Tag Archives: uefa

wake up call

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Much in the world of football is cyclical. Each leagues’ yearly seasons are the easiest examples of this. But larger scale tournaments happen over longer, repeating periods: World Cups, European Championships and Asian Cups all take place in four-year cycles, while the rest of the world’s confederations operate on two-year ones — well, most of the time anyway. Many leagues have eras of supremacy within them, with one club hoisting themselves to the fore for a few years, succeed that dominance to another club for a period, and then regain it again down the road.

Doha Qatar Stadium Complex

will club football’s greatest event soon find a home in the middle east?

Even rumors within the sport are full of repetitive eras. Transfer rumors seem to rise exponentially in the months leading up to a transfer window, then quickly die off after, only to arise again a few months later. We accept these as normal aspects of the game, the ebb and flow nature giving us a yearly rhythm to follow and look forward to.

But there are some recurring, cyclical aspects of soccer that pop up from time to time that actually disrupt that rhythm. This despite the fact that we’ve seen it pop up time and time again.

One example of these recurring disruptions is the long-mooted “super league”. A specter that’s long haunted the UEFA and FIFA, each variation of the rumor has its own unique twist. This time it’s going to replace the Champions League, or this incarnation will include teams from all over the world. Regardless of its shape or form, it’s nothing that the suits in Nyon or Zürich have any interest in seeing come to fruition… and thus we see this cyclical rumor’s disruptive nature. But each time the idea gains some steam, it’s ultimately brushed off.

However, when Oliver Kay of the Times — one of the most respected writers in the English media – devoted an entire piece to the latest incarnation the rumor last week, everyone curiously sat up and took notice. That likely had something to do with the supposed backers being from the same group that’s already shaking things up in Europe: the Qataris. You know them. They’re the same ones that are funding the extravagant, bank-busting project at Paris Saint-Germain. And they’re also the same guys throwing so much money at Barcelona that the Catalunyans finally caved in to pasting a for-profit company’s name on the front of their shirts. And with all signs pointing to the tiny Persian Gulf nation having actually bribed their way to landing the World Cup 2022, their pedigree for being able to buy change in the sport is both well documented and proven.

So it’s really little wonder that when Kay dared to publish the words “Qatar” and “Dream Football League” in one headline, the rumor we’ve heard a thousand times before suddenly became a little more credulous.

Qatar's Dream Football League

though the DFL rumors might not be true this time around, that doesn’t mean that they never will be.

As the article outlined, sixteen permanent clubs would be lured to compete every other summer in Qatar’s searing heat by a $270 million bounty, with eight additional invitees each tournament.  Chelsea received $60 million for winning the Champions League last season, so a guarantee of over three times that amount just for participating would be something that Europe and South America’s elite would have a hard time saying no to.

Now if you’ve followed the story at all, you’re likely aware that a satirical French football site quickly debunked the rumor, claiming Kay had based his piece on a hoax they had run earlier in the week. And though Kay initially refuted the Cashiers du Football rebuttal on Twitter, by Monday he and the Times had fully retracted the piece saying they had been well and fully duped.

So even though the rumors proved untrue once again — at least for the time being — just as they had every time before, that doesn’t mean that FIFA and UEFA should remain idle on the threat of a Dream League. Let’s imagine for a second the proposition was true. The effects on world football would be both numerous and far-reaching: 

  • Top clubs these days subject their players to upwards of 60-70 matches a season. And with most of those players also being drafted in for national team matches, that number could soar to 80-90. Asking players to spend a month of their summers, the time normally used for recuperation to play additional games in the conditions in Qatar seems borderline suicidal. 
  • Fixture congestion is already an issue between the club and international calendars, but adding this tournament into the mix would certainly make the task significantly harder.
  • With the money being offered at clubs’ disposal, the already gargantuan gap between the haves and the have-nots would be certain to grow even larger. Right now, there are only a handful of clubs in the world that can offer $300k/week wages. But all of the teams taking part in the dream team could offer that up. This would likely result in most of the top talent around the world being siphoned off to a limited set of clubs.
  • Considering one summer’s participation would see most clubs pull in revenues that it would normally take several years to produce, you could easily see a number of the top clubs mailing it in their domestic leagues/competitions. Equally so, the Champions and Europa Leagues would surely suffer as teams no longer find their “paltry” prize money worth the efforts.
  • And if this Dream Football League does ever see the light of day, I’m pretty sure it will also lead to us seeing “human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”

So while the problems outlined above are all very serious, the one I didn’t name is likely the most concerning of them all: me and you.

