The FIFA Fraud: World Cup 2010 Qualifiers In Europe

Over the past few weeks, a strange anomaly in the play-off structure for the final European places at the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been mentioned on all of the British & Irish mainstream sports channels, but none of the mainstream news sources have decided to cover it for some strange reason. On paper this seems to be the biggest fraud in football history, but all of the football pundits seem to think that it is no big deal, and the news media are not even bothered by it. Maybe this is because it is so obvious that they generally think 'sure it must be ok', but I see it as an unfair selection process, full stop. Here is the fraud, and it really is quite simple. The top teams in all of the 9 European qualifying groups all qualify automatically, and the 8 best second-placed teams then enter two-legged play-offs, with the four winners of those play-offs also getting to the 2010 South Africa World Cup. The problem lies in how the pairings are chosen for those play-offs. It has yet to be decided, meaning that if two big nations are among the 8 best second-placed teams, there will probably be a seeding system to keep them away from each other, but if this is not necessary, FIFA will possibly hold an open draw. This creates an obvious advantage for the traditional powerhouses, who continue to hold a tight grip over world football's governing body, FIFA, if they feel like they require it.

September.14.2009 - George Valentine Corr, Blatant News Editor
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ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?
I am a massive football fan, it is definitely my sport of choice, and I feel that it is generally run in a fair way, but when I began to hear this fact about the method of selecting the pairings for the South Africa 2010 play-offs, at first I just did not believe it. I reckoned that the football pundits on the BBC, RTE, Newstalk, Sky Sports, TalkSport, etc., must have just gotten it wrong. Most of those guys are only interested in what goes on, on the pitch, so I presumed that they were just a tad misplaced in their understanding of the finer details of World Cup qualification. But I was mistaken. It seems that FIFA do infact intend to choose how they will pair the 8 best second-placed teams in the European qualifying groups, when it suits them best. When the groups are finished and when they can best decide how to pair them, to give the worlds most powerful footballing nations the best chance of making it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

BEST INTENTIONS = WORST FOOTBALL
They obviously want South Africa to be as exciting a World Cup as is possible, featuring the most well-known teams, but this preferential treatment of the bigger footballing nations will not necessarily add to the quality level of football on display at the finals, and that is the real tragedy for all soccer fans. We all want to see the best football teams on display, not the most recognisable shirts, and furthermore, I've never heard of a competition which decides it's qualifying route, as it is going on. It just seems ridiculous, and I think some of these football pundits need to stop with the whole 'I don't get involved in the politics of football' mentality, and start criticising this kind of important and consequential policy making. It directly affects the football on the pitch, so it should therefore be in their domain.

SMALLER NATIONS WILL SUFFER
As with some of the political subjects which we cover here on Blatant News, this football matter will only really negatively impact the smaller and poorer nations of the world. In a football sense there is a hierarchy of nations - mostly European, but some South American nations too - which control FIFA, and they generally massage the rules to best suit themselves. Now those nations will sit back in the knowledge that if they are one of those second-placed teams, they will be given every advantage possible, and although this policy may reap bigger financial rewards for FIFA - through added television rights, match attendances and advertising - this will take away from the overall quality of the tournament, by possibly not showcasing some of the world's emerging/exciting teams and players, and replacing them with traditional names, who may ultimately have more efficient teams which are capable of nullifying an exciting, but immature, team in a play-off. And as a football fan, I would much prefer excitement over efficiency, all of the time, unless its my own team of course! But as a football neutral, one would want to see those teams who have spent two long years qualifying for the tournament, completely on merit, in South African stadia giving us a glimpse of their particular brand of football. And for this to happen, there must be the same rules set for everyone.

FOOTBALL QUALITY - NEW TEAMS EMERGE & EXCITE ALL OF THE TIME
Here is why the football quality may suffer at the impending World Cup. For example if A and B are bigger nations, and C and D are smaller nations, and seeding is chosen, A may play C and B may play D. This creates a much bigger hurdle for the two smaller nations, who will both need to overcome a much more experienced team to get to the finals. But if an open draw was made, the chances are that they may play each other, possibly allowing for an open and exciting game between two emerging nations. One of those teams would be guaranteed to make it to the finals, and one of the bigger nations would be sure to miss out. When you consider that C and D may actually be currently more in-form than A and B, wouldn't the finals be richer with one of those in it? The World Cup should be all about quality, so in all fairness an open draw should be the only option, and the teams themselves should be aware of this from day one. That question should not be still in the balance, in particular for the players, as they will inevitably feel a sense of unfairness which only serves to further fuel negativity inside the game. It may not be obvious to us as we watch them playing on our tv screens, but it will be there, and it will be eating away at some players and managers in the background.

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