UEFA's 'council of wise men' is Ceferin's version of Infantino's FIFA hubris
Taking a lead from FIFA, UEFA last week re-elected Aleksander Ceferin “by acclamation.”
In other words, no-one else stood to challenge Ceferin’s presidency and he will remain the second most powerful man in world football for at least another four years.
There were some encouraging developments at the congress in Lisbon, the Football Association’s Debbie Hewitt becoming a UEFA representative on the FIFA executive committee and Laura McAllister, from the FA of Wales, being appointed to the UEFA executive committee.
That is the committee that has, apparently, assembled a ‘council of wise men’ to address fundamental issues within the sport.
Confirmed members of the newly-formed UEFA Football Board are, in no particular order: Zvonimir Boban, Gareth Southgate, Jose Mourinho, Rio Ferdinand, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Rosetti, Carlo Ancelotti, Paolo Maldini, Fabio Capello, Javier Zanetti, Luis Figo, Philipp Lahm, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Rafa Benitez, Roberto Martinez, Predrag Mijatovic, Jurgen Klinsmann, Rudi Voller, Petr Cech, Juan Mata and Robbie Keane.
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It is tough to know which blindingly obvious observation to make first.
Let’s start with the all-male bit, the ‘council of wise men’.
It seems that, in the near future, there will be a similar body formed to cover issues in and around the women’s game.
Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho are two of the names on UEFA's 'council of wise men' (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Are those issues so fundamentally different from the men’s game that you need a separate body? Of course not.
Apparently, one of the main tasks of the Football Board will be to look at the laws of the game and the last time I checked, those laws were the same for men as they were for women.
On a basic level, the days of all-male committees in ANY sport should be long, long gone.
The second observation that demands to be made relates to the diversity of the group.
Didier Drogba is yet to confirm whether he will join the council (AFP/Getty Images)Patrick Vieira and Didier Drogba have, it seems, been invited but have yet to confirm but, still, would the composition of the panel really reflect the diversity of the game across the continent?
Take another look at the names.
At the very best, it is a grim reflection of the lack of opportunities for black coaches at so-called elite level.
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UEFA would probably argue that this group’s focus will be solely what occurs on the field, the implementation of VAR and, if Ceferin’s speech the other day is anything to go by, the handball rule.
But again, football panels should be as representative as possible. And where are the fans’ groups, the people who pay the money and the TV subscriptions that fill UEFA coffers?
Perhaps this panel will have a positive effect but it looks like a gimmick, it looks like Ceferin and UEFA getting a load of famous football blokes together for a photo opportunity.
What can they really affect when, as it appears will be the case, they meet just once a year?
This smacks of Gianni Infantino and his FIFA Legends - expect Ceferin to be centre-stage when the cameras click at the first meeting later this month.
FIFA and UEFA actually do a lot of good things … but their sense of self-importance is never far from the surface.
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