NEVER mind the big ways in which FIFA manage to embarrass themselves – squabbles over who will be World Cup hosts, poppies on shirt and the like – they can also extend their influence in smaller ways too.
Spare a thought for Mauritius whose hopes of reaching the finals in Brazil in 2014 were always going to be very slim, but they probably would have liked to at least have lost on the field of play.
They were due to face Liberia – the country that produced the stunning talent George Weah – but were forced to pull out of the competition due to financial difficulties that had seen them battling with a £43,000 shortfall.
Okay it is not a great situation to be in, but spare a moment to weigh up what is happening here.
FIFA is, I believe, a body whose aim is – or once was – to expand the game throughout the world and help develop those nations who want to promote the game.
So while Mauritius have to give up their World Cup dream, FIFA are happy to spend £18m staging a meeting in Brazil to keep 1,000 world governing body’s ‘dignitaries’ on-side and here we are talking about an organisation who reportedly have £800m ‘surplus cash’ in the kitty.
So that adds up to nothing like supporting a football nation trying to develop!