Yes, it’s our never-satisfied thirst for more top-level football that makes this threat something the powers that be should be paying attention to. The demand from fans to take in this type of event would likely be staggering. Nearly everyone I’ve talked to about the potential league was excited by it. The TV rights alone would surely fetch ridiculous sums, not to mention ticket prices. And with the potential revenues like that dangling out there, the incentive to actually turn this from a cyclical rumor in to a cyclical reality becomes that much harder to ignore.

just because the qataris have said they’re not planning the DFL now, doesn’t mean that they won’t be buying their way to another tournament in the future.

And for the first time, the money to back such an endeavor could be there too. Coupled with the demand from the fans, that might be enough to actually pull things together, whether the Qataris are ready to admit it or not. If there’s money there to be made, someone will eventually attempt to capitalize on it.

So what should FIFA and UEFA do to respond to this threat? For organizations prone to sitting on their laurels, the bigger issue might be getting them to act in the first place. But a rethinking and retooling of both organizations’ marquee club events seems the easiest place to start. The Champions League has become a bloated affair that could see some of its fat trimmed, while the FIFA Club World Cup could sorely used a complete overhaul (see: more teams). Including the clubs in the revamping processes seems a no brainer, but of course, we’re talking about organizations that are known for their incompetence. After all, keeping the clubs appeased is the most simple way to ward off the threat of a breakaway league.

Look, Kay and the Times got it wrong this time. But it won’t be long until this rumor has cycled its way back around to us again, and next time, there may be more truth in it. And whether Platini, Sepp and company are willing to proactively prepare for that inevitable reality, well that may make all the difference. Otherwise, brace yourselves… we’re in for a turbulent ride.

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the sort-of internationals

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The international game is back in focus now that the European club season has come to a close. It’s a special time, as rival fans put aside their differences in united support of their national teams. And luckily, there is no shortage or lack of variety in international fixtures to distract us from the summer heat.

xavi playing for catalonia against argentina

wait, why is xavi playing in a shirt that’s not from spain or barcelona?

Up first are the all-important world championships. FIFA, not content to keep itself busy with just bribery, corruption and racism, has a full slate of tournaments this summer to keep us thinking about on-field matters instead of off. The world’s next generation of superstars will be on display in both the u-17 (Mexico, June 18 – July 10) and u-20 (Columbia, July 29 – August 18) World Cups. The lesser followed but equally entertaining Beach Soccer World Cup is being held in Ravenna, Italy, in early September. And who isn’t looking forward to the Women’s World Cup being held in Germany from June 26th to July 17th?!?!

There are also a number of regional competitions on the agenda, with four of the six regional confederations hosting major competitions during the summer. CONCACAF and CONMEBOL will each host their final round regional championships: the Gold Cup and Copa America respectfully. And UEFA’s European Championship and CAF’s African Cup of Nations will have qualifiers ongoing throughout the summer, as they attempt to whittle down to their final fields of sixteen.

And of course there will also be a full serving of the third type of international matches, friendlies, as teams prepare for their upcoming priorities. So what if they’re normally drab affairs that lack the passion of a competitve match and primarily used to test youngsters? There’s no shortage of matches to keep happy both neutral and major fan alike.

But if for some odd reason you can’t find any of those options enticing — after getting your head checked — you do actually have one more type of international fixture left to keep you entertained. Though with world championships, regional tournaments and friendlies off the table, what other type of international matches does that leave you?

The kind that don’t really involve “countries” at all.

