Putin, FIFA and the soccer cold war

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Everywhere Vladimir Putin looks these days, he sees an American conspiracy to keep Russia down. The revolution in Ukraine, the fall in the oil price, the spread of "gay propaganda" – these were all directed by the puppeteers in the White House and the CIA, you see.

And so when police swept in on a Zurich hotel Wednesday and arrested seven international soccer officials accused of involvement in what the FBI called a "World Cup of fraud," Russia's President didn't see a long-overdue crackdown on the corruption oozing from FIFA, global soccer's governing body. It was the FBI leading the investigation, after all, so this was clearly another American plot against Russia.

"This is yet another blatant attempt [by the United States] to extend its jurisdiction to other states," Mr. Putin said Thursday.

He went on to suggest that the real aim of the investigation was to prevent the re-election of controversial FIFA president Sepp Blatter – who was not among those arrested on Friday and who is standing for a fifth term in an election scheduled for Friday at the same FIFA Congress in Zurich.

You have to follow the wildly bouncing ball here. Mr. Putin believes the U.S. wants Mr. Blatter out because Mr. Blatter awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia; and because Mr. Blatter saw no problem with Russia hosting the tournament while Moscow is (in the eyes of Western governments) illegally occupying the Crimean Peninsula and fuelling a war in eastern Ukraine.

The Americans' alleged end game, then, is to wrest the 2018 World Cup away from Russia. And this is about a lot more than soccer.

Mr. Putin even compared the pressure on Mr. Blatter to the U.S. efforts to arrest National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden (who now lives in Moscow) and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. "Unfortunately, our American partners use such methods to achieve their selfish aims and illegally persecute people. I do not rule out that in the case of FIFA, it's exactly the same," he said.

The Kremlin liked the way FIFA was being run just fine. At a 2010 meeting in Zurich, the organization selected Russia as 2018 host ahead of three other contenders – joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands as well as one from England – that appeared to have fewer questions about them. At the same 2010 meeting, FIFA also awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, choosing it over the U.S., among other bidders.

Mr. Putin was deeply involved in pushing for Russia to be named 2018 host, and reportedly used his close relationship with Mr. Blatter to help swing the voting Russia's way.

That 2010 meeting in Zurich is now at the centre of the Swiss investigation. "It is suspected that irregularities occurred in the allocation of the FIFA World Cups of 2018 and 2022. The corresponding unjust enrichment is suspected to have taken place at least partly in Switzerland," reads the statement from Switzerland's attorney general.

Swiss police say they intend to question 10 members of the FIFA executive committee who took part in the selection of Russia and Qatar. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko is a member of that 16-member committee, and is in Zurich at the moment, though it is not yet clear if he would be among those questioned.

The 2018 tournament matters to Mr. Putin, perhaps even more than last year's Winter Olympics in Sochi into which he poured $50-billion (all figures U.S.) and much of his personal prestige. Hosting the World Cup – which is due to cost Russia at least another $40-billion – means jobs, investment, and a boost for the national ego. The Kremlin, after a rocky 12 months on the home front, craves all three.

And maybe, just maybe, the World Cup will lure Western leaders to drop their sanctions and their concerns over the war in Ukraine, so that they can come to Russia for the party.

The choice of Russia as 2018 host was controversial from the day it was announced. The country ranked 136th out of 175 countries last year on Transparency International's corruption perceptions index. Its professional soccer league is tainted by widespread racism and regular incidents of fan hooliganism.

Qatar's win was even more shocking, and has since been plagued by reports that hundreds of poorly paid migrant workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh have died during the construction of stadiums and other facilities. The sun-scorched Persian Gulf island is also spectacularly unsuited for hosting a tournament usually played in the summer, forcing FIFA to instead schedule games in November and December.

The protests over Russia's hosting rose to a howl last year after the snap annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. And that's where the new cold war between Moscow and Washington comes in.

Ever since Russia's move on Crimea, there has been regular calls – many of them coming from the U.S. Senate – for a boycott of the 2018 World Cup. Some went even further, arguing that FIFA should take the tournament away from Russia as punishment for the Kremlin's flouting of international law.

But Mr. Putin's ace in the hole was Mr. Blatter, who has steadfastly defended Russia's right to host the 2018 World Cup, repeatedly lauding Mr. Putin and Mr. Mutko as "five-star" hosts and saying politics should never affect sports.

"If a few politicians are not particularly happy that we are hosting the World Cup in Russia, then I always tell them: 'Well then, stay at home,'" Mr. Blatter said last month following a meeting with Mr. Putin in Sochi, one of the 11 Russian cities that will co-host World Cup games.

Earlier this week, Mr. Mutko returned the favour, lauding FIFA as "transparent and open" and declaring that Russia would support Mr. Blatter's re-election. "I think that today there is no alternative to Blatter," Mr. Mutko was quoted as saying.

And Russia has its money where its mouth is. Top World Cup sponsors Visa, Adidas, Coca-Cola and McDonalds all expressed their dismay Thursday at the news from Zurich, with Visa going so far as to say it might reconsider its sponsorship of the event if FIFA didn't take "swift and immediate steps to address these issues."

But Gazprom, the Kremlin-owned energy giant and another major FIFA sponsor, said it was unbothered by the arrests and would continue its relationship as before.