Fear and loathing: On the campaign trail, Fifa style

The Hunter S Thompson title for his 1972 collection of articles, “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail”, told of a US presidential election which came at a time of change in western popular culture. Vietnam was still raging, the Cold War was still very alive and Richard Nixon was president, a figure Thompson despised. The result of that election? Nixon won with the biggest landslide in American electoral history. We all know what happened to Tricky Dicky two years later.

This week Fifa didn’t do themselves in any favours by awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Already under suspicion for the bidding process being run like a gentlemen’s club, the world’s football governing body demonstrated that in the end, money talks.

Several weeks previously, allegations surfaced that pointed towards collusion between the Spain/Portugal 2018 bid, and Qatar’s victorious 2022 effort, with a Sunday Times report in the United Kingdom leading to the suspension of two executive committee members and punishments for six others. However, no evidence was found to prove the collusion allegations, leaving the vote to take place as normal. The important fact here is while not enough evidence was found to prove anything, it appears that nothing has been disproved either. This ambiguity is a damning indictment of a bidding process that is screaming to breathe, where private interests and discussions suffocate the integrity of the entire process.

It also calls into question what a bid committee has to do to actually be rewarded with a “privilege” that is often an albatross just waiting to be hung around the neck an unsuspecting county’s neck. Reuters, the British news agency, received a copy of the bids report McKinsey were commissioned to do by Fifa to analyse each bid through five key revenue streams: licensing, sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality and media rights.

Do you know who was placed number one for 2018 and 2022? Not Russia or Qatar. England and the US both scored 100% in each revenue stream for their respective bids. Qatar on the other hand was ranked fourth with an overall average of 70%, behind both Japan and Korea. Russia didn’t fare much better, coming in last with an overall average of 86%, trailing in the wake of Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal. The England bid chief Andy Anson has subsequently said: “I would say right now don’t bother [bidding] unless the process is going to change. When there are only 22 guys, that gives them too much influence.” With “secured” votes having gone to other bidders, who can blame him for being disillusioned?

Fifa interestingly enough posted its first ever $1 billion revenue this year, topping out at $1.06 billion. That was before the unqualified success of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which means next year that figure will be even higher. Ironically, Fifa is a non-profit organisation, with its $196 million surplus being distributed to member nations and development initiatives. Still, that is a lot of money floating around Fifa headquarters in Switzerland, an apt location for an institution often shrouded in secrecy.

The absurdity of giving Qatar the bid goes toward common logic. The World Cup must been held in June and July, at the conclusion of the European season. That is the time when temperatures in Qatar reach upwards of 50 degrees Celsius. The solution? Build seven brand new stadiums, air-conditioned, and refurbish three more, all solar powered (the obvious choice it seems) and leaving reportedly minimal impact on the environment. With the environment being a scorching desert, this is a tournament that I think the environmentalists will lose little sleep over. What happens when the travelling fans, who might just outnumber the country’s entire population of 1.7 million people, step outside the stadium? At least fans won’t have to travel far, with Qatar being about two-thirds the size of Gauteng.

Russia’s victory is equally dubious, with the sheer size of the country providing players and fans with travel concerns. Ranked as the most corrupt country among the G20 nations, and recently described as a “mafia state” by US diplomats via the WikiLeaks saga, Russia’s notoriously inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy could also cause problems. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who, rumour has it, uses President Dmitry Medvedev as a puppet, didn’t even attend the final vote. Was that because he was sure of victory or does that allude to something darker, something more sinister?

While Fifa should be commended for once again taking football to new frontiers, the choice of Russia and Qatar as the next standard bearers in Fifa’s quest to take over the world through professional football tells the story of an organisation crippled by double-dealing and technocratic governance. President Sepp Blatter more resembles a mafia don now than he ever did, with his voice being the one that planted the white elephant Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. His voice has now taken football to the deserts of the Middle East and the vastness of Russia. They don’t appear to be the most attractive choices do they?