Yes, there are actually national teams for places that aren’t actually countries. And no, I’m not talking about places like the U.S. Virgin Islands, who aren’t technically countries but do have true, FIFA-approved squads. (That said, the USVINT are currently ranked 200th in the world rankings and haven’t played a match since 2008… maybe they shouldn’t be a real national team).

Instead, these are the places that FIFA have turned their backs on. Despite this, these far-flung locales still feel the need to field squads to compete in friendlies and play in predominantly unheard-of competitions. They come from regions, principalities, islands, and even “non-defined areas” and play against squads hailing from other lands, real and not real. It’s for this reason that I like to call them the Sort-of Internationals.

So who are these teams?

The most famous of the Sort-of’s is the Catalonia national team. The spiritual home of tiki taka, the Catalonia region of Spain has long been a separatists dreamland. Entrenched in their own “national” identity, culture and language, the region has long sought sovereignty from the Madrid-based Spanish crown. The famous Blaugrana of Barcelona have long been a flag bearer for this movement, and this feeds into the social-undercurrent that intensifies the Barça’s Clásico rivalry with capital club Real. The passion for the independence movement and culture itself is also shared with Espanyol, the region’s other major football club.

But with all of the talent that sprouts from within the state’s borders, it’s unsurprising that a majority of the players “capped” by Catalonia come from Barcelona and Espanyol’s squads. Barça is famous for developing local talent into world class talent, and Espnayol’s has provided some of the strong local contingent too. With players like Xavi, Carles Puyol, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fàbregas, Gerard Pique, and Victor Valdés all having earned caps recently for the squad, you can easily fathom that they just might be a decent squad. (I also suspect that at least 79% of the reason why Spain won’t let Catalonia secede is that it would deprive the Spanish national team from a major contingent of the current world-dominating squad).

xabi alonso playing for the basque country, or euskadi xi

and what’s with xabi alonso? neither madrid nor spain wear green…

The star power doesn’t stop with the players either, as the squad is currently managed by Dutch legend Johann Cruyff. Such is the attraction of this Sort-of International squad that they have actually competed against “real” national teams such as Brazil, Nigeria, and even Argentina whom they beat 4-2 in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup.

Spain also partially houses another somewhat known “national team”, that of the Basque Country. Though not as well known as the Southern coast group from Catalonia, they also have capped a few illustrious players, including: Xabi Alonso, Fernando Llorente and Mikel Arteta. Many of the Basque players come from the region’s most prominent side, Athletic Bilbao. Bilbao’s unique cantera policy, which focuses entirely on both developing young players from the Basque region and recruiting top-level Basque players from other clubs, makes them the perfect feeder for the faux-national side.

The Euskadi XI, as the Basque Country side is known, not only plays publicized matches against Catalonia, but just like their most-frequent foe, they’ve also faced some prominent sides in friendlies. In fact, they’re currently on a three match winning streak against “real” national sides, which included wins over Estonia, Venezuela, and Serbia.

However, the quality tends to drop off pretty dramatically for the remaining 58 established sort-of international sides. But that’s not to say there aren’t some interesting “countries” to examine.

the guernsey national side kits

guernsey’s “national” side has some pretty sharp kits… and a sponsorship.

  • The Guernsey national football team, the British-owned islands in the English Channel, is well known for producing Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier. Le Tissier did manage to make a number of appearances for the Green Lions, both before and after playing for the better known Three Lions. The fellow channel islands of Jersey and Alderney also sport their own national teams, and the three “nations” regularly compete for their own cup, the Muratti Vase.
  • The Greenland national team, despite being a property of Denmark, appears on track to be elevanted to a FIFA-member status after the Sepp-asaurus approved their new field-turf pitch back in september of last year.
  • The Northern Cyprus national team is composed of Turkish-aligned Cypriots. But don’t you dare confuse them with FIFA-approved Cyprus national team that is mainly composed of ancestral-Greek players… that could get you killed. Officials on the Island aren’t dumb though: in order to spare the Mediterranean island any additional racial tensions, the two sides have never met.
  • The extravagant city of Monaco also has a national team, though they’re also easily confused with French Ligue 2 club side AS Monaco, which is composed entirely of players from outside of the principality. Like Greenland, Monaco have been eagerly been attempting to enter FIFA’s cool club for quite some time. Uniquely though, and unlike Greenland and many of the others on this list, the city state is actually a real country.
  • The Sápmi national team is comprised of players from the extreme northern reaches of Norway, Sweden, Russia and Finland. The most famous player ever to pull on the sápmi strip is Blackburn Rovers midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen.
  • Sort-of national teams exist outside of the Europe, too. Some notable teams include: Easter Island (disappointingly not a team full of giant stone heads), the Faulkland Islands at the tip of Southern Argentina (who rarely can get a game, due to the pure lack of visitors), and Zanzibar in Africa (who, oddly enough, used to be a “real” national team).

