For those that’ve been playing the FIFA video game series annually since childhood, the nostalgia for previous editions (the series began with FIFA International Soccer in 1993) recalls happy associations that began with a simple flash animation and a voice declaring: “EA Sports, it’s in the game.”
On April 15th, Sepp Blatter is going to appear on a panel at the University of Basel in Switzerland. The purpose of the panel? To discuss ways in which FIFA can reform.
Gianni Infantino has not even been FIFA President for two whole months and he already finds himself embroiled in a corruption scandal. Infantino, a.k.a. "Johnny Baby" has become entangled in the "Panama Papers" offshore shell company leak scandal. This, it cannot be denied, is not a good look.
Authorities raided FIFA's offices, which is a thing they're probably used to by now, after Infantino's involvement in the Panama Papers was revealed.
From The Guardian:
Three-time biter Luis Suarez is returning to action with Uruguay after serving a nine-match international ban for taking a piece out of Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup. Suarez is now set to feature for Uruguay in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Peru.
Suarez was forced to miss the 2015 Copa America and the first four matches of 2018 CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying while also serving a four-month ban regarding all football-related activities with the national team.
Loretta Lynch is one of the most powerful people in the USA. She has used that power to help take down the powers that be at FIFA and CONCACAF, uncovering various acts of corruption and bribery and what have you.
Lynch appeared on the Colbert Report Late Show With Stephen Colbert (sorry) to talk about various aspects of her job as US Attorney General. FIFA comes up pretty quick.
The second FIFA women’s football and leadership conference featured rousing calls from both Billie Jean King and Moya Dodd for more involvement from women in finding solutions to the ills which plague FIFA.
FIFA’s culture, spearheaded by the chauvinistic Sepp Blatter and his old boys' network of archaic cronies, was exposed as inadequate and in need of an overhaul after being rocked by scandal after scandal over the past few years.
It's called the triple punishment. When a goalkeeper or defender brings down an attacking player in the box, and is punished with a red card, a penalty, and a ban for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. It has been a subject of debate for a long time, with most thinking that the law is overly harsh especially in cases where the defending player is genuinely going for the ball.
It appears that the International Football Association Board, or IFAB, has listened and that is all about to change this summer.
Now that Gianni "Johnny Baby" Infantino has been elected FIFA president, we can all speculate as to what the Gianni Infantino FIFA presidency will actually look like.
We've been handed our first clue as to the Infantino administration's style, etc. when Johnny Baby showed up to a soccer game next to FIFA's headquarters with shiny green shoes on.
The New York Times ended a profile of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter thusly:
“Enough is enough,” he said. “I will always be a president.”
We looked into it, and it turns out no, he will not always be a president. In fact, since the election of Gianni Infantino, he isn't even currently a president.
That's sort of how elections work. You're a president, then someone else gets elected, then you're not a president anymore.
Home