Russia: The War Torn World Cup Hosts...

As the announcement came out this weekend that FIFA is standing by Russia for the 2018 World Cup nomination, the soccer community watched in...well let's call it mild disgust.  Because honestly, this can't come as a shock to most fans out there.  Since when has FIFA ever cared about, their image in the international community, or player safety, or even just doing the morally right thing?  This is an organization so entrenched in scandal and corruption, that the movie they funded about their own history should be listed as a satirical comedy for the amount of romanticization about FIFA that it includes.

But this weekend's announcement just continues to highlight the horrifying damage that FIFA can do.  This organization, in the last year alone, has left a country billions of dollars in debt, not only through stadium construction fees, but also through taxes not paid.  Brazil was in civil unrest for months before the games, and what did FIFA do to help? They pushed a bill through the Brazilian government allowing Budweiser to sell beer at the games.  Oh you thought I meant what did FIFA do to help the Brazilians? No, they didn't do anything to help them, they're not a corporate sponsor, and why would a non-profit organization care about anyone other than their corporate sponsors?  But in fairness, all they wanted from Brazil was for them to host, pay for and police the entire tournament so that FIFA could make all of the money, that's not to much to ask right?
Allowing Russia to continue to hold the World Cup in 2018 if the Ukrainian crisis continues takes the issue to a new level.  This past week, a passenger jet was shot down over the pro-Russian area of Ukraine.  A passenger jet... I get there is still debate over who actually is responsible so I won't go into that here, but can we all agree that regardless of who shot the plane down, IT'S A DAMN WAR ZONE!! How can we even be considering holding an international sporting event in a country with a war going on?  This is now 100% a matter of player safety and how if this fighting continues, there is absolutely no way to guarantee player safety.  FIFA responded to the decision releasing the statement,

"FIFA deplores any form of violence and will continue to use its tournaments to promote dialogue, understanding and peace among peoples." (So we're going to allow a country actively funding and arming a war to continue to host) "The hosting of the FIFA World Cup with the global attention it attracts can be a powerful catalyst for constructive dialogue between people and governments,(and demonstrating the merits of bribery) helping to bring positive social developments (because that's our job?)"

I may have read between the lines a little there...

But we all know this already, hell I've written about this already, and life for FIFA continues on, nothing changes, nobody can do anything.  This is because this is an organization with zero accountability and zero supervision.  They have a monopoly on the sport we love, so the only way to boycott FIFA is to boycott soccer.  No competing organization has the funds to match FIFA, their resources are endless (especially if they keep giving the World Cup to the highest bidder).  So truly the only thing we can do, is to continue to bring to light the scandals that seem to perpetually follow this corrupt organization where ever it goes.  And with any luck, this organization may someday been run by someone who's doing it purely for the love of soccer, and not for whatever Dr. Evil-esque reasons our favorite Captain Slime has.

Be sure to check out our previous blog here.