Boot Blatter out of football? The president isn't perfect, but his domain is better for his presence.



When England's £15 million (Dh89m) bid to host the 2018 World Cup delivered just a single vote there was a convenient scapegoat. The same convenient scapegoat chased around the pages and television studios of an oft inward looking English media whenever international football refuses to bend to its will. Step forward Sepp Blatter, the man sometimes regarded as the root of all evil in the planet's most popular sport.

Fifa's president was clearly biased against an English bid so intrinsically superior no right thinking person would have wanted to host a World Cup elsewhere - let alone Russia. Blatter's efforts to take the greatest of all sports tournaments around the planet, one that has delivered joyous, attitude changing festivals in South Africa, South Korea and Japan, were illogical. The organisation he has headed for the last 13 years, self serving and corrupt. His stewardship of the game replete with bizarre decision making.

England's Football Association, we soon learned, was desperate to see Blatter deposed as Fifa president. An interesting stance from a heavily indebted organisation that has gone through five chief executives and three chairmen in the past 10 years, constructing the most expensive stadium in the history of football complete with a problematic pitch and a roof that doesn't work.

Blatter is certainly no saint, providing well for himself from his three-and-a-half decades as a Fifa employee. Yet judge him on how football has developed during his presidency and the critical caricature turns ludicrous.

The game has never been more popular or successful. The hegemony of Europe and South America has been significantly reduced with African and Asian teams capable of matching all but the very best. Economically, its revenues have hugely increased and a far greater percentage of those finances go to the players and coaches who make the game great.

And, above all of these pluses, it's better to watch because of the changes FIFA's pernicious president has brought to the game. Amid great resistance, Blatter improved the rules to favour open, attacking play. A relaxed offside rule frustrated conservative coaches and made it easier score goals. Cynically aggressive tacklers had their ability to cripple the most skilful players limited by an ongoing effort to outlaw dangerous challenges. It is no coincidence that ball caressing geniuses such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Xavi have emerged as football predominant forces. Twenty years ago, they'd have been kicked out of the game.

Boot Blatter out of football? The president isn't perfect, but his domain is better for his presence.

sports@thenational.ae

Scotland's team:

15-Sean Maitland, 14-Darcy Graham, 13-Nick Grigg, 12-Sam Johnson, 11-Byron McGuigan, 10-Finn Russell, 9-Ali Price, 8-Magnus Bradbury, 7-Hamish Watson, 6-Sam Skinner, 5-Grant Gilchrist, 4-Ben Toolis, 3-Willem Nel, 2-Stuart McInally (captain), 1-Allan Dell

Replacements: 16-Fraser Brown, 17-Gordon Reid, 18-Simon Berghan, 19-Jonny Gray, 20-Josh Strauss, 21-Greig Laidlaw, 22-Adam Hastings, 23-Chris Harris

Have you been targeted?

Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:

1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.

2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.

3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.

4. The adviser charges a 1 per cent charge for managing your assets. They are being paid for doing nothing. They have already claimed massive amounts in hidden upfront commission.

5. Total annual management cost for your pension account is 2 per cent or more, including platform, underlying fund and advice charges.

COMPANY PROFILE

Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others

Company profile

Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices

Company Profile

Company name: Hoopla
Date started: March 2023
Founder: Jacqueline Perrottet
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Investment required: $500,000

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.

Brief scoreline:

Wales 1

James 5'

Slovakia 0

Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)

Ain Issa camp:
  • Established in 2016
  • Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
  • Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
  • Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
  • 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
  • NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
  • One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
Married Malala

Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.

The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.

Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.


Abtal

Keep up with all the Middle East and North Africa athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics

      By signing up, I agree to The National's privacy policy
      Abtal