FIFA's President, Trump and the Quest for Peace: An Association Football Approach
'THIS-ISM … THAT-ISM …'
When the Venezuelan opposition leader was awarded this year's prestigious peace award for her "dedicated work promoting political freedoms", the American president reacted with the kind of generous response people could expect. After tirelessly run a campaign of self-promotion to make certain he received the honor personally, the chief executive promptly asserted responsibility for the Venezuelan opposition leader's achievement, cataloged his own self-announced and regularly questionable successes in the field of global peacemaking and challenged the legitimacy of the committee who chose not to present the honor, financial compensation and diploma to him.
While safety issues suggest it remains to be seen if the latest peace prize winner will emerge from concealment to collect her honor directly at the Oslo ceremony in the final month, a particular obsequious soccer organization chief appears intent on appropriating her spotlight nonetheless. Yup, the football administrator has chosen to give an honor for peace of his personal invention in front of a global TV audience of numerous worldwide sports followers the previous week in the US city.
A person who has over many years preached the importance of keeping political matters out of football, particularly when they're the kind of political positions he deems uncomfortable or merely objects to, the FIFA leader used his stage at the American corporate gathering in Miami to advocate his position about the power of football to unite citizens of every color and creed, notably those who have additional significant financial resources available to acquire flexibly valued International Football Championship passes.
"In a progressively uncertain and separated international society, it is fundamental to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of people who labor diligently to resolve disagreements and bring people together in a spirit of peace", he declared. "The sport symbolizes unity and acting for the entire football community, the FIFA Harmony Award – Soccer Connects Globally will honor the tremendous efforts of these people who bring together individuals, providing confidence for future generations."
Yet who might he reference? While Infantino was cautious not to offer any clues about the person of the inaugural award's lucky recipient, he did segue into a probably unrelated and flattering tribute to his current Personal Ally (Or For The Immediate Future), the American leader. His comments definitely had the intended outcome. Internationally, the most skeptical of observers were aligned in declaring they understood precisely who would be winning the Pretend Peace Prize, with certain individuals even going so far as present totally unsupported claims that the legally adjudicated and competitive misconduct person in question might potentially forced the FIFA head to create the award simply to compensate for the leader's feeling of injustice at not obtaining the genuine honor.
As credible a scenario as it sounds, Football Daily begs to differ, if only because in the past few months the increasingly preposterous Fifa boss has burrowed his way to such an extent up Trump's digestive tract that there's every chance this latest idea was truly his personal creation.
And although it's reasonable to suppose it stays past Infantino's limited wit to deliver the mother of all curveballs by presenting the organization's inaugural (and possibly last) peace prize to Greta Thunberg, Volodymyr Zelenskyy or that member of the soccer club's training personnel who stepped between Ademola Lookman and Ivan Juric to stop an unpleasant important competition sideline confrontation, it's possible to wish Reece James and his Chelsea teammates are requested to participate to the city dressed in gear to perform a response appropriation of the leader's award event.
That golden debatable award, or whatever other similarly tasteful trinket the FIFA president decides to award the chief executive for his contributions to international unity and togetherness, would adequately compensate for the winner's medal he infamously appropriated and kept during the global team tournament presentation ceremony.
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DAILY HIGHLIGHT
"A person who collaborated a lot with music celebrities advised me that the age that they achieve celebrity is the period they remain for their entire existence. I considered: 'That will not promise favorably for me.' I found myself in the public eye at sixteen and thrust before the media. You mature, you become a parent, but you remain a soccer player. Subsequently, abruptly, it stops but your entire persona is still associated in the game" – Joe Cole delivers insightful commentary during a superb conversation.
