Dominican Soccer is on the rise

The Dominican Republic has historically been one of the weaker nations when it comes to international Soccer. However, much like Cuba, the Dominican Republic has attracted some global attention over the last decade. For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Cuban team qualified directly to the Third Round as one of the six highest ranked teams and were place in Group C with Honduras, Panama, and Canada. Although the Cuban team had a couple of close games, they ended up their qualification process with 1 draw and 5 defeats. Cuba has ranked as high as 46 in 2006 and as low as 175 in 1994. These strong positive deviations throughout the aforementioned 12 year period are similar to the positive deviations that the Dominican Republic has experienced as of late. The Dominican Republic is ready for the big stage.

 

Soccer was introduced to the Dominican Republic by the Spanish. Between 1936 and 1939, Spaniards who had been exiled to the Dominican Republic, would seek out open fields and play games of soccer. These improvised games would not meet present day FIFA standards, as they were put together with makeshift nets and balls. Dominican soccer was born in this period, as many Dominicans fell in love with the sport and the first two teams were founded, El Condor and El Pindu. The overwhelming majority of the participation in these squads was of European descent.

Historical lagging Dominican participation in soccer can be attributed to the popularity and domination of baseball by Dominicans. Baseball is engraved in the fabric of Dominican society and can be traced back to the late 19th century. Rafael Trujillo (Dominican dictator from 1930-1960) was also a great proponent of baseball. During this period, there wasn’t any investment into infrastructure or education in regards to soccer.

A major development in the rise of popularity of soccer for Dominicans came with the arrival of Bolivian coach, Prof. Fortunato Quispe Mendoza in 1965. His arrival marked a new era of Dominican soccer and helped expand the popularity of the sport beyond the capital city of Santo Domingo. The Football Association was created in 1970 in Santo Domingo (about 100 years after Euro leagues).

The continuous work of private institutions and soccer schools aim to to revive the popularity of soccer in the Dominican Republic, making it more than a novelty television event every four years. At this time FIFA is supporting the “Proyecto Gol” in the DR. The overall objective of Project Goal is to create headquarter offices here; to build natural and artificial soccer fields for practice and play, and aims to strengthen the country’s basic soccer infrastructure. The main problem that the Dominican Republic faces is the attraction and retention of talent.

Estadio Olympico Felix Sanchez

The international ranking for the Dominican Republic in the past 10 years has been very encouraging. Although Dominican ranking has certainly fluctuated over the previous 10 years, there is a consistent positive trend. The Dominican golden years have been from 2008-2011, in which they were able to rise from a low of 190th ranking to a high of 78th. Statistically speaking, Dominican ranking should be consistently closer to the top 35% (hovering near 70th) worldwide by the time the 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Russia. If the positive trends continue (or get better) over the next 8 years, the Dominican Republic could find itself in legitimate contention for one of the 32 slots for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar!

 

FIFA Global Ranking for The Dominican Republic

FIFA – Flawed Incompetent Fútbol Association

FIFA, (The International Federation of Association Football) is an NGO and the international governing body for most of the soccer played on the planet. FIFA is responsible for organizing the setting, regulations and structure of most football matches on the globe, the most famous being the World Cup. FIFA is also one of the most corrupt and oldest NGO’s.

FIFA member association meeting.

 

FIFA was created in 1904 when it served only seven member associations (France, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). Prior to the inception of FIFA, the UK’s “Football Association” was the primary authority governing football affairs. FIFA is literally structured like a government: Congress (legislative body), Executive Committee (executive body) and General Secretariat (administrative body). As most governments, FIFA is very susceptible to corruption. The FIFA congress is composed of representatives from each of the member associations (209 countries). The FIFA President, currently Sepp Blatter, is appointed for four-year terms by the FIFA congress. The executive committee (composed of 24 members), is also elected by the FIFA congress.

Thou Shalt Not Tax…

FIFA is organized as a not-for-profit organization (NGO) under Swiss law and is headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. As a result, FIFA pays absolutely no tax on revenue that it earns from events such as the world cup. In Brazil (World Cup 2014), for example, the countries lost revenue from exempting FIFA from tax laws will translate into about $250 million dollars. Brazil stands to gain about $575 million from taxing prize money distributed to all participating member teams, in additional to all the touristic revenue that it will gain from this World Cup. Still, I’m sure that Brazilian citizens would rather have $250 million dollars coming into the country as tax revenue from FIFA than from their own pockets.

