Now that Sepp Blatter is leaving FIFA — and don’t let the door hit your on over-stuffed-with-bribes-oversized wallet on your way out — how does soccer’s governing body go about fixing its myriad issues?
The first priority and the focus of much of the allegations of corruption revolves around how the host nations for the World Cup are chosen.
Each of the 209 member nations of FIFA gets one vote when the host site is chosen. ESPN’s Nate Silver chronicled how this set-up, which gives countries like Fiji the same power as Brazil, is ripe to be corrupted.
So, FIFA should start with amending the organization’s rules to ensure that the site selection process can’t be corrupted. The goal: minimize the chances that bids from countries with no soccer history or infrastructure, such as Qatar, can be bought, which is what allegedly happened when the Middle Eastern country was selected to host the 2022 finals.
How to do it?
FIFA currently has a congress, consisting of every member nation, and an executive committee, consisting of 25 members: one president, eight vice presidents (one from each region except for Europe, which has three representatives on the board), one female member (seriously, this is what this position is referred to as in the FIFA guidelines: the female member) and 15 other members.
The executive committee decides the place and dates of the final competitions of FIFA tournaments, except for the host country for the World Cup. Every country gets to vote on that.
While it’s nice that everyone gets a say on who hosts the billion dollar event, it’s also silly.
The finals should rotate every four years among the major regions: Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and South America. In this example, the U.S. would get the World Cup in 2026 and Mexico or Canada in 2046.
Such a pattern should ensure that the game is grown generationally in every region. While it may not completely prevent bribes within the region for votes, it should limit the large-scale international bribes that have corrupted the current process.
Furthermore, candidate World Cup hosts countries must already have built, or are in the identifiable process of building, the stadiums and infrastructure necessary to host the finals. That should weed out countries like Qatar, which doesn’t have a competitive desirable league, while keeping in countries like Russia, which has a competitive league.
The executive committee can then approve the proposal and proceed to getting on with preparations.
Silverbacks: The Silverbacks will play at New York Red Bulls on Tuesday in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
After a solid start, things have started to turn for the Silverbacks, who are at the bottom of the NASL’s Spring standings. However, a victory against New York could be a springboard to more positive results.
Atlanta has a solid history playing MLS teams in the U.S. Open Cup, having beaten Colorado and Real Salt Lake in previous tournaments.
Vibe: Atlanta may have two professional soccer teams coming online in 2017.
The Atlanta Vibe women’s soccer team won’t join the NWSL in 2016 as the ownership group hoped. The league recently notified the group of its decision to postpone its entry. Trey Brantley, a member of the group, said the league didn’t think the franchise had enough time to be up and operational by next year.
Brantley said they aren’t discouraged and will use the time to try to secure approval for the 2017 season. The team would play at Silverbacks Park.
Gold Cup: Sean Johnson was the best hope among players from metro Atlanta region to make the U.S. Gold Cup roster.
But the goalkeeper wasn’t one of the players selected. Since going down with an injury, Johnson has found it difficult to regain his starting spot for the Chicago Fire.
There were a few other possibilities, albeit slim, in forward Jack McInerney and midfielder Ricardo Clark. They have three goals each for Montreal and Houston, respectively.
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