Word: fifa
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...rules of FIFA, the sport's international governing body, allow a player the option of either representing their adopted country, or their country of origin - although once such a choice is made at senior international level, it cannot be reversed. A longstanding joke held that to play for the Republic of Ireland, a player simply had to prove that his grandfather drank Guinness, and to be sure, many players who'd struggle ever to make the national team in their home country are happy to find ancestral roots that give them an outing on the international stage and improve their...
...rather their players didn't have to turn out for the national team at all. Right now, putting pressure on players to resist national team call-ups for England would be beyond the pale for English premiership clubs, whose fans would turn on them in an instant. But despite FIFA ruling designed to prevent the practice, they put immense pressure on players from lesser foreign powers to cry injury when the national team comes calling, or even to "retire" from international football at ridiculously young ages. Just last week, for example, Glasgow Rangers axed their popular captain Craig Moore...
...many of the elite teams want nothing short of a revolution in the traditional order that has put nation above club in players' commitments. A G-14, representing Europe's 18 leading clubs, has begun legal proceedings in an effort to force FIFA to share with clubs the revenue generated by such huge international tournaments as the World Cup and Euro 2004, as a way of compensating them for making their prized assets available for international duty. They've also tried to create their own permanent Champion's League, fencing off the elite from the rest of the clubs - such...
Imagine having U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's job--with the only difference being that member countries care more viscerally about the decisions you make. Joseph (Sepp) Blatter, 68, the president of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), rules over the globe's most popular sport and its unruly passions. Soccer is often called "the simple game" or the "beautiful game," but its administration is neither. FIFA deals with issues ranging from wars, riots, corruption and citizenship to the proper application of the offside rule. And that was just last Sunday. FIFA's top spot is easily...
...FIFA's principal business is running the World Cup tournament, which will be next staged in 2006. Germany edged South Africa for the privilege. African nations felt dissed. South Americans are unhappy about the number of spots they get in the tourney. In Europe, the big pro clubs, such as Inter Milan, are demanding money for lending their pricey players to national teams for qualifying rounds. In other words, soccer is back to business as usual, with Sepp in charge. --By Bill Saporito