POLITICS IN SPORT

The Russian political scientist  Andrey Suzdaltsev has spoken to Regionplus about the underlying political cause of the processes taking place in the football world.

- The corruption controversy by no means started in a football country, but in the USA. It is moreover the USA that is conducting the investigation into the FIFA officials throughout the world…

- Under Blatter's management, FIFA has been turned into a powerful, independent organisation with a huge budget. As a completely self-sufficient organisation, FIFA did not need the support of different states. The decisions taken by FIFA are of a political nature, because determination of the venues for the World Football Championships was motivated by political considerations. This was a cause of anxiety to the USA, because the latter wanted to establish definite control over the major international football organisation. Therefore removing Blatter was the main aim in the course of taking control of FIFA.

- "As one Russian oligarch once said, "if I can't buy the factory, I'll buy the director"

- The European Football Federation - UEFA has come out against Blatter. Although Blatter won the top FIFA post at the elections, he understood that in a state of confrontation with UEFA, he would not be able to carry out any reforms. Therefore he refused to fight on and stepped down.

- So, it turns out that UEFA is acting in concert with the USA?    

- UEFA president Michel Platini has his own interests in removing Blatter. Platini himself has nothing against becoming head of FIFA. At the same time, the Europeans would like to have particular preferences when it comes down to holding the World Championships. But I don't believe Michel Platini will manage to take Blatter's place. It is most likely that the Jordanian Prince Ali bin Hussein will become the head of FIFA. He is the most likely candidate for the post of secretary-general for a number of reasons.

As far as the USA is concerned, I would like to remind you that the USA and Qatar did bid for the right to hold the 2022 World Championship. FIFA elected Qatar. Such things are not forgiven, and the USA has decided to take revenge. Another irritating factor for the USA is that FIFA voted to hold the 2018 World Championship in Russia. Against the backdrop of the confrontation between Russia and the West, this championship may play an important part in raising Moscow's prestige in the world. The USA has no intention of letting this happen when it comes to the world championship. This is purely a matter of politics.

- In this case, is there some doubt as to whether the World Football Championship will be held in Russia?

- Yes. They will somehow manage to cancel the championship in Russia. It will be a long process. The decision on cancelling the championship in Russia will be taken after FIFA's new head has been elected, in approximately 8-10 months' time.

-  The football sphere enjoys enormous financial turnover. The experts are talking about three trillion dollars. Can an organisation like FIFA avoid becoming enmeshed in corruption…

- All international organisations are subject to corruption to a certain extent. What disturbs me is that the US Attorney General's Office [US Department of Justice] has been investigating FIFA's activity for the last 24 years. FIFA's leadership has repeatedly changed in that time. This means that, instead of an investigation the American Attorney General's Office has been carrying out some sort of monitoring of FIFA.

- And what can Russia do in response?

- Russia will apply every effort to protect its right to hold the World Championship. But it is understandable that Russia's possibilities are limited in this case. Without being too direct about it, FIFA officials have let it be known that, after the election of the organisation's president, they will return to the issue of holding the championship in Russia. Moscow is not opposed to checks being made on the unbiased nature of the choice to host the championship. But it is troubled by the format of the investigation into the international organisation which is being conducted by the US Attorney General's Office.

- The shock in the football world is also evoking concern in Azerbaijan. The quarter finals of the Europe 2020 Championship are to be held here…

-I do not believe that the controversy with FIFA will have any effect on the European Championship 2020 matches. That decision was taken by UEFA in accordance with European regulations, and the organisation went about making the choice of country in a responsible manner. There will not be any problems there. UEFA is striving to ensure that European football survives on a big scale. That is affected to a lesser extent by the political situation that has taken shape with FIFA.