The International Federation of Association Football otherwise known as FIFA, was founded in 1904. It is the governing body of football associations with the responsibility of organising major international football tournaments especially the World Cup. Its headquarters is located in Zurich with a membership of 209 national associations. These national associations are grouped into six regional confederations namely, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America and North and Central America and the Caribbean.
The first President of FIFA was Robert Guerin and so far the world football body has produced eight presidents since its establishment. The FIFA presidents past and present are Robert Guerin (1904-1906); Daniel Woolfull (1906-1918); Jules Rimet (1921-1954); Rodolphe Seeldrayers (1954-1955); Arthur Drewry (1955-1961); Stanley Rous (1961-1974); Joao Havelange (1974-1998) and Sepp Blatter (1998-date). Out of the eight presidents FIFA has produced, all of them came from Europe except one, Havelange, who came from Brazil, South America.
The lopsidedness of past presidents of FIFA in favour of Europe is the main reason behind the call for an African to take over as FIFA president from Blatter who is a European. While this call that the next FIFA president should come from Africa may not be misplaced, a FIFA presidential candidate particularly from Nigeria at this time will not be widely accepted by the world football community. FIFA officials and associates are fighting corruption scandal said to be the largest in the history of modern sports. Some of these allegations include bribery, fraud and money laundering. The chances of Africa and in particular Nigeria in producing the next FIFA president are not being helped with the unproven allegations of corruption against some of its former representatives in FIFA over their roles in the 2018 FIFA World Cup bid.
Of recent, there had been calls from prominent individuals and organisations outside and within Nigeria asking a former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, to join the race for the FIFA presidency. Among those calling on Kalu to contest is John Fashanu. Fashanu is of the opinion that apart from Kalu having what it takes to win the FIFA presidency, he also believes that it is high time the world had a FIFA president from Africa.
A non-governmental organisation, United Africa for Sports Development, has also declared support for Kalu and went further to call on the government of Muhammadu Buhari to endorse and support Kalu’s candidature. Not to be left out, some members of the Nigerian Football Federation are said to have equally thrown their weight behind Kalu.
Kalu in a statement issued on his behalf by his media officer and signed by Mrs. Rubby Obinna described those calling on Kalu to contest as great minds discussing great ideas.
Similarly, a former captain of the senior national team, Segun Odegbami, was also reported to have declared his intention to run for the post of FIFA President. According to Ade Adeagbo, Head Campaign Team of Odegbami, in a statement released recently, FIFA needed a new leadership to help build its reputation after the scandal that rocked the football body. He went further to say that the world is very interested in who becomes the next President of FIFA considering the current image and state of the institution. Odegbami therefore sees himself as fitting that role.
Kalu and Odegbami’s involvement in football are well-known. Kalu’s track record in business is also not in doubt. However, it seems to me that this is not the auspicious time for Kalu and Odegbami to pursue the FIFA presidency ambition. As noted earlier, FIFA is at present going through a difficult time in its history because of the current crisis as a result of allegations of corruption, the worst in its 111 years of existence. The situation in FIFA can therefore not be described as normal. The crisis has already consumed Blatter with his resignation as FIFA president. There is therefore a general demand all over the world for FIFA to carry out far-reaching reforms in order to make it more transparent and accountable. This to me is the crux of the matter as far as it concerns Kalu and Odegbami and any other Nigerian’s chances of getting elected as FIFA president.
Nigeria is known all over the word to score low in Corruption Perception Index and as such regarded as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. Any FIFA presidential candidate coming from Nigeria at this time is not likely to succeed. Worst still, it could result in serious embarrassment to Nigeria in the world of football. Thus, the current war on corruption by Buhari’s government should be supported by all Nigerians. I will therefore appeal first to those calling on Kalu and Odegbami to join the race for the FIFA presidency to banish the idea and leave the two gentlemen alone. Second, I wish to suggest to Kalu and Odegbami that they should not allow themselves to be dragged into contesting the FIFA presidency. It is not advisable to embark on a project that is dead on arrival.
I wish to also seize this opportunity to suggest to the Confederation of African Football through the NFF to be circumspect in their choice of a candidate to support for the FIFA presidency whether he is an African or not. Africa should not forget the role Blatter played in developing African football. His introduction of age-grade football tournaments has helped in discovering young and talented players from Africa. He was also instrumental to the increase in the number of African slots in FIFA World Cup tournament. Africa was also granted the right to host the tournament in South Africa for the first time in 2010 during his tenure.
It is therefore important for CAF to support a candidate for FIFA presidency that would have the interest of Africa at heart in order to consolidate further on the achievements so far recorded in African football. CAF, the largest football confederation, should therefore not fritter away its numerical strength. It should use it through a block vote to determine in favour of Africa the candidate who would eventually emerge as the FIFA President. This I believe should be our goal.
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Good reasoning.