How do you solve a problem like Gianni?
The power of incumbency, plus Springboks to make seven
Gianni Infantino. Moonbeam or clown? Flibbertigibbet? Certainly. Problem-solver, or problem to be solved? All depends on where you are coming from - quite literally. Just don’t expect FIFA’s demon/angel [delete according to taste] President to be going anywhere soon. Most likely not until 2031.
Football’s Swiss/Italian head honcho has been front and centre of the off-field dramas at Qatar 2022. We even know now that the follicly-challenged one was bullied as a child for being ginger haired and freckly. All thanks to the eve of tournament press conference in which he railed against the hypocrisy and racism of Western critics of the World Cup’s host nation.
Infantino may be feeling the heat directed at his organisation, but he will rest easy in the knowledge that any amount of criticism won’t undermine his job security. Denmark’s football association has declared that it will abstain in the upcoming presidential election to be held in March. He though is the only candidate. Such is the norm in international sporting federations. You only have to fight for power once. Win and successive elections are usually uncontested. You have to be seriously corrupt (and blasé with it) - or unlucky in your contest with the Grim Reaper - not to see out your maximum allowed terms of office.
FIFA’s last President fell short of the bare minimum standards of behaviour required of this powerful sinecure. Sepp Blatter’s fall from grace when it came was precipitous. He was suspended when facing a criminal investigation, only months after being re-elected for the fifth time. He served for 17 years.
Infantino succeeded Blatter in early 2016, seeing off three rival candidates for the presidency. He was first re-elected unopposed in 2019. Post-Blatter reforms limit him to three terms of four years in office, but the clock only started for him in 2019 because he came to power at a mid-term extraordinary congress triggered by Blatter’s demise.
It’s worth reminding ourselves of Infantino’s campaign leading up to his initial election. The central plank in his manifesto was a promise to bump up the quadrennial development grants for each member nation of FIFA from $2 million to $5 million. The organisation at the time had reserves of $1.3 billion, even after the exceptional legal costs it had incurred in dealing with the Blatter mess.
Infantino was effectively pledging an additional $600 million in payments to his electorate. England’s share might barely touch the sides at the FA, but just think what the grant means to the football association in a small island country that can barely dream of making a World Cup finals. Canny politics that cements support for years, ensuring the vast majority of member nations remain quiescent.
Gianni Infantino’s remuneration in 2021 was CHF3.0 million ($3.2 million), almost twice as high as the organisation’s General Secretary (in effect, its CEO); just shy of the latest figures for the average FTSE100 CEO; but only a fraction of the median S&P500 chief executive ($14.5 million in 2021). FIFA is expected to generate revenues of around $7 billion in the 2019-22 cycle
I’ve watched a few presidents of international federations work themselves into a lather ahead of their re-election, even when the chances of a challenger were highly remote. Their fevered imaginings of possible opponents bear testimony to the addictive qualities of their roles. What is extraordinary is that Infantino’s now infamous rant came after the announcement that he would be unopposed. Maybe he was craving a beer.
Occasionally bitter presidential contests do break out. Two Britons in high profile roles have been embroiled in them in recent years, with very different outcomes. Brian Cookson lasted just one term at cycling’s UCI, gaining less than a fifth of the votes in losing a bitter presidential contest to France’s David Lappartient in 2017, who has since been re-elected unopposed. Cookson is the only one-term President in the UCI’s 122 year history.
Much tighter was the vote for President of World Rugby in 2020, which saw Bill Beaumont see off Argentinian challenger Agustin Pichot by 28 votes to 23. Unlike FIFA and many other international federations, rugby’s isn’t a ‘one member, one vote’ system, which clearly played in Beaumont’s favour.
It is exceptions such as these that keep sporting presidents on their mettle, at least once every four years as their current clock runs down towards the final whistle. However, with Qatar 2022 currently delivering in sporting terms, FIFA in rude financial health, the vast majority of its members content with the largesse delivered from its Zurich HQ, and the personal career jeopardy involved in challenging the incumbent, Gianni Infantino can look forward to his 2027 re-election with a high degree of confidence. No need for him to blow any more gaskets.
Seven Nation Army
I came away from Twickenham on Saturday more convinced than ever that South Africa will flip the Six Nations to become the Seven. It’s only a matter of time.
Private equity players like to pride themselves on being patient investors, but on a number of occasions I’ve seen just the opposite. Firms differ of course in their style and investment horizons, but all PE practitioners hunt restlessly for ways to add value to their holdings. CVC has burrowed into the heart of rugby and will be seeking ways to augment all of its various stakes, including the 14% it holds in the Six Nations at a cost that may reach £365 million.
Italy’s Six Nations record: P115, W13, D1, L101, PF1619, PA3961 (Wikipedia)
Would you rather watch Italy striving to hold their own against the other five teams in the annual northern hemisphere tournament, or those same five striving to best South Africa - an overnight flight away, but only an hour ahead of Rome time? And of course most eyeballs on the matches are via screens not in the stands. Make it the Seven Nations and you can have both, and the stakeholders (including CVC) would enjoy a big jump in broadcast and commercial revenues. Worried about players burning out? Ask them whether they’d like South Africa in or out…
Let the games commence
On the subject of private equity, reports that Bridgepoint has offered the ECB £400m for a controlling stake in The Hundred can only be the beginning of a delicate process with the potential to kill or cure county cricket in England and Wales. A nice problem for the sport’s new leaders to have - if reports are true - but much earlier than they would have liked I suspect. And no way will they countenance a majority sale. Won’t they?
If I had a pound etc.
Digital technologists and marketers are in high demand in the sports world. I’m frequently asked to recommend candidates by headhunters. This industry isn’t alone. In a business column last weekend Martha Lane Fox claimed the UK has 600,000 unfilled digital jobs. Don’t put your daughter on the pitch, Mrs Worthington. Get her a tech education instead.