Fire FIFA Again

Apparently Enrico Pallazzo wasn't available.

FIFA's newly reelected president, Sepp Blatter, has invited famed opera singer Placido Domingo to join an advisory committee that Blatter thinks will help prevent future corruption problems within soccer's top governing body (apparently Enrico Pallazzo was unavailable). It's good to see that Blatter is making at least a token attempt to clean up his mess, but... an opera singer? This is an idea that should be fired.

Domingo is still mulling the offer, saying: "Since 1970 -- with the exception of 1978 -- I have been at every World Cup final in every host country. In my amateur way, I am an expert in football. I am happy to have been asked to be involved with this great sport and have requested more details to see if I can be of help." For his part, Blatter said Domingo "will be part (of the committee)." Good to see there is solid communication between the two.

Blatter also invited Henry Kissinger to join the committee, which seems like an equally strange choice since Kissinger knows more about realpolitik than free kicks. He, too, has not committed to joining the committee, which Blatter said would be responsible for investigations and offering solutions to problems. The committee will not, however, have an independent chairman.

Given the potential makeup of this advisory committee and its lack of independence, Blatter is putting this together for show and nothing more. He knows FIFA has a perception problem and he's trying to change people's minds. This committee, however, clearly isn't the answer and it seems that FIFA has problems beyond under-the-table payments. Last week Iran's women's soccer team was disqualified from an Olympic qualifying match against Jordan because FIFA decided that Muslim women can't wear headscarves during games, as the Iranian team planned to do. Iran has said that its women's team will not be able to compete internationally as long as the ban is in place, so FIFA has effectively destroyed a team for no real reason. If FIFA really wants to expand its fan base into the Middle East as it claimed when it awarded Qatar the 2022 World Cup, this probably isn't the way to make Muslims feel welcome.

The bottom line is that just about every member of FIFA, especially Blatter, needs to be fired or soccer will continue to be rife with corruption and stupidity.