For those of you wanting to take in a bit of the action of the sort-of international variety, you’re in luck! This year, the 14th edition of the Island Games will feature a football tournament that pits 15 teams from non-FIFA approved nations. More information about the tournament, which runs June 26 – July 1 on the Isle of Wight, can be found here.

So if anyone tells you that there won’t be any quality football to watch this summer due to the lack of club matches, be sure to smack them and tell them to open their eyes a bit wider… or maybe use a magnifying glass.

the solution set

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Sometimes you have to wonder if humanity would ever get anything done if it weren’t for disasters.

tottenham's gomes prevents the ball from crossing the goal line

you knew i had to complain about this at some point, right?

It took a massive hurricane for New Orleans –a city stupidly built below sea level on a river delta–  to actually spend any money to build adequate levies to prevent rising river/lake/sea water from ravaging the city. Japan needed to have a nuclear meltdown at one of their power plants before they thought, “Hey, maybe it would be a good idea to build impenetrable sea walls around our nuclear power plants!” Apparently, reacting after a disaster is the only way to save face.

And just as in the real world, the powers that be in soccer need to have their lack of action blow up in their faces before they decide to go about making needed changes in the game.

Refereeing has been the bane of FIFA’s existence the last year and a half. Bad decision after horrible decision, missed call after botched call, affected game after ruined game, the overall quality of supposed “top-level” referees in the game seems to have taken a massive dip. Some high-profile recent examples include:

  • The France-Ireland World Cup qualification handball incident.
  • Frank Lampard’s un-awarded goal in South Africa.
  • Robin van Persie’s dismissal for shooting a ball after the whistle.
  • Barcelona escaping any punishment for all of their diving during the Champions League clásicos.
  • Tottenham falling to Chelsea on an offsides goal and a goal that never crossed the line (see above).

Now to be fair, and I have been pretty harsh to the lot on this blog, all of the blame can’t be shouldered by the referees. Yes, some of the poor performances are definitely their fault: not being in the right place on the pitch to see the action, being inconsistent in the calls being made, or just plain making the wrong call. But a lot of this can also be blamed on the dramatic increase in the speed of the modern game. It can be awfully difficult to make a judgement call on a possible infraction that took place in a matter of milliseconds.

Regardless of the reason for the poor quality of refereeing, it’s clear these blind mice need some sort of help. And luckily for us, these events over the last year have finally forced FIFA’s dirty little hand.

Last week, FIFA announced a 2012 deadline for finding a suitable solution to the much maligned goal line technology debate. A long over due pledge, goal line technology is likely the easiest to solve of the issues plaguing the organization (At least they’re finally caving on one issue). And just in time, as it’s an issue that has recently severely impacted the results of some very major games.

So in light of such an important announcement, I thought it might be worthwhile to take some time to look at some of the contenders proposed to solve FIFA’s big problem.

CTRUS W1

a brilliant concept, but can CTRUS actually meet the standards for an actual ball?

CTRUS by agent

Purely conceptual (I think), we’re still a long way from seeing CTRUS as a viable solution for FIFA… and for multiple reasons.

  1. A functioning model has yet to appear.
  2. It requires no inflation, meaning by definition, it’s not a ball FIFA would approve. Massive rule changes would need to be instituted just for this mechanical ball to earn the coveted official “FIFA Approved” logo.
  3. It’s way too cool for an archaic, old-fashioned organization to adopt.

