All the Presidential Men (Part 7)

The penultimate part of our occasional series looking at the Presidents of FIFA throughout history.

The global game
In the early 1970's, Brazil were the true kings of world football. Crowned champions for a record third time and synonymous with the silky skills of players like Pele, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto, the Brazilians were the embodiment of everything that was good in the game. Brazil was also about to provide FIFA with its seventh President, Joao Havelange.

In 1974, Stanley Rous' leadership of football's world governing body came to an end. He'd overseen a modest expansion of the game in many countries around the world, but some of them now wanted recognition for the way they'd developed the game to a higher standard.

Under Rous, only European and South American teams were guaranteed a place at the 1970 World Cup Finals. He remained largely unconvinced by the quality of the football being played in Africa and Asia, leaving its member federations to qualify via a series of one-sided play-offs against stronger teams.

With a growing sense of frustration, many of the younger footballing nations turned to Joao Havelange for support and it was here that Havelange, head of the Brazilian football federation at the time, saw an opportunity to force a change for the better. In the two years leading up to the 1974 Presidential election, he actively canvassed for support by making 86 foreign trips to countries far and wide, and with money from the Brazilian FA, 36 African countries were offered an all expenses paid trip for two representatives to attend the all-important FIFA conference where the next President would be elected.

His efforts paid off - just. When the votes were counted on the day of the election, Havelange was seen to have beaten Rous by a narrow margin. With the backing of Africa and Asia, the Brazilian had taken control of FIFA and immediately set about the task of repaying them for their support. By the time of the 1982 World Cup, Africa would have two representatives and Asia one, but progress in the meantime would be frustratingly slow.

One area where Havelange clearly had greater success was in the embracing of commercial partners to create a better economic foundation for FIFA. Far more money was needed to improve the development of the game around the world, and Havelange knew how to get it. By engaging in multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with companies like Adidas (who supplied the match balls for every World Cup from 1970 onwards), Havelange was able to give FIFA the firm financial footing it required.

Yet for all that, Joao Havelange couldn't help but court controversy from time to time When a volcanic eruption in Colombia caused the deaths of 21,000 people in 1985, it effectively ended the country's chances of hosting the World Cup the following year. A replacement host therefore had to be found at short notice.

The United States and Canada submitted their bids for the 1986 World Cup, but Havelange instead sent a team of inspectors to Mexico. Later, when the presentations of all three countries were made for the hosting rights, Havelange was said to have asked FIFA's delegates "Do you accept the word of the inspection team?" before calling an end to the matter. The bids from Canada and the United States weren't even considered, and Mexico were duly instated as hosts for the 1986 World Cup.

In more recent times, Joao Havelange has been accused of financial irregularities involving FIFA's former marketing partner, ISL, and even made accusations of his own this year that the World Cups of 1966 and 1974 were fixed so that the hosts could win. Yet by the 1990's, it was matters on the pitch that were proving just as troubling for the Brazilian.

The Finals of the 1990 and 1994 World Cups had ended with no goals scored from open play, and though there was some undeniably great football to be seen in both tournaments, it was clear that the sport was going through a period of transformation, with changes both good and bad taking place.

Once again it was time for FIFA to look to someone with fresh ideas and a new approach to ensure football remained on course for a secure future. Just before the start of the 1998 World Cup finals, Sepp Blatter was elected as the man to carry out that task, thereby ending the twenty-four year reign of Jean-Marie Faustin Goedefroid de Havelange.

Blatter's predecessor had achieved much during this time. He'd seen the expansion of the World Cup Finals from sixteen teams to thirty-two, the arrival of fifty new member nations (including China who re-joined after a 25-year absence) and he'd created new World Cups for women players, junior players and the indoor version of the game.

All in all then, Joao Havelange will be looked back on as a President who turned football into the sport we know today. New opportunities were created for the less fortunate players, clubs and countries of the world, all underwritten by the finances he helped to generate.

Going into a new century, football had well and truly arrived in the modern era, and one that was undoubtedly brought about by the clever Brazilian. Whether it could retain its appeal, however, would lie in the hands of a man from Switzerland.

And in other news...

By way of a break from the African Nations Cup, here's a selection of some of the recent news stories from the world of football that made us laugh, cry or stamp on our computer keyboard in a fit of rage.

Dennis Wise goes to Newcastle
Yes, it's all very sad really. I know there are people out there - many people - who hate and despise Leeds United. I ought to be one myself as a West Ham fan, but then again I've never been a 'typical' West Ham fan in that I generally have an agreeable way with most people. Anyway, I digress.

Even if you do have a thing about Leeds, you can't have failed to admire the job that Dennis Wise and Gustavo Poyet did in getting the club off to such an amazing start this season. Having entered administration in May 2007, Leeds were relegated from the Championship and forced to begin their 2007/2008 League 1 campaign on -15 points, but Wise ensured the deficit wouldn't be big for long.

His team won their first seven league games on-the-trot and went on to complete a thirteen game unbeaten run until they succumbed at the hands of Carlisle United in November. As things currently stand, Leeds United have lost only four of their 28 League 1 games so far and currently sit fourth in the table. Were it not for the 15 point deduction, they'd be leading the table by three points by now.

