Euro 2012: Football and politics in Poland and Ukraine
With the European football championship reaching its climax this week, we look at how Poland and Ukraine have fared by hosting the tournament. Neil Buckley, east Europe editor, Jan Cienski, Warsaw correspondent and Simon Kuper, the FT columnist covering the tournament, join Gideon Rachman. Read more
Violence: Egypt’s political football
As with every eruption of violence in Egypt since the downfall of the Mubarak regime a year ago, the events at a football match on Wednesday evening were the result of the absence of an effective police force and the political failure of the generals who have let this state of affairs persist. Read more
The death of Socrates
The original Socrates died thousands of years ago after being forced to drink hemlock. The modern version died yesterday, aged 57, after an intestinal infection. Socrates was captain of the Brazilian football team, but looked charmingly like an Athenian philosopher. His fantastic performances in the 1982 World Cup also provoked one of the great lines in football commentary - “And Socrates scores a goal that sums up the philosophy of Brazilian football.” A shame that he won’t be around when the World Cup is played in Brazil in 2014. Read more
Arsene Wenger on the euro crisis
I usually turn to the sports pages for some light relief from the cares of the world. But the euro-crisis is not so easy to get away from. Reading an account of Arsenal’s preparations for their away game in Germany tonight, I saw that their revered manager, Arsene Wenger, is thinking about more than the state of Jack Wilshere’s ankle. At yesterday’s press conference, he mused – “I believe that Europe overall, as a unit, is going towards a massive crisis, which nobody really expects now. I am convinced that Europe will go into a huge financial crisis within the next three weeks or three months and maybe that will put everything into perspective again.” Read more
Why I admire Sepp Blatter
I once had a near miss with Sepp Blatter. I found myself sitting next to him at a lunch and, searching for a topic of conversation, was about to introduce myself as the author of The Economist’s survey of world football. But, as I began speaking, I remembered that I had finished the article by describing detailed accusations of corruption against Blatter himself.
So, rather than complete the anecdote, I came to a mumbling halt. The whole conversation was a bit of a nightmare. Blatter is charmless – boring, self-important and drippingly insincere. Still, in one sense, you have to admire him. He is an incredible survivor. Read more
A disastrous evening for Inter Milan
Life in much of Europe is still pretty sweet. Yesterday, the Duomo in Milan shimmered in the sunshine. The atmosphere of serenity was disrupted only by the thousands of drunk, chanting German football fans who had gathered in the piazza, ahead of Schalke’s game that night against Inter Milan, the champions of Europe. But I was inclined to put a positive spin on this scene. What a tribute to the prosperity of the old continent that thousands of ordinary German oafs have the time and money to buzz off to Milan in the middle of the week, to watch a football match. Read more
That World Cup verdict
I have just flown back into London from Dubai to find the city covered in snow and in a slough of depression, after England’s failure to get the World Cup in 2018. Russia got the nod. And Qatar, incredibly (given the heat there in summer) will host the 2022 World Cup.
The best comment so far was an e-mail I received from a colleague, shortly after the verdict was announced: “Russia get 2018 World Cup; just what a game accused of corruption needs.” Still, at least, nobody would ever associate Qatar with corruption.
Actually, I think it was probably the accusations of corruption in FIFA – emanating from the BBC and the Sunday Times of London – that finally did for the English bid. You don’t have to worry about that sort of thing in Russia, where from time to time investigative journalists are murdered or beaten up. Read more
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RB = Roger Blitz, the FT’s sports & leisure correspondent (in Zurich)
DD = Darren Dodd, an FT news editor
RB Fifa will sell this as votes for new frontiers, a la South Africa. The accusation of collusion is dampened by Russia’s victory. For England, going out in the first round only reinforces the argument that when it comes to football politics, England just does not get it.
Simon Gray in France asks: What time of year are they going to play the 2022 World Cup? In July it is about 50C in the shade in Qatar. Players will be dying, literally. Air-conditioned indoor stadiums? I suppose they can afford it.
Robert Orr in New York says not many tears were shed at the bar over the US losing out to Qatar in 2022. Pundits on ESPN, which was at least broadcasting the decision live, were more concerned about how to pronounce the Gulf state’s name. Cat-ar? Quat-ar? They quickly moved on to the more important matter of Lebron James’ return to Cleveland later this evening…
Michael Kavanagh is back to reading L’Equipe. The site says Russia won despite a “dangerous risk” around transport considering the huge distances between host cities. It predicts that Russian football, already turbocharged by petroroubles, will gain further prominence.
Mark Mulligan in Madrid says: There’s deep disappointment in Madrid, but television commentators are at least conceding that perhaps Spain – and more so Portugal – have bigger issues to deal with at the moment, a reference to the eurozone crisis.
Iberia’s bid was built around quality of football and transport infrastructure, love of the game across the two countries and their natural appeal as tourist destinations.
Also, of course, Spain felt that it deserved to host a World Cup after its fine performance and subsequent victory in this year’s tournament.
HM: And in all Sepp Blatter’s waffle before the announcement, note how he referred to China as the place where football was born. A 2026 bid from Beijing, anyone? Then again, Blatter did call England “the motherland”.
Henry Mance: So Batman – as WikiLeaks had him – will be flying to Zurich after all!
and the 2022 host is…..Qatar
2018 winner is Russia Read more
International economics and English football
English football fans and the British press are transfixed by the legal battle to sell Liverpool football club, against the wishes of its deeply-indebted Texan owners. Even the FT carries the story prominently on today’s homepage.
In recent years, there has been a vogue for foreign owners to come in and buy English football clubs – perhaps it looks like fun, and some of the teams are global brands. . But – in a trend that is oddly emblematic of the way things are going in the global economy – it is obviously much better to be bought by an oil-rich Gulfie or Russian, rather than an American. Basically, the former have more money. Read more
Age, youth and the World Cup final
Sports tournaments are meant to be celebrations of youth. But last night’s World Cup final made me feel very old. First, there was the sight of poor old Nelson Mandela being trundled around the pitch – he’s about to turn 92 and I’m afraid he looks a little, how shall we say, past it. And then the cameras zeroed in on Jack Taylor, the last Brit to referee a World Cup final: the 1974 game between the Dutch and the Germans. I’m afraid, I remember that game with crystal clarity – as if it were yesterday, in fact. But the fact that Mr Taylor is now in his eighties, is a reminder that it was all a very long time ago – and I’m also getting old. Read more
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