official, often tasked with the duty of firefighting governance problems in various national associations across the world.
When we sat down, for a frank conversation about the challenges of improving football administration in Africa, I made it clear that better methods need to be devised by FIFA, in order to ensure that good governance is prevalent amongst the continent’s national associations.
A violent thunderstorm rages while we talk in Singapore, but Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck is a man used to dealing with turbulence. Including the furore over the club’s ruthless attitude to sacking managers.
” I know we have fired what most people would say are a lot of managers – terminated their relationship is a better way to describe it – but we’ve always thought long and hard when we’ve done it,” said Buck.
Mrs Thatcher’s death not only marks the passing of a leader, the like of which we may not see again, but it also marks a watershed in sport.
Thatcher was the last of the British Prime Ministers who did not care about sport. Her husband Denis was passionate about sport, particularly his golf and was a former rugby referee, her son Mark played cricket for Harrow’s first XI but Mrs Thatcher could not understand why people cared about sport.
CONCACAF is voting again. Chuck Blazer, a US citizen, is stepping down to be succeeded by Sunil Gulati, a US citizen, who will be promoted to FIFA’s Executive Committee. Meanwhile, the tiniest of Caribbean islands that make up the majority of the CFU, are following orders as usual. This time, not those of the much maligned Jack Warner, but those of a dubious and FIFA-reprimanded figure, Gordon Derrick, victorious in a somewhat weird election to the helm of the CFU in Budapest last year (held in parallel to the FIFA Congress),
When FIFA President Sepp Blatter told the world over two years ago that his organisation would clean up its act and enter a new era of transparency after sinking to a low following an unprecedented period of corruption, supporters took him at his word while cynics – of whom there are a fair few – looked to the heavens and questioned whether it would really happen.
Since then there have been hundreds of column inches written about the Great Reform Process designed pull FIFA into the 21st century and which comes to head on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius at the end of next month when 209 member nations vote at FIFA’s annual congress on the need for change.
Why is it impossible to decide who is the Lionel Messi of football’s men in suits?
Forget the argument about whether Lionel Messi is the greatest player. That argument can never be resolved as it depends on a variety of factors, many of them intensely subjective.
For instance, people of my generation who were brought up on the greatness of Pele will continue to believe that while Messi is a wonderful player,
Anyone seeking revolutionary change to the way in which FIFA does its business would certainly be underwhelmed with the changes to be proposed at next month’s congress in Mauritius.
As the stone-cold reality continues to sink in, that key suggestions of the IGC, led by Professor Mark Pieth, are not going to be implemented in the way originally proposed – a roadmap which well-meaning people within the fraternity keenly support – it is time to acknowledge that the harsh,
I didn’t think I’d be returning to the subject of racism in football quite this quickly.
But the stories are coming thick and fast as is the political manoeuvring from football’s leaders.
So the last thing that is needed is anything that threatens to dilute the very real, very serious issue of racism in football 2013. Anything that is grey – not black and white – poses a big problem. And yet it seems for each disgusting act from the terraces or on the pitch there is now an inconclusive allegation.
The moment of truth is approaching. By April 15, the world will get to know how FIFA is going to handle the famous ISL dossier, i.e. the bribes paid to high ranking FIFA officials by its former marketing partner.
It will be a litmus test for FIFA and its reforms. The world is keen to see if FIFA is really serious about cleaning up the mess of the past. If FIFA seriously wants to reboot,
The World Cup qualifiers have produced the usual bag of results that make you sit up and take notice. Spain rediscovering their touch with their victory in Paris, Israel suggesting they might become more than a country that makes up the numbers but, inevitably, it was been England that has made all the headlines and the wrong ones at that.
So the common refrain has been why cannot the English play like champions to be?
When you are as special as world champions Spain, it’s no surprise two games without a win is viewed as a mini-crisis.
But the emphatic response of Vicente del Bosque’s side to World Cup qualification concerns reminds us they are close to football immortality. A fourth consecutive major tournament win in Brazil 2014 would be a simply incredible achievement.
In the spirit of consistency I should reiterate my prediction for how the 2014 tournament will unfold.