Green and white sportswashing: Saudi Arabia can now also adorn itself with the prestigious World Cup event.
Photo: AFP
As always, Fifa President Gianni Infantino did not skimp on pathos when he once again made a big point about the golden World Cup trophy on Wednesday. The Swiss mastermind exclaimed that the world would ultimately stand still if the World Cup took place. And that’s why everything becomes more and more gigantic under his direction.
And so an extraordinary congress of the world association approved what was already certain: the 2030 World Cup finals will be played in Morocco, Portugal and Spain with three opening games in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, before the 2034 tournament goes to Saudi Arabia.
»This is a historic moment. Football is a unique phenomenon for uniting people from all classes, from all directions in a peaceful way,” emphasized Infantino. »We saw a great, fantastic tournament in Doha two years ago. Qatar was an incredible success story. The next tournament in the Gulf region, which the impresario had arranged with the approval of the 36-member FIFA Council, was waved through via video link.
Representatives of the 211 member associations gave their approval on the screens. In particular, Infantino’s new friends in Saudi Arabia can now make a difference instead of making a mess. After this coronation mass, the extremely rich monarchy received the absolution to build hotels and stadiums out of the desert sand. Everything had been done to ensure that, after the Emirate of Qatar, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could also adorn himself with this prestigious event.
After all, Norway’s football association NFF submitted a protest note against the megalomania that counteracts the reforms of the recent past. “The NFF cannot support a process that it considers to be flawed and incompatible with the principles of FIFA reforms,” said Secretary General Mattias Grafström at the beginning of the objection.
The Scandinavians primarily criticized the procedure. »The Board believes that the process is not consistent with the principles of a sound governance system. By refraining from acclamation, we are consciously signaling that we cannot support FIFA’s actions,” Norway’s association president Lise Klaveness said.
The twists and turns in Infantino’s power apparatus are so adventurous that this bloc vote will go down in history as a presidential masterpiece – as a chilling example of how a power-hungry jack-of-all-trades shapes the world of football the way he likes it. “Everything was in line with the applications,” claimed the FIFA boss, who, significantly, previously presented the financial report.
Because that’s really what it’s all about: even more friction through the expanding football network, which will feature a Club World Cup with 32 teams next summer that nobody really needs. As is well known, the vast majority, including the German Football Association as the sports association with the largest number of members, are not bothered by the fact that the aspects of a World Cup bid highlighted on the Fifa homepage have hardly been taken into account: objectivity, transparency, integrity and a commitment to human rights and one sustainable event management. The Fifa General Secretariat is explicitly supposed to ensure that “internationally recognized human rights are observed in accordance with the guiding principles of the United Nations” with every application.
Although organizations such as Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the ALQST organization, which focuses particularly on Saudi Arabia, warn of a still catastrophic human rights situation with an increasing number of executions, FIFA only saw a “medium risk” in this point for 2034 in its evaluation report. . And even a different assessment wouldn’t have changed anything – because there was no alternative.
The major confederations from Africa, Europe and South America are all involved in the absurdly inflated 2030 World Cup in Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with the three opening games in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. As is well known, the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay with all games in the capital Montevideo was the first in history. With 13 teams, only four of them from Europe, because not everyone was convinced of the benefits of such a tournament. A century later, the question of meaning arises more than ever.
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