What’s awesome about the CTRUS concept is that it’s not just the referee who will receive notice of a potential goal: everyone will. Thanks to the ball’s on-board GPS, RFID and multiple POV cameras, the ball will be able to determine its location and signal a goal or ball out-of-touch by changing its colors with LED lighting.

All bad ass ideas, but all assuming that Agen can actually get the thing to work.

uefa has been testing the 5-man referee system for two years

"wait, i can't see around this post."

The Five-Man System

Everyone should be fairly familiar with FIFA’s only somewhat-sanctioned form of goal line technology, where an extra official is placed just behind and to the left of each goal mouth. Let’s first diligently declare that this is not a “technology” per se… unless the extra officials are some form cyborgs. And to be honest, this solution is really just four extra eyes to watch a ball from a closer angle.

Problem is, I don’t think that these guys provide that much additional value.

Since these guys are already qualified as professional referees, they’re allowed not only rule on goals, but also on other infringements in the penalty area. Sadly, I can’t think of one occasion where I’ve seen them call anything. Secondly, there’s still plenty of room for human error. In fact, there’s twice as much room for human error. So there’s really no possible way that this “technology” could even meet FIFA’s own 100% accuracy standards.

Goalminder

A relative unknown, at least as far as the media are concerned, Goalminder is a solution that involves placing fiber-optic, high-speed cameras in the posts and crossbar of each goal. Very reminiscent of the NHL’s downward facing camera used to verify goals, check out the video below for a horribly drawn out (and ADD distracted) demonstration:

One major problem with this solution is the time it would take to make a decision with cameras. Someone would need to watch the video, possibly frame by frame, and every angle could potentially be obscured by an errant arm, leg, foot or body. Are the referees supposed to pause the game as they wait for or make a decision? Who watches the video replays? In reality, there are more questions that actual answers with regards to Goalminder.

adidas-cairos teamgeist II goal line technology solution

the infamous sputnik ball makes a return to WSOTP.

Cairos

remember the Sputnik ball that I had stupidly propped up on my site a few weeks back that purported to be the official 2014 World Cup ball? Well, as I said in the story, it’s not the next ball but rather an old prototype utilizing the “Cairos GLT” technology in adidas’ Teamgeist II.

A joint venture between adidas and Cairos Technologies, this system utilizes a series of in-ball sensors that, when the ball completely crosses the goal line, would immediately notify the referee that a goal should be awarded. It requires the posts and bars to transmit electromagnetic fields that would be measured by the ball’s microchips to determine its location on the pitch.

An earlier version of this system was demoed at the 2005 U-17 World Cup, but apparently wasn’t able to make the grade. With a bad taste already in FIFA’s mouth, adidas and co hopefully did their homework a bit better this time around in order to convince anyone that it’s a viable option.

Vegum/Tag-Heuer’s Goal Line Technology (GLT)

Cleverly named product, isn’t it? The famous watchmaker’s system was first developed ahead of 2010 Olympic Hockey tournament, and is currently solely marketed for use in hockey. It utilizes a centrally located microchip within the ball to gauge its position with regards to an electromagnetic field emanating from the posts, crossbar, and goal line.

Other than this link to a promotional video, I can’t dig up much on Vegum and Tag Heuer’s innovative collaboration.

hawk-eye goal line technology

hawk-eye's software uses multiple views to verify a goal. extra sets of intelligent eyes are never a bad thing.

Hawk-Eye

Already the master of millimeter-precise solutions for tennis, cricket, and even snooker, Hawk-Eye is the solution FIFA should already be using.

Hawk-Eye is a computer program that utilizes a set of 6 high-speed cameras at both ends of the stadium, each providing a different angle on the goal line action. The computerized brain then analyzes all of the video feeds to determine the trajectory, speed, and exact location at any given time. Even in situations when the ball is obstructed from every view, the system’s historical database can make accurate assumptions about the ball’s location, based on where it isn’t and historical data. So for those not able to follow, the system can “see” the ball even when it can’t.

