The new year will start with some of the same arguments that dominated 2015: Fifa and should it be disbanded and rebuilt; Blatter, Platini and their level of guilt; the awarding of the World Cups to Russia and Qatar and should they be taken away amongst allegations of corruption in the bidding processes. Even though Russia 2018 is less than 3 years away the question of whether the World Cup may not be held in Russia won't go away.
The website/publication "Russia Behind the Headlines" (rbth.com) asked three football officials, "Will Blatter's departure prove fatal for Russia?"
This is what Boris Ignatiev, former coach of the Russian national team had to say:
"We never let him (Blatter) down. Russia held and continues to hold many tournaments under the aegis of FIFA and we never refused to do so.
“Blatter valued this and defended us when Russia was faced with groundless accusations. Now the situation may change. FIFA may be led by a person who can be controlled, one who may let politics penetrate the organisation. If the new director judges us not on football activities but on foreign policy, Russia may lose the opportunity to hold the World Cup. This cannot be excluded."
Is this Russian paranoia (maybe justified) or just plain ignorance of the situation at Fifa? "Now the situation may change." And now it's going to be bad, Mr. Ignatiev? Fifa, and football all over the world was controlled by Blatter and his team of cohorts who went where the money was. Politics was, and still is, a sad, unwanted part of football. And maybe, just maybe Russia should be judged on foreign policy- it's policy of securing the World Cup by all means. Its' "football activities" have little bearing here. If all the footballing countries in the world kept politics out of their footballing activities the current mess may not exist.
So let's hope that there is a new "director" who does things differently. And then Mr. Ignatiev will see what happens when Fifa is run as an organisation that truly cares about football. Unfortunately the new Fifa President is going to be one of 5 candidates who are all part of the existing system. That's another argument and before that one is resolved there is little chance of much else happening.
"We never let him (Blatter) down. Russia held and continues to hold many tournaments under the aegis of FIFA and we never refused to do so.
“Blatter valued this and defended us when Russia was faced with groundless accusations. Now the situation may change. FIFA may be led by a person who can be controlled, one who may let politics penetrate the organisation. If the new director judges us not on football activities but on foreign policy, Russia may lose the opportunity to hold the World Cup. This cannot be excluded."
Is this Russian paranoia (maybe justified) or just plain ignorance of the situation at Fifa? "Now the situation may change." And now it's going to be bad, Mr. Ignatiev? Fifa, and football all over the world was controlled by Blatter and his team of cohorts who went where the money was. Politics was, and still is, a sad, unwanted part of football. And maybe, just maybe Russia should be judged on foreign policy- it's policy of securing the World Cup by all means. Its' "football activities" have little bearing here. If all the footballing countries in the world kept politics out of their footballing activities the current mess may not exist.
So let's hope that there is a new "director" who does things differently. And then Mr. Ignatiev will see what happens when Fifa is run as an organisation that truly cares about football. Unfortunately the new Fifa President is going to be one of 5 candidates who are all part of the existing system. That's another argument and before that one is resolved there is little chance of much else happening.
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