Had Christopher Columbus been a soccer man, he might neverhave discovered America. For soccer, a global sport for well over a hundredyears now, still trembles whenever somebody proposes a radical journey.
At the start of this century, there were many who said aWorld Cup in Africa was impossible. FIFA pulled it off in South Africa in 2010,although the host still has to count the cost of the white-elephant stadiumsleft in its wake.
Now, with the tournament charted to reach Brazil in 2014,Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, the doubters fear that somewhere along the line,FIFA might run aground.
And Europe, where it all began, is thinking expansively aswell.
Michel Platini heads the 54-nation European block known asUEFA, and, Platini being Platini, he believes in radicalism. As a player, hesaw the field as a canvas on which he could create what few men dared. He movedbetween midfield and attack wherever the urge took him, and he moved so freely,so daringly, through the 1980s that very few opponents could fathom what hedid, much less restrain his creativity.
Now, in a suit, he is obliged to move among politiciansstruggling to make the Euro zone viable. He pushes the boundaries, taking hissport where others fear to tread.
The doubters were lined up against Platini’s push for the2012 European championship to straddle two hosts “ Poland and Ukraine.
They are even more opposed to his expanding the finalstournament from 16 to 24 national teams in 2016, when it will be held in hishome country of France.
Extra slots please, of course, the members who vote for him,because more of them get to share in the profits and the privilege of beingpart of a prestigious tournament. But expansion displeases traditionalists andfrightens those who think that the larger you make the event, the more youdegrade the quality.
An expanded Euro becomes more like a World Cup, in which thegroup phase matches are largely seen as a weeding out of the weak.
But onwards and upwards, Platini steers the UEFA boat. Hislatest proposal is to spread the 2020 Euro across the continent. It is, as yet,simply an idea. UEFA will form committees to test the waters and see how it canwork to stage one tournament simultaneously around maybe six countries.
“There is a blank piece of paper,” Platini says. “I lovezany ideas. The challenge is extraordinary, no?” Extraordinary, yes, monsieur.
Euro 2012 was Platini’s first gamble as UEFA president. Hesees now, as he scans broader horizons, that there was a flaw in the tournamentthis summer. “2020 won’t be like Poland and Ukraine, with 50 French supportershere and 70 Spanish there,” he said. “I congratulate the British supporters whowent there, but perhaps they now have the possibility to go to another countrythat is closer.”
And he used rhetoric he has picked up along the way.“Before,” he said, “the fans had to go to the Euro. Now the Euro is comingtoward the fans.” Taking the matches to the fans, and saving their legs andtheir wallets, is a kind thought. It comes a little late after the expanse andthe expense of exploring new territories, including Africa and Brazil, and inthe coming years, Russia and Qatar.
The truth is that presidents in a sport please theirelectorates. FIFA’s Sepp Blatter has courted the African vote, and by the timehe gives up his office, the global governing body for soccer will have exploredthe riches that Russia and the Gulf have laid before the committee.
Platini is at the heart of Europe, but he is reaching far.“The FIFA president said it is a marvelous idea to spread the field,” Platinisaid last week. “He told me somebody wanted to do this a few years ago with theAfrican Cup of Nations. It was Qaddafi,” he said, referring to the formerLibyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi
