Could change finally be on FIFA's agenda following the announcement that their own ethics committee is to investigate Gianni Infantino for what was a blatant breach of their stated political neutrality during the massively stage-managed/ orchestrated draw for the 2026 World Cup? An event that included the awarding of a first ever ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ to a more than slightly dubious recipient...
After Russia 2018, next up on Gianni Infantino's air-miles list was Qatar for 2022. Eyebrows were raised once more due to its less than squeaky clean human rights record, not to mention lack of footballing infrastructure and concerns over the temperature, but nevertheless we got a first winter World Cup after another sackload of oil money made its way to FIFA HQ…
As we continue a whistle-stop tour of World Cups past, we’re also exposing the tone-deafness which seems to plague FIFA's current leader. Having kicked off by exploring the disappointing, if not necessarily surprising, roots of the sort of criticism Gianni Infantino simply carries on swatting away in office to this day, where better to pick up than Russia in 2018, where he made another dubiously powerful friend in Vladimir Putin and got himself a nice shiny Medal of Friendship while he was at it, presumably having learnt more than a few dark arts from his predecessor, Sepp Blatter?
Anyone who followed the awkward, and ever so slightly insidious bromance between Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino which has been increasingly dominant in coverage of the build up to the impending, expanded World Cup across the USA, Canada and Mexico, might be forgiven for wondering if FIFA's current head honcho had bothered to read the history books. Starting with his parental homeland's hosting of the second tournament in 1934…
It's probably fair to say the stakes were far higher for Crawley as they welcomed Shrewsbury to the Broadfield Stadium for their penultimate home game of the League Two season, before hosting Salford City on the final day and probably needing all three points to beat the dreaded exit from the Football League (in the end a goalless draw was enough to avoid the drop).