And that's why it was such sad news when first Gus Poyet decided to jump ship to become second in command to Juande Ramos at Tottenham and now Dennis Wise himself has been tempted to become Director of Football at Newcastle. So much hard work done, so much progress achieved, and yet a matter of weeks into the new year Leeds find themselves without the managerial wizards that have put them within touching distance of a return to the Championship.

I know many of you will be sniggering and laughing up your sleeves about all this, but from the purists point of view, you have to feel a pang of sympathy for the Elland Road club. Whether they can finish in a play-off place or higher this season is now the sole responsibility of former player Gary McAllister, and I for one wish him well as it'll be a shame to see such fortitude in the squad go to ruin.

ITV and the almost complete coverage of Euro 2008
Here in the UK last week, the two main terrestrial broadcasters, the BBC and ITV announced their plans for which games they'll be showing during this summer's European Championships.

As usual, there was a fair degree of horse-trading between the two. The BBC have elected to show the opening game between Switzerland and the Czech Republic while ITV take the Turkey v Portugal match later on the same day. The fixture carve-up continues from there onwards with one company taking the stronger game on any particular day and the other taking the weaker game and vice-versa.

So far, so predictable, except when it comes to the Final, the BBC will be showing the tournament's climax live on June 29th while ITV... decide not to bother. They'll be showing highlights of the Final later in the evening.

Now before you say it, I know most people watch the big finals on BBC out of preference over ITV, but when you've gone to the bother of showing live games every day throughout the competition from Day 1, wouldn't you then show the Final live at the end too? I mean have they gone stark raving mad?!? It's like building a house and not bothering to put the roof on when you've finished.

I think now ITV have officially lost the plot. Their broadcasting output has been in freefall for many years now where entertainment's concerned, but this takes the biscuit. If they had any credibility in the eyes of football fans in this country before now, it's surely gone down the plughole once and for all with this news...

Open foot, insert mouth
Finally, we return to the African Nations Cup (well you knew we would eventually, didn't you?) Yes, our old friend Count Sepp von Blatter has been at it again. He's decided that the two-yearly tournament currently taking place over in Ghana could be the last to be held in its traditional January slot. Apparently it's clashing badly with the club football going on across Europe and many players are having to go absent from the Premier League, Serie A and elsewhere while it's going on.

His answer to this apparent crisis: to move the competition to June and July by 2016.

Well now, let's see. First of all, clubs don't have to buy African players. Manchester United have no African players and yet they're flying high in the Premier League. It therefore pays to say that any club that does buy an African player has to accept the fact that he (or they) will be absent every two Januarys for what would appear to be a damn good reason.

Secondly, what happens when an African Nations Cup held in the middle of the year coincides with the World Cup or European Championships? Ah, fear not. He's thought of that. It'd have to be moved to an odd-numbered year. So that's alright then.

Add to the equation that the climate for many African countries in June and July, according to CAF, is not suitable for playing football in and you have yet another hair-brained scheme from Dr. Blatter that's doomed to failure. We wonder why he bothers to open his mouth sometimes, but we think it's just to keep us all entertained, and that, we think you'll agree, is something we should all be grateful for.

Blatter - Man of the Fifties...

It's something no decent person should have to face first thing in the morning: a picture of Sepp Blatter staring out at you from your newspaper. Talk about a bad start to your day...

And why was he taking up valuable column inches on this particular occasion? Because the English FA (shock horror) have dared to appoint a head coach for its national team that isn't English. You've got to hand it to him - he's as sharp as a tack when it comes to this sort of thing.

Did no-one tell him about Sven? Oh well, never mind. Anyway, Von Blatter of Switzerland has hauled out his trusty old soapbox once again and proclaimed to anyone that'll listen that it's "a little surprising that the motherland of football has ignored a sacrosanct law or belief that the national team manager should be from the same country as the players."

And fair enough to. Next time I see Owen Hargreaves, I'll ask him if there are any decent managers in Canada that might be interested in being a future head of the England team.

He went on to say: "In fact, most of the best teams have a coach from their own country." As I didn't believe him for a moment, I thought I'd check this out to see if he was right. To my amazement, he was. Out of FIFA's top 20 highest-ranked teams, only four have a foreign manager, one of which is Fabio Capello of England, the others being Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil), Greece's Otto Rehhagel (Germany) and Nigeria's Berti Vogts (Germany).

But that's about all Sepp Blatter is right about. It may have been the case once upon a time that a national team should have a manager from the same country, but that's no longer the case. What remains the same is the desire by a great many international football associations (and their fans) to see their team do well, play better and perhaps even win something.

We're not living in the 1950's anymore. If there's a coach out there that can bring a change in fortunes to a team and bring a smile back to the faces of the supporters, who the hell cares? We're not so precious when it comes to buying our cars. If we were, we British would still be driving around in Austin Allegros and Morris Marinas.

So let's just run this past you one more time, Sepp old son. It's an open market out there. A country can choose who it likes to be its head coach, and that's been the case for a long time now, so can you please remember that you're supposed to be taking the game forward into a modern era and shut up now?

