International Football
VEGA, INFANTINO’S LIKELY CHALLENGERS, SAYS FIFA LACKS TRANSPARENCY
BY PAUL NICHOLSON
Ramon Vega, the former player and businessman who is challenging for the FIFA presidency, has said that lack of financial transparency would be unacceptable in any corporate boardroom anywhere in the world.
Expressing concern that FIFA’s federations have been ‘numbed’ into acceptance of being kept in the dark, he said that FIFA cannot continue to bully members into silence and that they should not be afraid to stand up and ask for accountability.
Referring specifically to the issues surrounding the $25 billion sell-off of FIFA’s international competition calendar, he said: “One of the biggest issues we have to face as a football family is the issue of financial transparency. We have a proposal before the FIFA Council for what increasingly looks like the sell-off of the international to a third-party rights holder, the identity of whom we do not know.
“When the FIFA president was challenged about the identity of the investor – potentially the future owner of the bulk of the income of international football in the way that deal was presented – he refused to say who it was. He said he signed confidentiality agreements. Then he said there was a time limit on the deal and they had to sign off,” he continued.
Having set a time limit, which wasn’t me, the idea didn’t die but came back with a task Force that FIFA president Gianni Infantino is chairing. “This is a very clear and dangerous conflict of interest. We then hear that his top lawyers had advised him that this deal could not be done. Now his head of legal has been fired. What is going on here?” said Vega.
“This is not his personal money or rights that he can choose to do what he wants with. These belong to the federation members, it is their lifeblood. Secrecy breeds distrust and that is what has happened. In the financial world this would be totally unacceptable. The board would have to stand the CEO down as they just have not been kept informed and then, when they asked, they have been refused information. It breaks every corporate governance law pretty on much every country on earth.”
If the figure is really $25 billion you would just not be able come to a deal in a serious organisation without full disclosure to the board. It is incredible that there has not been full disclosure. In any significant operation a deal the size of $25 billion is a major agreement and takes months of contractual negotiation. Just three or four months on such a big transaction is not believable. Not only is there no transparency on where the money is coming from but there is no reference to these valuations and whether they are fair or accepted valuations.”
FIFA’s Council is expected to rule on the proposal at its Miami meeting in March. Sources tell Insideworldfootball that to date while the task force has spent time working on what the new calendar would look like, there has been no discussion of the finance, its commercial valuation or transparency on the third party offer.
“The FIFA president’s responsibility is to each and every one of his members. We need to know who he is working for on this. He says he is working for FIFA, so he must work FIFA and put FIFA first – not just now but for the future,” said Vega.
Vega points out that there is key issue surrounding the ownership of football’s commercial asset as this is a handing over of ownership, not a licensing of rights deal. “This is a totally different situation. It is putting FIFA up for sale,” he said.
“There are many issues of transparency and governance that have to be discussed. The old FIFA needed to become more transparent. The new FIFA is less transparent than the old FIFA and too many members live in fear of the governing body who control their incomes.”
Talking about the election, Vega said: “The members every four years have the right to vote for a new president. It is a responsibility that must be taken seriously as it actually impacts on the lives of millions of football people worldwide. They have to be brave. FIFA is not for one person and his close associates. FIFA is for the world, we are all invested in FIFA – every single one of us. There was an opportunity to make this the case when there were the changes following the corruption scandals, but it hasn’t been taken. We need to make sure that we do not lose this opportunity.”
“We have seen a FIFA deconstructed with the power seized by a few across the whole of the organisation. We have lost too much for the wrong reasons. We must balance this and give FIFA and football back to the world properly and transparently.”
- Insideworldfootball
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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