Gulf Autocrats and Sports Corruption: A Marriage Made in Heaven

Arab politics have been written into the DNA of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since the expulsion of Israel in 1974. The expulsion like that of Taiwan underscored the incestuous relationship between politics and sport, most prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa. World soccer body FIFA’s failure to act on threats to sanction the AFC for violating the charters of FIFA and the AFC with the expulsions shaped global soccer’s attitude towards autocratic regimes. In the Middle East and North Africa, FIFA and the AFC’s refusal to impose adherence to their rules amounted to support for autocratic rule in a soccer-crazy region where rulers see the game as a key to exercising control of public space and an institution that evokes deep-seated passions. Their refusal has had far-reaching consequences for governance, certainly since 2002, when Mohammed Bin Hammam became AFC president until he was banned by FIFA from involvement in soccer 11 years later and under the reign of his successor, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa. Their governance and that of Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, one of the most powerful men in international sports, reflects the authoritarian traits of the societies they hail from.