The sooner the Blatter...?

Yes, Sepp Blatter’s opened his mouth again. The big Swiss cheese with a mind full of holes who’s renknowned for his eye-opening comments has now suggested that Europe’s domestic football leagues should run from February to November. He claims that such a system would allow players to recover from injuries and rest over the winter break.

Great idea. Fabulous. No more playing through the cold, snowy, wet and windy months. The whole of Europe synchronised as one. How marvellous.

Marvellous, that is, except for the fact that there can’t be very many players in the UK (or maybe even Europe) that would want to miss out on a summer holiday, so when would they get to rest? The answer, in a word, is ‘winter.’

Providing you, as a player, have managed to make it through to November unscathed, you’d be free to jump on a plane and head off to warmer climes. Fabulous… but don’t get on that plane just yet. Herr Blatter has said that the winter break would be an ideal time for national teams to play their qualification matches. Oh well, maybe you wouldn’t have liked that two-week break in Barbados anyway.

But let’s not consign Sepp Blatter to the looney bin just yet, because he’s also come up with an idea that’s actually got something going for it.

He’s suggested that where the European qualification system for the World Cup is concerned, there should be more groups containing fewer teams, meaning players are involved in fewer games and are in turn less likely to pick up injuries.

This is in direct contrast to recent years where the number of qualifying groups has stayed the same but have swelled to accommodate as many as eight teams. Eight teams means fourteen qualifying games and fourteen reasons for Mourinho, Wenger, Ferguson and co. to bemoan the absence of their players. Any opportunity to reduce that must surely be welcomed, and this might just be the plan to help achieve it.

In the recent past, talk has centered on the smaller nations that now take part in the qualifying competitions for the World Cup and European Championships like San Marino and Andorra. Many claim they should be subjected to a pre-qualifying round to reduce their numbers, which is all well and good, but it wouldn’t necessarily reduce the overall number of fixtures for each team while treating all those competing fairly. This way would make for a shorter, sharper, more exciting competition with equality as its watchword.

So at last there’s a feint home that Mr. Blatter and his boffins in Zurich may have finally conjured up an idea that could benefit the game and be easy to implement. And when are we likely to see it implemented for the first time? 2009 at the earliest, by my reckoning. Let’s just hope it’ll be worth the wait...

When the Pools Panel just won't do...

I read with interest that Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, has expressed his dissatisfaction at the way penalty shoot-outs settle drawn matches. Hmmm. That’s a worry. When Herr Blatter opens his mouth, one of the following usually happens:

(a) the laws of football are changed
(b) someone gets offended, or
(c) he inserts one of his feet.

Sepp Blatter is no stranger to controversy. In 2006 he proclaimed that 'football was a man's game and women should only play if they wore skimpy shorts.' OK, controversial he may be, but I think you’ll agree he’s not completely insane.

So what are we to do with the penalty shoot-out system and what alternatives could we embrace?

Perhaps we should turn to America, a country known to be intolerant of sporting events that end in a draw. Back in the days of the old North American Soccer League, a ‘Shootout’ would ensue whereby the kicker would run towards the goal from 35 yards out and have 5 seconds to stick the ball in the back of the net.

It meant the audience would see a variety of creative and entertaining approaches used to beat the keeper, like the one used by Hugo Sanchez whereby he'd flip the ball 20 yards up into the air before volleying it goalwards. Some players preferred to dribble around the keeper while others would shoot from a long way out, but whatever technique was used, it was regularly good fun to watch from a spectator’s point of view.

Some say that penalty shoot-outs don’t work because the onus is on one player from either team to settle the result, whereas football by its very nature is a team game. Why not, then, use the method favoured by some where, during the extra time period, one player from either team is withdrawn from the pitch every few minutes. With the growing space that would occur on the pitch, surely there'd be more chance of a goal being scored?

Maybe, but I think this would be a messy system to enforce. I think it could be made simpler by making the teams withdraw six players each at half-time in extra time. Or simpler yet, make both teams play extra time without their goalkeepers and prevent outfield players from entering the six-yard box? That would no doubt see a dearth of ambitious long-range shots, one of which would be bound to go in. A great system, especially if your name’s Xavi Alonso.

Once upon a time, replays were used to find a winner to a tied match, but this is a lengthy, drawn out method which as rightfully been dropped in the modern era. The FA Cup has, on occasions, seen a tie settled after as many as six replays, but even the use of one is seen as too many these days.

Maybe the amount of goals scored by teams in previous rounds should be taken into account? Well, maybe not. Though this at first seems like a good way to encourage teams to score more goals in all matches, it doesn’t, of course, allow for the occasional thrashing dished out by a big team over a lesser one.

So that would appear to be all the options under consideration then... except one. In World Cups and European matches from the black-and-white era, it wasn’t uncommon for the winner of a drawn game to be decided by the referee tossing a coin at the end of the game. Now how refreshingly simple that would be. Teams would try and score more goals for fear of losing the toss (should it be needed) and no time-consuming, elaborate system would need to be used either.

Perfect - in fact it’s just the sort of crazy, bizarre system that a man like Sepp Blatter would wholeheartedly approve of.