Mark the date, February 26, 2016 – the world of football will see a lot of substitutions in its administrative line-up which is heading for a new look. For starters, the governing body, FIFA, will have a new President – a new era, with a lot of expectations. That apart, there is the other matter of how the functioning of the organization is all set to change – Dominico Scala’s structure for reforms has been retrieved from the dust bin and a fresh start is surely around the corner, or at least it seems so.
Desperate Times
Since the last few days of May 2015, the lives and methods of world football’s bosses have been under some heavy scrutiny. For top bosses and fringe officials alike, there has been a feeling that no one will be spared. Joao Havelange, Jerome Valcke, Jack Warner and Michel Platini to name a few big fish, along with Sepp Blatter, caused many editors to write stinging headlines. Early morning raids, indictments, arrests and a singing-canary like Chuck Blazer all together proved to be a cocktail that was too much to handle, and continued refills have literally caused FIFA to lose balance and fall face first – leaving them with a bloodied nose.
All this while, Blatter has been brazen and arrogant – the man who has recently been handed an 8-year ban from world football can’t return to football till he is 87, possibly not a very feasible idea. Having planted his roots in FIFA for four decades, Blatter, though, is still insisting on a comeback.
When Blatter told Wall Street Journal that "I've finished my work in football. I lost faith in our organisation on May 27 with this intervention by American law enforcement", it wasn’t a reaction of resignation to his ban but rather a warning to those who took down his empire – remember he has always maintained he will not leave the world of football yet.
Dramatic comebacks in sport are always quite a romantic idea; the likelihood of a fairytale is negligible.
Of course, one cannot point the finger only at the Swiss – he isn’t the only one to be blamed, but such was the importance of his stamp in all matters that this is a price he was always bound to pay. Keeping that in mind, just his ouster is also not enough to rid FIFA of its gloomy days; that is surely just the tip of an iceberg destined to cause more harm than what the Titanic faced. At this point it would also be criminal to discount the amount of ‘work’ he has done for the game, but unfortunately, it cannot be disputed that the stoppages he caused were more effective.
The Telestrator
Once Cameroonian Issa Hayatou took over as interim President - a day after Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were handed provisional bans, the first step had to be to take care of the injured face. There was a desperate need for that after the continued battering the organisation had been subjected to.
The final month of 2015 commenced with a very important Executive Committee meeting at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich – a landmark meeting, possibly the last time the Executive Committee met officially in the history of the establishment. More than half the Executive Committee is tainted, 14 out of 24 at least as of now, and the way matters are unravelling, one can surely not be confident of the other ten’s innocence.
Attack they say is the best form of defence, and Issa Hayatou understands that throwing caution to the wind is just the practical side of that ploy. After having chaired his first and last Executive Committee meeting, the Cameroonian, who quite comically snoozed off at the press conference, said: "I would not be here if I was corrupt”, but before anyone could jump on him, he arranged his wall. “The reform will take a certain time. And right now, I myself have small problems which will be over. But the reform will go on for months beyond that - beyond six months. I am just an acting President.”
This press conference, like the meeting, was a landmark event. The once trashed, disregarded and ridiculed reform structure that Dominico Scala had suggested back in September was dug out, the plans were reworked and a tactical masterpiece had been theoretically worked out.
When Sepp Blatter told the media on December 21, “I am the elected President. I need my rights restored”, it was a show of utter disrespect towards Hayatou, but the latter has been clever; he has undeniably left his trademark in Zurich.
Shall We Dance
February 26, 2016, will see a 9th President take charge at the FIFA Headquarters but before that the Congress will first look through and debate the new plans as designed in early December.
The Congress is expected to pass the reforms, wherein, a President can be in office for only 12 years and the FIFA Council will be formed which will take charge of daily administration. That council will officially log in on April 26, 2016, for their first day at work. The same Congress among other reforms will be asked to approve plans for a Governance Committee – which will be elected on May 12–13 in Mexico City during another Congress.
Negotiating and putting into place the aforementioned won’t be an easy task - something similar to the prospect of facing up to Barcelona’s ‘holy trinity’ comprising Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar Jr. Remember, even though a certain Blatter is not going to be around, the shadow and his faithfuls from 40 years of working are surely not going to let it be a goal fest.
Once the 9th President of FIFA is elected - mind you, we could see a first African or a first Asian President – that is when it will be time to start step out of the tunnel – the new regime must step up as the game is in danger – because without that push, the staunchest critics and the most fanatic fans will continue to have their doubts. The real game will begin and by no stretch of imagination will it be an easy match. Matchdays are never easy, and right now each one is as good as a final with the coach’s job well and truly at stake.
But if the tiki taka works out as expected, that will count as a first win – a much needed confidence builder.
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