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NEWS > SPORTS > U.N. AND FIFA DETERMINE THAT FAILING AT SOCCER MEANS FAILING AS A STATE
U.N. AND FIFA DETERMINE THAT FAILING AT SOCCER MEANS FAILING AS A STATE
July 8 2010
Johannesburg, South Africa – As the World Cup heads into its final days and national pride for the few remaining teams is at an all time high. For non-soccer nations, the connection between the sport and national identity may seem something
foreign and possibly even deranged. While sport is inherently, competitive and regional pride is often attached to teams, in soccer the connection is much deeper and at times it seems to have overtaken all other aspects of nationalism such as government and history.
It is in soccer where nations that rarely wear their flags come out to play, dressing themselves head to toe in national pride and putting normally fervent patriots like people in the United States to shame. That tie between pride and the beautiful game was very much on display during the cup tournament and now with only a handful of nations still showing their colours the passion is growing ever stronger. That is good news for some countries and very bad news for other in the light of a new decision by the United Nations and FIFA that explicitly ties the game to the status of a nation. The decision, leaked early Monday, will declare that all nations with poor international records will be declared failed states until such a time that their game improves.
“Basically the idea is that soccer is now tied to human development index and it will be 
weighted quite heavily. While it is possible, theoretically at least, to stay out of the bottom with a poor soccer record practically it’s very unlikely. The top nations will have a shot at still being considered developed nations but they will have to score high on everything else,” said a FIFA insider. “Conversely it means that nations with poor records in other areas will jump up in rankings. Take Ghana for example which will now rank higher than Canada because of their superior football prowess. The idea is that nations which are advanced in other areas have the means to improve their game and will now be forced to do so.”
Because of strong soccer performance Australia, Ireland, and France will now be ranked near the top. The Netherlands because of their success in the World Cup will be ranked number one.
“It’s an interesting idea though it isn’t something totally unique. Sport and nationality have often been tied together and now they are just formalizing that notion. While thing like healthcare and education are4 still important, they are a little mundane and sport has a place that has now been formalized,” said Scrape TV International analyst Gustav Hander. “Art and sport have always been a major part of national identity but they are rarely formalized as a part of assessments or official standings. These other metrics are used but the things that people really care about, like football, just fall by the wayside. No more it appears.”
It’s not clear when the new rules will come into play or if other organizations such as the IMF or World Bank will also use a similar set of tools.
“It’s not clear what the long term effects of this new assessment might have but one thing is clear; there’s going to be a whole lot better soccer in the world. I mean we may see a degradation in countries that need money but the net gain in countries that will try and regain their status will outstrip that loss,” continued Hander. “Finally the United States will have a reason to get into the game. It’s going to be about the only way that they will be able to improve their status in the world.”
It’s not clear what status mildly successfully soccer nations such as Cuba and North Korea, which are not listed by most organizations at all, will be able to achieve under the new system.
Alexi Orton, Sports Correspondent
NEWS > SPORTS > U.N. AND FIFA DETERMINE THAT FAILING AT SOCCER MEANS FAILING AS A STATE
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