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Olympic leaders criticise FIFA as activists target meeting

Published:Sunday | December 12, 2021 | 12:07 AM
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Human right groups gather on the United Nations international Human Rights Day, Friday, December 10, 2021, to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 in front of the Bank of China building in Taipei, Taiwan. The groups are calling for the theme of this
AP
Human right groups gather on the United Nations international Human Rights Day, Friday, December 10, 2021, to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 in front of the Bank of China building in Taipei, Taiwan. The groups are calling for the theme of this year’s human rights day to be “Equality-Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights”.
Human right groups gather on the United Nations international Human Rights Day, Friday, December 10, 2021, to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 in front of the Bank of China building in Taipei, Taiwan.
AP
Human right groups gather on the United Nations international Human Rights Day, Friday, December 10, 2021, to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 in front of the Bank of China building in Taipei, Taiwan.
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OLYMPIC LEADERS aimed their ire at FIFA’s president yesterday over his push for staging more World Cups, during an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-hosted meeting that Tibetan students tried to interrupt in a protest against the Beijing Winter Games.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s plan to stage men’s and women’s World Cups every two years instead of four was previously criticised by the IOC, which put it on the agenda for the annual “Olympic Summit” debate of influential sports bodies.

“The attendees voiced serious concerns over proposals from FIFA for a biennial World Cup and the impact on the worldwide sport event calendar,” the IOC said in a statement.

Before the heated words inside the online meeting that Infantino attended, several activists from the Students for a Free Tibet group tried to get into the IOC headquarters.

Human rights record

Local police were called to help block the activists who continued to sit at the front doors and hold up banners including “Boycott Genocide Games” next to the iconic Olympic rings symbol outside the building.

Pro-Tibet groups are part of a wider alliance of activists fuelling opposition to the February 4-20 Beijing OIympics over China’s human rights record, including treatment of its Muslim-minority Uyghur people, democratic rights in Hong Kong, and military harassment of Taiwan.

In recent weeks, the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach, has been more widely criticised for seeming too close to China over the uncertain safety of tennis player Peng Shuai after she made sexual assault allegations against a former senior government official.

Bach chaired the meeting yesterday to discuss “subjects of significance for the future of the Olympic Movement”.

It came two days after Bach said the IOC had had no direct consultation with FIFA since the biennial World Cup proposal was formally announced three months ago.

Under questioning from several delegates, Infantino explained “ongoing discussions in FIFA were broader in scope than a biennial World Cup and that what had been presented so far was only the preliminary results, which are still under discussion”, according to the IOC said.

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The IOC has previously said that doubling the number of World Cups would affect the calendar of “tennis, cycling, golf, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, Formula One, and many others”.

It would also potentially put a men’s 2028 World Cup, likely earning FIFA billions of dollars in commercial income, almost directly against the Los Angeles Olympics, which open July 21, 2028.

Momentum for FIFA’s preferred plan has stalled in recent weeks, meeting resistance across European soccer and in South America.

FIFA will host their own online summit on December 20 from Doha, Qatar, with all 211 national member federations and continental soccer leaders due to debate future tournament options.

(AP)