Features

Or: How to trick the world into believing it can stop worrying about Qatar’s migrant workers.

State-owned Qatar Airways is a FIFA partner and sponsor of the World Cup in Russia and Bayern Munich. Migrant workers at Hamad International Airport, which is owned by the airline, are being subject to major human rights abuse.

New Caf president Patrice Motsepe already has a nickname, “the new puppet of Zürich”. The Caf election demonstrated that African football is no longer in the hands of Caf, but controlled by Gianni Infantino himself.

In July of last year, a top Mauritanian club which had been defrauded by its own FA completed its 4-year long quest for justice when its claims were validated by the Supreme Court. Yet the man at the centre of the scandal, FA president Ahmed Yahya is allowed to stand in CAF presidential elections, with the blessing of Fifa. How can this be possible?

The twisted tale about how Caf lost a billion dollar deal – and why the cash-strapped organization wanted out of the deal, with Fifa’s blessing.

A suspended FA president is running unopposed. And why has Fifa’s Head of Member Associations Veron Mosengo-Omba travelled to Comoros in the middle of the pandemic to make sure the election goes ahead on 30 January?

Why did CAF pay 6.7 million USD to French media group Lagardère to ‘buy’ a debt it knew it would probably never recover? And why did Ahmad Ahmad sanction this purchase?

The temperature is rising ahead of the Caf presidential election. Five candidates have emerged, and a billionaire businessman is the front runner. A former Caf exco member, Musa Bility, is accusing Gianni Infantino of undermining Caf’s independence for his own benefit.

“FIFA’s claim that it remains neutral in matters of politics (within the sport) is demonstrated to be patently false”, said Justice Carol Gobin. Her ruling could seriously damage FIFA’s governance model and authority.

On 24 September it seemed that Fifa had won by knockout over the rebellious Trinidad & Tobago FA. 24 hours later the tables were turned.