The company and Premier League claimed in 1997 that they had the technology ready for in-game implementation, but FIFA was too busy turning a blind eye to the situation at that point. It’s proven to be invaluable in the sports that currently use the technology, which should lend plenty of credence to using it in goal-line decisions.

——————————————————–

Others companies (such as Swiss watch-maker Longines) are reportedly submitting proposals, but they’ve kept their brainchildren hidden away in the depths of the internet where I can’t find them.

It is also important to remember that this isn’t the first time FIFA have attempted to tackle the goal line technology debate. Back in February, FIFA put ten solutions through the wringer only to have them all fail to meet the stringent accuracy standards demanded by the ruling regime governing body. And that begs to question whether or not any of the possible solutions listed above will even be able to make the grade.

For everyone’s sake, let’s hope it does. FIFA and UEFA have spent too much time with their heads in the sand, and their precious game is suffering tremendously for it.

ten words or less #9

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why, hello there... creep.

it’s another european week, and i’ve been busy trying to keep my dvr from choking to death on all of the games i’m making it record. i’m also trying to keep my brain from choking to death on all of the analyzing that is required to understand why madrid can’t score more than one time against auxerre…. auxerre! oh well, at least they won. now whether or not tottenham will crap the bed today against fc twente, well let’s not hold our breath.

in the mean time, enjoy the links below to keep you satisfied until today’s kickoff(s):

cave man modeling is not hot. – whoateallthepies.tv

aannnddd… now we should lock the door behind him! – unprofessionalfoul.com

the first guy was maradona to a T. – youtube.com

“shooting themselves in the foot” seems the right phrase. – soccerlens.com

lack of confidence, or brilliant plan? not quite sure. – skysports.com

don’t want to be a moron? then understand uefa coefficients. – theoffiside.com

big sam receives the deserved haha treatment. – guardian.co.uk

you’ll be creeped out by von bommel and müller. – dirty tackle @ yahoo.com

round up #5

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time for another quick glance around the world’s football landscape.

the reds poor start to the season has pepe feeling less than optimistic

the reds' poor start to the season has pepe feeling less than optimistic

reina plays down liverpool’s title chances – soccernet.com
i honestly would love to see liverpool finally end their 20 year wait for their 19th english top flight championship, for two reasons: 1) it would put an end to this mundane run of manchester united and chelsea titles , and 2) it would finally shut up all of the liverpool faithful and their whining and bitching. but sorry ‘pool fans, this doesn’t look to be your year either. especially when you’re starting keeper doesn’t think it’s “realistic” to talk of titles with the current squad. ouch.

political football – times.co.uk

the debate about tapping up youth players continues, and this piece argues against the ideology that fifa and uefa are using in their approach to prevent another kakuta incident from happening. the author argues against michel platini and sepp blatter’s “french socialist model of football,” which looks to prevent young players from leaving their small clubs for europe’s elite level clubs. not exactly defending the european powers’ policies, the articleshows the danger of preventing those very policies might pose for the game.

brown admits tigers strikers could depart on loan – soccernet.com
the biggest assh**e of a coach in england, hull city manager phil brown, has admitted that he will likely loan out some of his strikers after some successful summer signings, including american starlet jozy altidore. good news for jozy. those rumored for loan moves include club record signing daniel cousin and caleb folan. i’ll admit that this isn’t even really that big of news, so why did i include it? the story includes the quote of the season so far from brown:

if you look around most clubs are rounding their squads out to about 25. you can only play 11 so that means 14 unhappy bunnies.

thierry henry pulls the strings of france’s puppet leader domenech – guardian.co.uk
an interesting theory that i think accurately describes the current atmosphere in the french national team camp. seriously, domenech has to be a moron. to have a group of players so talented and be so unsuccessful seems impossible (although, i think we can all remember steve mcleran and his england squad). i mean to have only scored 11 goals in world cup qualifying with the following attacking players seems even treasonous: henry, benzema, ribery, gourcuff, trezuguet, etc. it’s a miracle really that he hasn’t been fired yet. so i can’t really blame henry for criticizing him and taking control of the team one bit.