Brazil welcoming FIFA for the 2014 World Cup.

“FIFA is ugly and people need to know it. FIFA today is a multinational that is eating up the ball. Countries can’t do anything against them.” Former Argentina player, Diego Maradona, The Sunday Times

 

World Cup host country auction

The host cities for the World Cup are determined by a bidding process, this process is highly secretive and  fair (according to FIFA). In 2009, FIFA received 11 bids from countries aspiring to host one of the biggest events known to man. For 2018, the bidding countries included: England, Russia, Portugal and Spain. For 2022, the bidding countries included: Japan, Australia, Qatar, South-Korea and the United States. The bidding process is incredibly profitable for FIFA, as they are able to collect millions of dollars on bid money and ultimately choose only one host nation. Australia, for example, paid close to $50 million dollars just to submit a bid. The 24 executive committee members vote on which nation will host the World Cup (only 22 members eligible to vote in 2010 because 2 members were suspended for accepting bribes). A FIFA executive committee member and Qatari national, Bin Hammam, was banned by FIFA for bribery. Apparently Mr. Hammam had lavished millions of dollars worth of gifts, cash and trips towards FIFA’s executive committee in hopes of securing Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid. Most people who are familiar with FIFA antics are not surprised by the fact that Qatar will be the setting for the 2022 World Cup.

“These [corruption] allegations are baseless and riddled with innuendo designed to tarnish the reputation of Qatar’s 2022 Bid Committee.” Qatar 2022 Bid Committee statement, eurosport.com

 

Match Fixing

Ibrahim Chaibou, a Nigerien referee during the 2010 World Cup is currently retired and wealthy. He deposited $100K cash into his bank account in South African hours before refereeing a match between Guatemala and South Africa. The false penalties (multiple) called were blatant even to the untrained eye. Football 4U, is the name of a match fixing syndicate that sources and appoints referees for soccer matches all around the globe. They make money by providing legitimate referees, bribing them and controlling the outcome of games for gambling purposes. The leaders of Football 4U stand to gain millions of dollars by manipulating the outcome of games.The South African federation, troubled by financial difficulties and administrative dysfunction, was a ripe target. Once Football 4U had insinuated itself, the syndicate was able to switch referees at the last moment, and it had access to dressing areas and the sidelines. Match fixing has been plaguing FIFA for decades, yet they’ve never taken a serious stance against it. I’m sure that there have been a few of FIFA’s own to indulge in some fixed gambling.

 

Ibrahim Chaibou

 

Build me a Football kingdom worthy of FIFA

The host nation for the World Cup is driven by FIFA to build new stadiums and infrastructure that is “FIFA-Quality”. The demands to develop these soccer worlds at break-neck speeds usually means construction deaths and wasted money. Additionally, natives also end up losing their homes (about 250K displaced in Brazil 2014). I’m assuming that when the smoke clears from the World Cup in Brazil, the empty stadiums will be used as homeless shelters. Protestors are powerless against FIFA, as they are powerless against their own governments who seek to exploit them instead of protect them. Organizations like the World Bank that have noble mission statements will also see the World Cup as a way of preying on developing nations. The World Bank will provide loans (funding mainly by US banks) in order to fund for major infrastructure projects (roads, electricity) that they know the borrowing nations will never be able to pay back.

 

Doing some good!

FIFA’s Football for Hope program provides funding for NGOs and community-based organizations that use football as an instrument for social development. FIFA aimed to build 20 centers across Africa, run by local best-practice partner organizations, to promote football and educational programs on topics including HIV/AIDS awareness, literacy, and gender equality. However, FIFA donates only 0.7% of its revenue towards charitable programs. Macy’s donated about 8% of its profits in 2010. In 2012, Target contributed 4.7 percent of its profit and combined that sum with a promise to donate $1 billion to public education. FIFA should be held to a higher standard considering the amount of wealth, power and international influence that it exudes. That’s cute though, 0.7%…. that’s enough money for “Football for Hope” to by three things: a soccer ball, a hammock and one condom that can be shared by an entire village. The FIFA organization is similar to any organization that has power; it wants more. It’s incredible how FIFA exerts gargantuan influence over most of the world by simply showcasing a group of men running around in circles kicking a ball.

“Finally, the world is seeing FIFA for what it is: a stateless conglomerate that takes bribes while acting as a battering ram for world leaders who want to use the majesty of the World Cup to push through their development agendas at great human cost.” Dave Zirin, New York Times