One World Sports: Unraveling Goliath at FIFA and Talking ICC 2015




Beyond The Pitch show

Summary: While the scandal and investigation surrounding FIFA deepens with details emerging as a steady drip, now certainly comes a moment for world football and its fans to consider what next if reform is the objective, and to that end we examine the facets which must be unpacked inside the governing body before attempting to reset its structure while also introducing the biggest International Champions Cup yet in 2015. For the first segment Christopher Gaffney joins Anto from ground zero in this FIFA crisis to explore his most recent look at FIFA which asks a very important question - how can world football reassemble the organization based on so many broken parts that were built on a foundation of fear, intimidation and patronage. How should the world look at the history of the organization, come to grips with how it was originally assembled, so that the same mistakes will not be repeated again before another generation raised in the same culture simply deliver another generation set to plunder and control its governance. We explore a bit of history, triangulate just a few key factors and take a look back at Brazil 2014 as a clear microcosm of how FIFA has operated though its last two presidents, Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter. In segment two, Charlie Stillitano of Relevant Sports and SiriusXM FC gives us a ground view look at the biggest International Champions Cup yet, featuring many of the biggest club names in the sport, a tournament now being played in three continents and two emerging markets in China and Australia where the sport is growing at a lightning pace. Then in our last segment, Nicholas Rigg joins us by way of Football Collective to discuss the early signals from La Liga as Real Madrid moves forward with Rafa Benitez and five Spanish clubs prepare to do battle in the Champions League in 2015-16.