Football – the world sport, not the American exception – and politics go forever together: Switzerland’s victory against Grossdeutschland on Jun 9, 1938, rang a bell of resistance. Germany’s World Cup championship on July 4, 1954, was the spiritual birth of the Federal Republic. Not to mention the «football war» between Honduras and El Salvador in the summer of 1969 (1200 deaths), and not to forget the „Stop-it-Chirac“-act of the Swiss national squad against France’s nuclear tests on September 6, 1995. Nor the provocative touting of the Eagle of Albania by Swiss-Kosovar players during the World Cup game against Serbia on June 22, 2018.
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The football organizations go great lenghts in keeping up the chimera of innocuous ball-kicking solely concerned with play and game. At the lower end of the enterprise, there are sanctions: Unwelcome acts of players are suppressed and, where suppression won’t succeed, punished. In the upper echelons politicking continues, more offensively so than ever this time around. Just in time for the World Cup, the Swiss-led and Swiss-domiciled world association FIFA introduced the commercial break (hydration break in public-relations-speak) – a cowtow before the americanization of the sport. To keep the caudillo in Washington happy, it hurriedly invented and awarded a FIFA peace prize. After a red-carded US player was barred for the next game, in total accordance with the rules, the dedazo from the White House sufficed to bend the law, suspend the rule and let the guy play. Luckily, the reaction came on the field, the Belgians kicked the Americans with a score of 4:1 out of the tournament.
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I actually wanted to resist World Cup lure this year. Hydration break, peace prize, the servile apologies of the sports writers for the absurd ticket prices («that’s how it is in America») reduced a normally healthy appetite to zip. But how can one do a Savonarola if such great sport is displayed in North America? You turn it on and watch nevertheless. And into view comes an eminently political phenomenon: Never before did teams from Africa in such large numbers play such a great role in a World Cup final tournament. Eight African nations advanced to the next round: Senegal, Algeria, Ghana, Cap Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo which for two generations is suffering an endless war. Plus Morocco which made it to the quarter finals. And Egypt which on account of biased refereeing failed in the round of 16. Some of these places were qualified shithole countries by the world ruler in Washington (pardon his French). In the United Nations Human Development Index they all are placed in lower half, Egypt the best at rank 100, the Democratic Republic of Congo the worst at rank 171.
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They sure are poorer than we are, these African countries. Less democratic, less successful, possibly less agile, perhaps more corrupt and not so well versed in the art of «good governance». But they are catching up. They are on the rise. Unquestionably, the success of their footballers will feed the pride of Africa’s millions. Maybe their optimism, too. The sense that things can be moved. The World Cup has shown that Africa is more than refugees and starving recipients of global welfare. Its footballers signal the possibility of another Africa. One that can compete as equal with the rest of the world.
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We are well advised to take note. We in Switzerland would also be well advised to put a layer of insulation between ourselves and the FIFA headquarters in Zurich. More peace prizes, more servility, more creativity in dealing with their own rules will morph into the proverbial «reputational risk» for the Confederation. Where is the Federal Councillor who fronts a desk man, where the Ambassdor who fronts the Third Secretary, when the Landsmann from Wallis will ask for face time?