Santa and his reindeer came from the North Pole and played Scrooge for futebol, the nation's most popular spectator sport. Poor attendance, lackluster play and massive debts find even the most famous clubs tightening their belts.
Players are griping because teams delay paychecks. Managers balk at signing for less money. Third party syndicates continue to own shares of players like slices of churrasco, dribbling around FIFA rules.
Government subsidized football hasn't improved...
Before the FIFA World Cup was given “sports diplomacy” status by pundits, academics and some among its own leadership, the ice hockey rivalry between the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada that developed during the 1960 Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley, California proved ...
It was calm along the Esplanade on the afternoon of Friday, May 23rd. Most demonstrators who protest in front of the futuristic buildings along Brasilia’s divided highway of government were gone for the weekend.
After former president Jose Inacio Lula da Silva (known as “Lula”) made headlines by saying that anybody who uses the Metro (in Rio and Sao Paulo) to travel to FIFA World Cup games is an “idiot” (babaça) it was the perfect time for president Dilma Rousseff’s...
... followed by FIFA selecting former U.S. attorney general Garcia to replace former FBI director Freeh the following year, 2012. Meanwhile the organization’s reputation continues to be synonymous with corruption. That’s a tough challenge for sports diplomacy and sports marketers to overcome. The tectonic plates of geopolitics The impact of the FIFA private investigation. The future of Edward Snowden and Victor Bout. Conflict resolution in Syria and Ukraine. All of these events will intersect ...
... Football Confederation president Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, who also met with president Rouhani, supported Blatter’s decision to choose Iran. Is Sepp Blatter’s Campaign For A Fifth Term As FIFA President Sports Marketing Or Sports Diplomacy? Voting to select the next FIFA president takes place in 2015 and if he wins Blatter’s leadership of the organization, which has more members than the United Nations, would run until 2019. Russia will host the FIFA World Cup in ...
... economy in 2015. Just two months after president Luiz Inacio Lula daSilva assumed office in 2003 FIFA selected Brazil to host the 2014 World Cup, giving the former steelworkers union leader a surge of popularity. FIFA’s popular blog predicts the organization ... ... “first world” status to be awarded major sports competitions U.S. president Barack Obama acknowledged the value of sports diplomacy and did a publicity photo modeling a jersey of Rio football team Flamengo during his 2011 visit to Brazil and ...