inside the nike boot room – youtube/nike
though this video is a year old, it’s still gives a really an awesome insight into how nike hand-makes the custom boots of the world’s best players. a few years back nike made the intelligent decision to hand-make all of their top-end shoes in italy, and though i’m not getting custom boots, i can attest that it’s made a world of a difference. a very interesting clip.

making (dangerous) examples

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well, well, well… it looks like fifa and uefa finally grew a pair.

two matches out for eduardo may be fair, but will the rest of the divers out there receive the same punishment?

two matches out for eduardo may be fair, but will the rest of the divers out there receive the same punishment?

the world governing body has been threatening for years that they would be clamping down on various activities in the game, but never really doled out any tough love for those that infringed upon these prohibited practices. first it was hooliganism, next came questionable transfer activities, then it was racism and then it was diving.

sure, there have been some exceptions:

  • former chelsea striker adrian mutu was handed the stiffest punishment that i can think of by any of the governing bodies for failing a drug test in 2004 for cocaine. the romanian was punished with a 7-month suspension and is still to repay chelsea the £14.65 million transfer fee that the blues paid for him.
  • catania were forced to play the remainder of their 2007 italian serie a season away from their home stadium and without any spectators, all of this after their extremist supporters rioted and killed a police officer in february 2007.
  • my real madrid were “punished” with a paltry $3,900 fine after a section of their ultra fans chanted racial slurs at opposing players. considering that’s 0.0000298% of what they paid for ronaldo, it must have really hurt the white’s pocket book.

so while there is some precedent for fifa and uefa actually coming down on offenders, most times (like the madrid example above) it has been more of a slap on the wrist than anything, if not empty threats. until the last week that is. and in less than 48 hours, those that govern the game came down swiftly and heavily not once, but twice.

the first punishment was given to arsenal’s “croatian” striker eduardo, who had been accused of diving to win a penalty in arsenal’s second leg champions league qualifier against celtic. eduardo was handed a two match ban by uefa, meaning the striker won’t be able to play in arsenal’s first two champions league group matches.

in the second punishment handed out last week, fifa came down extremely heavy on chelsea for tapping up of young french starlet gael kakuta. chelsea were accused by the youngster’s former club, lens, of not only tapping the player up, but also for convincing him to break his contract and leave to join the chelsea youth ranks in 2007. kakuta was fined an astonishing £682,000 and banned from playing competitively for 4 months. even more shocking, chelsea must pay lens a £113,000 “training fee” to lens and are not allowed to register any new players in the next two transfer windows.

it certainly seems like fifa and uefa came down plenty hard, and it seems evident that they are trying to make an example of both eduardo and chelsea. and on the surface they should… but let’s looks at each of case a little more closely.

eduardo’s simulation
first, let me get this out of the way… diving is rampant in today’s game. there are many who say there is little we can do to prevent it, and that it’s just a part of the game. i disagree. some of the game’s top players dive at every opportunity: ronaldo falls when people sneeze in his general direction, while didier drogba will end up on his ass if someone looks at him the wrong way. and i feel like it set’s an awful example for the kids coming up, who emulate every last thing they see their favorite players do on and off the field. so unless fifa/uefa do something drastic to discourage players from diving, then the vicious cycle will repeat itself and diving will be a part of the game for years to come.

but i think eduardo’s punishment was a bit harsh.

uefa’s decision was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. scottish f.a. chief gordon smith cried about the penalty like someone had stabbed his mother. [former] celtic player massimo donati said that it “heavily influenced” the outcome of the tie. sure buddy. arsenal went into their home leg with a two goal advantage, which means celtic had to come into the emirates and win by three goals minimum. secondly, he made it sound like eduardo’s fall was the worst thing that has ever happened, despite admitting that his own players had done the same thing in the very same speech.

