However, this time around he would be facing a formidable opponent in the name of Mohammed bin Hammam from Qatar who is also the head of the Asian Football Confederatio, AFC.
The decision to award Qatar the opportunity to host the World Cup in 2022 does not appear to have helped Blatter in any way from keeping Bin Hammam out of the race.
What is perhaps very interesting is that bin Hammam says he wants to rid Fifa of corruption, yet it is the same vice that others are claiming to have helped the tiny, but rich Arab nation with the most inhospitable weather in the world to land the World Cup!
But football politics aside, this is the second time that Blatter would be facing a tough opponent since he had an easy walk over CAF’s chief, Issa Hayatou in 2002.
In that historic election that saw an African taking a shot at the highest seat in the world’s soccer body, the Cameroonian was beaten by 139 votes to 56.
What was quite interesting about Hayatou’s defeat is that one of the people who campaigned against him was Cameroon’s celebrity, and arguably the oldest player to play at the World Cup, Roger Milla.
The 1990 World Cup star argued that since his fellow countryman had failed to develop soccer in his own backyard, in Cameroon and Africa, he had nothing new at the global stage.
Many chiefs of national soccer federations/associations the world over have already said that they would be returning Blatter to the Fifa presidency.
And Africa’s 53 plus national soccer organizations which have in the past voted more or less as a block, for Blatter, already shows a crack here and there.
According to the latest issue of The EastAfrican, there one of the cracks in the continent has emerged in the the Council for East and Central African Football Association, CECAFA, with Mohamed Hatimy of Kenya Football Limited planning to support Blatter’s opponent, bin Hammam in the electioin scheduled for June 1st (next month) this year.
In the words of Hatimy, the Qatar man has promised to change a lot of things in the way the Fifa runs soccer in the world if he is elected.
Apparently, one of the main reasons why Hatimy does not want Blatter is nothing but personal and that is very clear in the regional weekly paper.
But given the Confederation of African Football, CAF, politics and its dominance by the Arab north, one would be wary of the election of the Qatar man.
The point is, having had enough trouble in the CAF, anybody in his right senses would not cast his vote in favour of the Qatar man.
But this is not to say that Blatter is the best man in the industry, far from it.
But the world soccer governing body needs to have Blatter while it is still looking for a better candidate for the post, but certainly not from the Arab world!
Since most national soccer bodies the world over have already indicated that they would be voting for Blatter, one hopes that Africa will stand behind the incumbent Fifa president.
It is one’s hope that the voting pattern when the D-Day finally comes would not be influenced by the huge wealth that stems from oil the small Arab nation has, but rather the ability of the two men to lead the world soccer governing body.
It is very important for African soccer chiefs to realize that the development of soccer in their respective countries is paramount.
And that can only be realized if they used their voting power, come June 1st more judiciously.
Otherwise they would end up replacing the present Fifa leadership with what they have had for years through CAF!
It is an open secret that CAF has miserably failed to come to the aid of black African countries whenever the continental soccer body was faced with a case in which an Arab country stood accused of being involved in something that was inimical to soccer development.
For instance, CAF’s punishment meted out to Togo after the latter had withdrawn from the Africa Nations Cup tournament in Angola following a shooting incident that led to a loss of life and injuries just goes to show the kind of leadership at the helm of the organization.
Indeed, how can organization of CAF’s standing ban a country for two Afcon tournaments after its players had been subjected to such merciless barbaric attack?
Actually CAF should have punished Angola national soccer organization for seeking to host such a high profile soccer tournament while knowing too well that their country was still infested with guerrillas 30 years after their independence!
Thanks to Togo’s tireless appeals, CAF’s ruling was finally overturned by higher authorities.
By Attilio Tagalile
No comments:
Post a Comment