FIFA keep to their word and expel Peru – when will the players and fans come first?

South American nation, Peru, have been banned from playing international football by Fifa. This ban includes the 2010 World Cup.

Expelled from world football

The ban is in relation to a dispute between the Peruvian Government and the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF). Fifa have also warned Peru that if the dispute is not amicably settled within one month, they may well be expelled from world football entirely.

A Fifa statement read,

“The Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) will only return on the basis of negotiations with the president and the board of the FPF.”

South American Football Confederation (CSF) secretary general Eduardo de Luca confirmed the news by saying, “Fifa has suspended Peru from all activity.”

Fifa’s executive committee will discuss the issue at a meeting in Tokyo on 19th and 20th December. Peru are not due to play another World Cup qualifying game until March next year.

Refused to recognise

The dispute began when the government of President Alan Garcia refused to recognise the election of Manuel Burga as football federation president.

Hopes of an amicable agreement whilst Manuel Burga remains in post appear to be fairly small as the president of the Peruvian government’s Institute of Sports (IPD), Arturo Woodman told Reuters,

“If Burga’s position is going to remain the same as before, this is a dialogue of the deaf. There is absolutely no intervention by the government. What there is, is respect for Peruvian law.”

Peru has a fine footballing tradition, but have failed to qualify for the World Cup finals on the last six occasions. They are currently bottom of the ten nation South American qualifying group with just one win in their ten matches.

Infamous

Since its start in 1930 Peru took part in the first ever World Cup where defeats to Romania and the eventual winners Uruguay saw them quickly eliminated. They also took part in the infamous 1936 Olympic Games. They won their first Copa America in 1939, beating Uruguay 2-1 in the final and established themselves on the world stage.

After that however, they didn’t qualify for another World Cup finals tournament until 1970. During that period they regularly did well in the Copa America, finishing in the top five on no less than nine occasions.

Remarkable performance

It was in the 1970s that Peru developed their finest national side. The Copa America returned to their hands in 1975 with a 2-1 aggregate win over Colombia and on the World stage, they qualified for three of the four World Cups up to and including 1982. A remarkable performance in the 1970 World Cup saw them beat Bulgaria and Morocco before losing 4-2 to the tournament winners Brazil in the quarter-final.

After failing to qualify in 1974, they made the second round in 1978, beating Iran and Scotland and drawing with Holland and the first round in 1982, drawing with Italy but losing out to Poland.

Since 1982 they have failed to reach the World Cup finals but have reached the quarter-final or better in the Copa America seven times.

Arguments and strife

Peru have been as high as thirty-fourth in the Fifa rankings and usually sit at around fiftieth place. With only two wins in their last nine games and with all the internal arguments and strife, they have slipped way down to seventieth place at this time.

The current squad is made up mainly of players who ply their trade in Peru itself, but does include five players based in Europe, one in Mexico and one in Colombia. Maybe their most famous player of recent years would be Nolberto Solano of Boca Juniors, Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham fame.

Politics and sport

It seems a terrible shame that once again politics and sport have become intrinsically linked. The footballers and football fans of Peru have nothing to do with this argument between the ‘men in suits’ yet it is they, as always, who suffer.

I hope that this dispute can be sorted out because Peru is a country that should have a football team taking part in the Worlds premier tournament.

Speaking at a news conference in Chile last week, Fifa President Sepp Blatter had said,

“The problem in Peru is there is political intervention in the organisation of football. On Monday we at FIFA need to receive an official document in which the government, and the football federation, agree to solve the problem in a period of 10 days. If we do not have this document by Monday the Peruvian federation will be suspended immediately. This situation hurts me. It always hurts when FIFA has to intervene because of political actions in the organisation of football.”

For once Mr Blatter, I think all football fans would agree with you. Football is a universal language and all differences between people and nations can be reduced by this beautiful game of ours. We mustn’t let the politicians and beaurocrats interfere. The players and the fans must always come first.