The incentive for this piece has been provided by the recent threats from FIFA to ban Brazil from all international competitions because of a decision taken by a court in Rio de Janeiro. For the record, the ruling deposed the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ednaldo Rodrigues due to irregularities in the election process.
In fact, there will be a special commission appointed to make a decision on the issue on January 08. It’s a threat that, if it comes to pass, will create major issues on all levels of the sporting world including the best online betting brands that have based a lot of their policies into the power of the Brazilian national team and the clubs from the country.
While, we are writing this piece, we have learned that the ruling in question has been temporarily overruled by Judge Gilmar Mendes of the Supreme Court, reinstating Ednaldo Rodrigues to the position. The issue will be examined in a full session of all 11 members before it can take full effect. Nevertheless, the overturning of the original decision does not change the reason that this piece is written.
The history of the case
The problem goes back to 2017 when the Confederation changed the rules by which the elections for the ruling body would be carried out. In simple terms they overstepped their authority by not consulting the top Brazilian clubs. Thus, they weakened their voting power. Consequently, the elections that installed Rogerio Caboclo as President of the CBF were annulled. However, things become even more complicated when Caboclo was implicated in a sexual harassment case and was deposed, before the aforementioned annulment. Rodrigues was voted in the position after new elections became necessary to replace Caboclo.
The court that tried the case for the sexual harassment charge, acquitted Caboclo, complicating things more. Typically, by being declared innocent, he should have been restored as President of the CBF. Rodrigues took the position as Interim President and not as a full one. Hence, it is clear that the matter is a subject that must be ruled upon by the Brazilian judicial system and not by the internal functions of the Brazilian Confederation, which is what FIFA demands.
Should the Judicial System have been involved?
What we have here seems to be a violation of the Penal Code that led to an irregular change of the elections’ system. FIFA did not intervene on the first offense as it is clear even within their rules that any such infringement of the law, must be dealt with, through each nation’s legal authorities. However, they did intervene and threatened with a banning of the Brazilian National team and the clubs from all international competitions, when a court decided that the second infringement was in violation of the appropriate procedure.
FIFA’s threats are based on the notion that no governmental or other authority should intervene in the self-governing of football. According to them, the second infringement should not have been taken to a court. It should have been handled by CBF internally. So, the question becomes: is FIFA superseding the sovereignty right of a nation to its own Jurisprudence (=i.e. the rules and laws by which the justice system works)?
Rules on paper only
FIFA (and UEFA for that matter), have repeatedly issued threats on banning countries because of the intervention of their institutions to the affairs of football. Yet, there have been at least two cases, where their rules were clearly bypassed. How? By voting the President of the country as president of the football ruling body. The letter of the law was used to defeat its spirit. It is well-known how voting works in certain countries. Nevertheless, both the international and the European football ruling bodies, accepted the results of a clearly manipulated voting process.
Taking under consideration the latest decision by the European Supreme Court that FIFA and UEFA do not have the monopoly on football, and that such threats and punishments actually contravene the laws of the European Union, it makes no sense why they would insist on football being self-governed and directly intervening into the sovereign rights of a nation.
Fans want fairness
For the fans and the betting world, the major issue is the knowledge that sports are not been used as grounds for political wrangling and games of power. Therefore, there should be ruling bodies to make sure that everything stays within the rules and that any infringements are dully punished. However, those bodies should not dictate policies. Policies that would be detrimental to those that would like to open betting accounts at the best betting software. Would anyone be interested in placing wagers in competitions where Brazil would be banned for any reason?
