Gianni Infantino: the final hope

Day -859. WorldCup2018.

Do I do this for the fun of it, the fun of writing and the fun of writing about football? Or is it because I set myself a challenge, ridiculous as it may be, and am determined to see it through. All of the above, for sure. But maybe I also hope that when it comes to issues affecting most people's simple love of football, I could somehow turn this into something that makes a difference. When I read today's news I think either I'd better  start working on a plan if I want to be effective or why bother, when 54 African countries decide that an alleged torturer of his own countrymen and women is the best person to lead football out of the mess it's in.

Today CAF, the African confederation, officially endorsed Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa to as their choice for Fifa president. True, it does not mean that all 54 associations have to vote for him but chances are very high that they will. And along with the development agreement signed with the Asian confederation it looks like a pretty sure bet that Sheikh Salman has 100 votes out of the 209 in the bag. Let's assume, or at this point pray, that Gianni Infantino gets all of the 53 European votes. Then he's going to have to travel far and wide to get support in the Americas and Oceania and hope nobody wastes their votes on the other three, seemingly no-hoper candidates.

I have said repeatedly that the only real solution I see for Fifa is that it is disbanded, all these candidates excluded and the whole organisation starts all over from scratch. That is not going to happen. My more serious hope and plea is that Sheikh Salman does not win. How all the Africans can vote for him is beyond me. Yet sadly, at the same time, I realise that football association presidents are, in the majority, politicians. That they are voting for a person who was part of government that tortured fellow Muslims does not seem to be as important as the promise of what Fifa can do for Africa, and the need, they see, for a non-European president. The European's only crime? That he may have been a little to close to Sepp Blatter and his corrupt ways, the same corrupt ways that probably helped fill the pockets, and bank accounts, of more than just the South African organising committee in Africa. The logic astounds me. We don't want a European because the last one, at least legally, did nothing for us. Instead we would rather have a Middle Eastern Sheikh who was part of a torturous regime that is still in power.

My last hope would be that if the Sheikh does win that the Europeans, and Americans (all of them) and the Oceanic members, boycott Fifa. I know this will not happen. There will be lots of big talk and empty threats, like there have been aimed at Russia and Qatar. But in the end everybody will bow down, for the "good of the game".