Peter Peters, on March 11 one of the two candidates in the election of the new President of the German Football Association, slipped back and forth restlessly as a guest in the ZDF sports studio on Saturday. He did not answer who is holding back the International Football Association (FIFA) or even preventing it from finally taking a stand on the World Cup qualifying play-offs with Russian participation, even if it was obvious.
As a member of the FIFA Council, Peters knows better than to criticize President Gianni Infantino. After all, the former Schalke chief financial officer afforded his own opinion. “I can’t imagine anyone playing a game against a Russian team right now.”
Many associations cannot imagine that now, not only the Polish, Swedish and Czech associations, which would or could soon meet Russia in the World Cup qualifying play-offs. Denmark, Norway and Switzerland have also joined, and more will follow Polish FA president Cezary Kulesza’s call for a boycott, which he sent to all football federations in Europe.
It wasn’t a legal question for the association, it was a moral question that FIFA and Infantino should have answered as soon as possible, even if morality doesn’t otherwise play the dominant role. It was easy to see that he remained silent, hesitated and tried to maneuver his way through somehow – he has a few other sponsors behind him for other projects that have very little in mind when it comes to human rights by European standards and will watch closely how he positions himself.
The European federations had seen through this game and Infantino had long since taken this decision out of his hands. Because when the President would let the International Football Association announce the suspension of Russia – it happened on Monday evening – that basically didn’t matter anymore.
That FIFA could wave Russia through to the finals in Qatar because they have no play-off opponents, anywhere, must have been beyond even Infantino’s very vast imagination. After all, it would be hard to imagine that a European association would have made the trip to the World Cup in such a scenario.
