A (Slightly Biased) Fan's Perspective

FIFA > Country

Since most of the hooligan activities in Football games are alcohol related, I’m not surprised if some countries (especiall England) decided to ban alcohol from the stadium altogether. However, for a country that is well known for its titillating beaches, carnival, and easy going approach to life, I found it surprising that Brazil prohibits the sale of alcohol in football arenas due to a legislation passed by the Brazilian government in 2003. 

This creates a dilemma for the 2014 FIFA World Cup that is going to be held in Brazil where long-time beer sponsor, Budweiser, is known to splash cash in a biblical proportion to sponsor the single biggest event on earth.

Budweiser make up most of their sponsorship expenditure by selling beer products throughout the event, which in 2014, may be significantly dampened if things stays the way it is in Brazil. 

FIFA is attempting to push for a new legislation to change the Brazilian law to allow drinking back into the arenas which they argue is part of the fan culture throughout the long history of the tournament. Although there is resistance from Brazilian Congress, I have no doubt in the end FIFA will get its wishlist fulfilled and thus goes to show that FIFA is bigger than any national entity.

When a country bids to host the World Cup, each of them have to sign an agreement to follow a certain list of requirements that guarantees protection of FIFA & their major sponsor’s interest, which includes prominent product placing and tax exemption throughout the event. A very ballsy move to dictate a country on what and what not to do, but since every nation on earth is begging on it’s knees to have FIFA choose them to host the next World Cup, they have the leverage to do so. 

With 2018 FIFA World Cup to be hosted in the land of Vodka where fan culture is more or less the same from its counterparts in Western Europe, it should present no major hurdles when it comes to Country vs FIFA regulations.

But with the 2022 FIFA World Cup being hosted in Qatar, the first middle eastern country to ever host the prestigious tournament, that implements Islamic laws, one just wonder, how lenient & haw far are they willing to bend their back to compromise with FIFA? And if they are insistent on sticking to their country’s law due to religious reasoning, will the sponsors pull out from the event altogether?

If FIFA ever took on several more culturally polarizing brands such as gambling/betting (which have recently been more and more aggressive in doing football related sponsorships) companies or whatever that might be potentially controversial, what should the countries do? Is there anything they could do?

So, as things stands, FIFA > than any country on earth. And for that reason alone, we will see this guy at the helm for a foreseeable future until he decides to call it quits… Sigh….

Related articles

• FIFA urges Brazil Congress to quickly pass World Cup bill (vanguardngr.com)

Solar Panel Brands on the rise in the World of Football

Yingli Solar made its first debut in the FIFA World Cup 2010 and the brand suddenly gained a worldwide recognition in just a span of 30 days. Ever since then they have continued their involvement in elite level football by sponsoring Bayern Muenchen & just recently signed to sponsor the US National Team. 

Yingli becomes the first official renewable energy partner of US Soccer and the national men’s, women’s and youth teams until the end of 2014. The deal, signed ahead of the national men’s team’s game against Mexico on Wednesday night, comes on the back of the US women’s team’s run to the final of the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Germany last month, and shortly after the appointment of former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann as national coach. 

The pattern have been most evident for German football clubs sich as Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen, FC Köln and FC Schalke 04 that have signed sponsorship agreements with solar companies Yingli Solar, Q-Cells, SiG Solar, Solar World AG and Chaori Solar respectively.

“Football sponsoring increases brand awareness and may lead to new customers. It also shows that solar energy companies are entering the mainstream,” said Henning Wicht, a solar analyst at researcher IHS Isuppli, in a telephone interview with Bloomberg.

Irfan Weds in Germany to Dodge Potential Religious Troubles

newspick:

Celebrity Indonesian footballer Irfan Bachdim was married to his girlfriend, model Jennifer Kurniawan, in Germany on Friday, Kompas reported.

The wedding was held in the European country due to the bride’s and groom’s observance of different religions, a potential hurdle in deeply religious Indonesia. 

“We have discussed the faith difference with Irfan. The marriage law here may come as an obstacle so they decided to [marry] in a foreign country,” Jennifer’s manager, Erick Rachmanto, told a press conference in Kemang, South Jakarta.

Irfan is from a Muslim family. Jennifer does not follow Islam.

Erick said both pairs of parents of the couple had given their blessing for the wedding.

“We are not going to get involved in polemic about the family. We are trying to be neutral. There is no problem at all, everything runs
smoothly,” he said.

In June, Irfan’s uncle complained that the family had yet to meet the bride-to-be and said they did not approve of the couple’s wedding plans. 

“He should have introduced her to his family, no matter ugly she is,” the uncle said. “If she believes in a different religion, get her to convert because we are fanatical Muslims.

Erick said Irfan and Jennifer would most likely hold some sort of occasion-marking party here in Indonesia, “but the date is not specified yet.”