Sup With CONCACAF?

By: Ben | June 4th, 2011

(Note: Still no pictures. Sorry for not having updated in a while; final exams and continued tech glitches are a powerful combination)

You may be lost about what’s going on with CONCACAF. In fact, I’d be surprised if you weren’t. Apparently, while we were all worried about FIFA collapsing under a power struggle driven by corruption, CONCACAF began collapsing under a power struggle driven by corruption.

As Stephanie Tanner once said, “Cool, dude!”

Let’s backtrack:

Jack Warner of Barbados has been president of CONCACAF since 1990. However, with accusations of corruption from the 2018 World Cup elections having been recently brought to light by a report from CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer, Warner has been suspended by FIFA indefinitely. In his place stands Barbados’s Leslie Austin, the new acting president of the federation, who has begun drastic action towards cleaning things up at the uppermost levels of administration.

In the 24 hours since he took power, Austin has already dismissed Blazer and hired an outside accounting firm to conduct a “forensic” audit of CONCACAF’s books for the past five years.

But Blazer isn’t too keen on going. Apparently Austin’s acted without authority, as only CONCACAF’s executive committee has the power to remove a General Secretary. Further, while the federation has demanded that he stop cooperating with investigations into corruption, he has refused to part ways with his lawyers, and remains determined to get to the bottom of alleged compensation for votes towards Qatar receiving the 2022 World Cup.

So, in layman’s terms, we’re kind of screwed, especially with the Gold Cup just around the corner. We’re facing a civil war at the highest levels, and FIFA is clearly too weak to step in, as its own ranks are currently ripe with their own set of corruption charges.

I don’t think that CONCACAF will fall apart, and I’m sure that we will one day get past this, but it’s going to take a lot. Our federation, and FIFA as a whole, needs to completely reconsider its guidelines regarding ethics and transparency (some have even suggested that FIFA empty their Blatter. Heh.) We can’t operate as a shady aristocracy of executives trading favors for cash if we expect to lead the most popular game in the world, and one whose credibility is still only growing in the United States. CONCACAF needs to get its leadership under control, then purge itself of any corruption it can find.

But honestly, this stalemate looks like it could go anywhere. What do you think?

Category: MLS

« Well, They Couldn’t Suck Forever | Home | FIFA, We Do “NOT” Have A Problem »

Sup With CONCACAF?

Comments