ON Thursday, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the world’s greatest sporting spectacle kicks off when Russia, the host nation, meets Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
Over the next four weeks, football fans across the globe are gearing up for the greatest show on earth. With a football fest of matches, talent and tactical intrigue on display, managers and players are bent on showcasing the beautiful game to global television and Internet audiences, projected to reach over two billion.
Most of the focus will be on the action and surprises on the pitch by exciting stars, such as Lionel Messi of Argentina, Neymar of Brazil, Ronaldo of Portugal and the hottest new kid on the block, Liverpool’s “Egyptian King” Mo Salah.
Hopefully, he is fully recovered from his dislocated shoulder sustained during last month’s Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kiev, Ukraine.
Even before a ball has been kicked, the football’s governing body, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) had scored own goals in its stewardship of the beautiful game.
The very integrity of the award process of the World Cup to Russia and the next one in Qatar in 2022 has been repeatedly questioned.
Russia is a pariah sports nation in the eyes of the International Olympic Committee over its allegedly institutionalised and flagrant doping of athletes; has a far-right football hooliganism problem; and a die-hard racism culture among a minority of fans who targeted racial abuse at players of colour over the last few seasons.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino will contend that these decisions were taken during the tenure of his disgraced predecessor Sepp Blatter, albeit as Fifa secretary, he was clearly in the thick of it.
The World Cup will be the first one in the post-Blatter era, but at least till 2022, the most prestigious global sporting spectacle will continue to be defined by the legacy of Blatter and the corruption scandals linked to him.
Infantino’s abrupt sacking of Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert from Fifa’s Ethics Committee in the aftermath of his election as president, despite the fact they had “hundreds of cases” ongoing in the corruption scandal linked to the Blatter era, sent all the wrong signals.
Russia 2018 is as much a test for the Infantino regime going forward as it is for the world governing body.
It will take at least a decade to exorcise the demons of the Blatter administration. There are critics who suggest that Infantino was too embroiled with the Blatter era, and as such his ability and commitment to deliver vital reforms may be seriously compromised.
A week before the start of Russia 2018, Infantino, in an interview with FIFA.Com, declared Russia was “100 per cent ready” to host the tournament.
“What is nice about the World Cup is that there are always surprises, right? The World Cup has this unique faculty of being able to change the perception people have about a place, a country.
“People will see Russia as a different country: as a country that is welcoming the world, as a country that is festive, that wants to celebrate, that wants to be open.”
Many people may take issue with his remarks, given the autocratic rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
FIFA did not have to wait for a week for surprises. A few days ago, it was forced to provisionally suspend Kwesi Nyantaki, president of Ghana Football Association (GFA), from football activities for 90 days, after he was filmed apparently accepting a “cash gift” of US$65,000 (RM259,000) from an undercover reporter.
Nyantaki is a member of the FIFA Council and a powerful figure in African football.
The Ghanian government moved quickly to dissolve GFA, an act which Fifa could deem as political interference in the administration of the game and could ban Ghana from international competition.
Kenyan referee Adel Range Marwa was bound for Russia until he resigned after he was filmed receiving a “cash gift” of US$600.
These incidents and past ones, involving Trinidad, Qatar, South Africa, Ghana, United States and Kenya, make a mockery of the perceived disproportionate power and influence of football-lite nations, of how they have managed the global game, especially in the election of officials and the awarding of contracts and tournaments.
Corruption in football is not confined to minion countries. Fifa, after all, is based in Zurich, a global hub of private banking and bullion business, which during the Blatter years, has presided over the biggest corruption scandal in football.
Football politics aside, let us hope that the beautiful game does find its sporting mojo and thrives in Russia under Putin’s patronage.
Russia 2018 offers exciting prospects but ultimately it is the responsibility of the host nation and Fifa to deliver a tournament fit for sporting purpose and for the billions of fans.
An interesting aside is that for the first time there will be seven Muslim countries participating — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco — none of which stand a chance of lifting the Jules Rimet trophy at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on July 15.
One or two teams may progress to the next round, with the world’s eyes focused and expectant on one, Salah, undoubtedly the most exciting player in the world in the 2017/18 season.
While Australian winger Daniel Arzani will be the youngest player in the tournament at 19, Salah’s teammate Essam El-Hadary, is the oldest player to ever play in a World Cup at 45.
Mushtak Parker is an independent London-based economist and writer