UEFA

Insideworldfootball.com

Those who forget the past, said the great American savant George Santayana, are condemned to repeat it. Football in 2013 runs the same risk. This is because many of the administrators who run the game seem to have forgotten the past. Or perhaps they never cared for the past despite their many references to it in public utterances.

This explains why 2013 will be for the world’s favourite game a question of dealing with issues many thought had long been settled.

Take race.

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Insideworldfootball

So what has Qatar in common with South Africa? On the face of it you would think this is an absurd, Christmas quiz, question. But it is not.

In footballing terms they have a lot in common. The common factor is both countries are pioneers for the world’s most popular game, staging the World Cup in their part of the world for the first time. And both countries have had the need to convince the world they are worthy of having this honour.

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Evening Standard

UEFA have no plans to expand the Champions League from 32 to 64 teams, according to a highly-placed source close to UEFA president Michel Platini.

The Frenchman shocked football last week when, in an interview, he suggested there could be a restructuring of Europe’s tournaments.

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Insideworldfootball

Poor Michel Platini. Do you not feel sorry for him? A wonderful footballer, he exchanges his shorts for a suit and becomes an administrator. Under his Presidency, UEFA hosts a European football competition that everyone says is one of the best in recent memory, if not the best ever.

The fears that it will lead to racist violence, and that players might even walk off during a match if they are racially abused, prove unfounded. The football is gripping, indeed so gripping that it brings back memories of great tournaments such as the Mexico World Cup of 42 years past. The Euros concludes with fascinating debates as to whether present-day Spain is better than the 1970 Brazil of Pelé and company and whether they deserve the title of the best football team ever.

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Insideworldfootball.biz

The European Championship once again raises the question of whether we are right in believing that sport, and in particular football, can reach out to society in the way nothing else can. The answer so far from the Euros is a chilling one: those of us who believe in the redemptive power of modern sport need to re-examine our beliefs – or at least ask if we do not need to prepare much better before we burden sport with this heavy load of transforming society.

The championship has been plagued by constant allegations of racism. They began even before the tournament began and have now led to UEFA charging Croatia with racist behaviour directed at Mario Balotelli (pictured below, in blue). It has raised the question: should UEFA have taken the competition to this part of the world?

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