sure, the replays make it pretty clear that there wasn’t little, if any contact, on the play in question. but, the player hardly has a history of being deceitful, as both his club manager and international manager have made clear. let us also not forget that eduardo just came back from an extremely long lay-off from a horrific injury. anyone who has played knows that after you’ve been injured, you’ll start preparing yourself for collisions before they happen to avoid a repeat of the injury. now while i wouldn’t put it past eduardo that he could have been diving, i think it is also highly probable that he was trying to lessen the blow he thought he was going to receive. does it make it ok that he dove? no. but i don’t think that uefa looked at the entire picture either.

so by coming down so hard on eduardo, uefa has set a dangerous precedent for itself. from here on out, they have to punish each diver in the same way. but less than a week later, wayne rooney was twice accused of diving to earn penalties in games against arsenal and slovenia. where is his two match ban uefa? listen, i’m all for making an example of someone to let everyone know how serious it is to dive. but if the governing bodies aren’t going to be consistent with their punishments, then they risk undermining their efforts considerably.

chelsea’s transfer ban
on one hand, i fully support fifa’s decision to ban chelsea from registering any new players over the next two transfer windows. in fact, i personally love seeing “chelski” get a mouthful of bad karma they’ve had coming to them for a few years now. it’s not like the london outfit haven’t been warned in the past over their dubious transfer behavior (ex: ashley cole and john obi mikel). chelsea have promised to make the strongest appeal possible, as if there is actually a way to weakly appeal, but their history might inhibit them from receiving a softer judgment.

is the 18-year-old kakuta worth a whole year without making transfers? ask chelsea.

is the 18-year-old kakuta worth a whole year without making transfers? ask chelsea.

i’m not ignorant either, as i’m well aware that chelsea aren’t the only club that has been accused of tapping players up. liverpool with robbie keane. manchester united with dimitar berbatov. barcelona with fabregas. and how could anyone forget my madrid’s pursuit of ronaldo. and while tapping up is just as serious of an offense as diving (if not more), i don’t think that this is the reason why fifa are coming down so hard. i think what fifa are really trying to crack down on is the shady poaching of bright young players from the clubs that they were brought up by.

everyone in england has seen how it has benefited arsenal to snatch up cheap young talent from around the world and develop them in their academy. it costs the clubs significantly less than paying millions for a fully developed player, and the player could develop some loyalty to the clubs that believed in them at an early age (ex: cesc fàbregas). but what of the smaller clubs that spent all the money to develop the players from their school boy days in the first place? shouldn’t they be rewarded for all of their hard work and efforts, and have the players eventually graduate to and suit up for their senior teams? i think so. especially if the club has a pre-contract agreement with the young starlets, as is the case with kakuta and lens. (which by the way, the kid does look like he could be a baller one day. see this youtube clip. maybe he was worth it?).

and while many a pundit think this is just another example of “anti-english” uefa and fifa presidents michel platini and sepp blatter, i think the intentions are fair enough. i mean they did just dole out the exact same type of punishment to tiny swiss side sion over their transfer of egyptian goalkeeper essam el hadary. what makes this case different is solely the size and prestige of the clubs involved.

but again, i worry about the precedent that fifa are setting. will they remain consistent in their punishment, regardless of the size of the clubs involved? and do they even know what they’ve gotten themselves into? in less than a week since their chelsea rulling, accusations of similar vile acts from some of england’s other clubs are springing up like weeds:

and if these rulings do go the same way, are we really going to see some of the best clubs in england (and possibly all of europe) facing lengthy spells without being able to sign new players? as much as money talks in the game of world football, i highly doubt it. perhaps the introduction of a ban of transferring players under a certain age, say 18, would be the next logical step in this process. it will be very interesting to see how fifa will be handling this little issue they’ve helped to create for themselves.

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there is no doubt that there are some changes that need to be made in football. despite all of their efforts, fifa and uefa have failed to stomp out hooliganism, diving, racism and greed. can their latest efforts have any long lasting effects?

with fifa and uefa’s iron fists having slammed down, i think we are at a crossroads for the game. while i admire the efforts the governing bodies are making to try to clean the game up and keep it honest, how they handle the aftermath of their punishments is much more important than the actual punishments themselves. and boy am i glad i don’t have to be the one making those decisions.