Corruption in FIFA

Mostly agree though it looks like the Arab countries of the AFC will side with UEFA and CONCACAF? 
Saudi and Qatar don't need Infantino's promised $20 Million.  

AFC President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa (Bahrain) has been openly critical of Infantino's private investment plan. He likely has designs on the top job at FIFA. At the last contested FIFA Presidential election in 2016, he ran 2nd to Gianni.

It looks where reforms are needed, is limiting Presidents to 1 or max 2 terms. 
Plus cash payments to different MAs to be consistent, measured and available to all MAs. Not to be random and effectively used to buy votes. Even if NZ and OFC as a whole has benefited from that ad hoc cash handout approach, under Infantino.

But at the same time what NZ can't afford is yes, a UEFA lead bloc taking charge and just drying up our FIFA funding. 

Though really if 48 team World Cups are here for a good, then NZF should be able to lock away $USD10million (minus what AWs players get) odd, every 4 years. Plus whatever the Ferns get for WC qualification. That will fund alot. The 2010 WC FIFA payout seemed to fund all our international teams programs for years. And yet still for several years (Herbert, Schmid & Hudson) the AWs seemed to miss as many windows as they played in, presumably due to funds being tight.

A big danger would be any new FIFA powerbrokers, putting OFC's automatic WC qualification mens & womens spots, into some sort of extra qualifying or playoffs pathway. That could well be the sort of backroom deal, of a few that are cut behind the scenes. There will be voices saying a Confed with it's best team ranked 86th in the world, needs at extra playoff or whatever.

NZF losing that AWs/Ferns 4 yearly WC qualification cash, would now be a huge setback for football in NZ. That money really matters now to fund the game in Aotearoa.

Agree. NZs position is very unstable. European press reporting that there is intense backroom negotiations going on regarding Infantino and FIFA. 
Everyone is pushing to get a deal that suits them
The Times reports that Mexico wants to move to CONMEBOL.
There gave been suggestions that four  even sized Confederations is a better stucture. Each with around 50+ countries. CONCACAF and CONMEBOL to join together and Oceania fold into AFC. 
Would NZ still qualify for the WC playing for one of 10 slots in Asia? On paper you would hope so. But it would be a risk

So to be fair to what Coochie was looking at a few pages back, while some of it was pro-sell off, a lot of his argument was also if Infantino gets swept away and there’s an anti-Infantino wave at FIFA, NZ might lose out in a big way for a couple of decades. Which could be a disaster for us given the steady progress of the game since 2010. 

Or since Graeme Seatter getting us playing regularly and against decent teams…

Doesn't the current system of NZ funding from FIFA come from a UEFA-led bloc?

The argument that we have to support corruption because it's very profitable for us, personally, is the kind of cynicism which typifies this degenerate era.

I was reading recently the memories of someone who lived in Poland in the 1980s, where everyone knew that the Stalinist system was a failure and there was no path to a good life without cheating and scamming, so that's what everyone did. Sounds familiar.

FIFA is effectively offering a 211-player Prisoner’s Dilemma, where just like in the Polish example everyone ends up worse off by trying to look out for their own interests.

I take some hope from the observation that “cooperation can emerge in repeated interactions”, although frankly not much.

Think this comedian sums it up.

There was no path to a good life for anyone in communist Europe apart from a tiny ruling elite. There was just a route to a lesser form of misery by participating in the multi layered corupt machine. Probably 50% plus of the world's nations today have levels of corruption embedded in their societies/economies equal or greater than 1980s Poland. 

1997 I remember me and some Kiwi mates having our 1970s Kombi van (max speed 70 clicks) pulled over in rural Bulgaria, by the local Police. I walked over to their patrol car with our passports, noticing the pile of empty Heinken cans on the floor of the passenger seat. Paid $USD20 cash to avoid having our NZ travel documents getting some sort of menancing Bulgarian stamp. Another Heinken 6 pack.

Can FIFA be mostly cleaned up?  Possibly. It would have to be UEFA led to happen

Didn't expect this from NZF, but hats off to them for this.

HPpEkpvW4AA3Eh6.jpg 143.76 KB

Didn't expect this from NZF, but hats off to them for this.

HPpEkpvW4AA3Eh6.jpg 143.76 KB

The whole Infantino helps smaller FA's assumes that the new guy don't care about them. Maybe he does an even better job?
The whole 64 teams idea is garbage, this years 48 was already pretty crinch. Maybe we keep the 'real' World Cup to the old more tidy 24 good teams and add another developing 24 countries in between as a showcase.

Yes, I don't see a new President ditching the investment in the global game etc

I don't see what is 'tidy' about 24 teams in the World Cup. 32 or 64 is tidy to have groups with two going through from each. I find the third place spots qualifying untidy.

See OFC is backing Gianni. If NZ football was smart they'd ring AFC to join. OFC will end if it happened.