Fifa abandons investment plans after backlash

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0:26Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesby and we start the programme today with yet more drama from the world of football or soccer. The latest twist in the past couple of hours, the governing body of European football UEFA has issued a statement saying it has lost confidence in the leadership of FIFA boss Gianni Infantino. This despite his U-turn on his controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup. In the early hours of this morning, Mr Infantino issued a statement saying the proposal had been scrapped after European countries threatened to boycott the World Cup if stakes in FIFA's competitions were open to private investors.

1:09The governing bodies of North and Central America and the Caribbean and the Asian Confederation also objected to the Infantino plan. We're going to hear from the vice president of UEFA in just a moment. First, though, let's recap on how this story unfolded across the week, because on Wednesday, Gianni Infantino wrote to all 211 FIFA member associations saying they will receive$440 million if they backed his plan by September. If and only if it is approved by the majority of our 211 member associations and the FIFA Council, it would be a FIFA-owned and controlled subsidiary consolidating FIFA's commercial and event operations.

1:53It would simply commercialize and organize all FIFA-owned competitions, along with sponsorship brokers licensing a new venture for the benefit of FIFA 211 member associations, however, unlocking previously uncaptured commercial value. Well, that provoked outrage, with some critics saying it was effectively buying votes. But not everyone was critical. Rogers Bien-Mukama, executive committee member at the Federation of Uganda Football, supported the proposals. Let us discuss the proposal on its merits. Let us not just throw it away because of fears that are not validated yet. I think FIFA needs to have a candid discussion with UEFA, and UEFA needs to be a little bit more generous beyond looking at strong interests, but looking at the global sport generally.

2:50For instance, many of our African players that play their trade in Europe contribute significantly economically in terms of TV viewership to the European leagues. but how much of the revenue generated trickled down to the respective federation to grow the game. Well, in his final speech ahead of the vote to choose the next president a decade ago, this is in 2016, Gianni Infantino made a very clear pitch on the subject of money to FIFA's member nations. The money of FIFA is your money. It's not the money of the FIFA president. It's your money, you are the national associations, and the money of FIFA has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else.

3:34Mr Infantino speaking 10 years ago. Well, UEFA's statement today reads the current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence, but also that of many other members of the football family. So I asked the president of UEFA, Laura McAllister, should Gianni Infantino resign? I think we've made it clear in the statement that the football community has lost confidence in the leadership of FIFA, particularly in the president, Gianni Infantino. And I think after events of the past week, the statements that we've seen from the football stakeholders make it clear that it would be appropriate for him to consider his position.

4:17I just feel that all of us have been through a lot of anguish We've been through a lot of concern about the future of the game. And none of that was of our making. The proposal that dropped on us a few days ago was something that was potentially catastrophic to the game and really shouldn't have been given the airtime it has. So that's a yes, then. He should step down. I mean, look, it's his decision, isn't it? I mean, we can't force anyone's hand from the point of view of resignation. But if momentum gathers and other confederations issue statements similar to ours, then I think it would make his position untenable.

4:54But let's see how the next 24 hours or so goes. Our responsibility always is to look after European football interests. And we've made that very clear in the statement that the events not just of this week, but of previous weeks as well in the World Cup over the overturning of the Balogun red card due to political interference, the use of hydration breaks in the way they were. And of course, various other events have accumulated to give us a sense that the leadership of FIFA doesn't have the best interests of football at heart. You say you can't force his hand, but UEFA has really, hasn't it, over the past few days?

5:32It led the way to force this U-turn. Was that fair because some poorer countries, I'm thinking in Africa in particular, may have benefited from the cash that Gianni Infantino wanted to bring to grassroots football? The first thing I'd say is that I'm proud that we were able to generate a united front in opposition to this catastrophic proposal. Because once you sell off parts of football, you never regain it. And of course, the danger then is that the principles by which we run the game, sporting principles, are overtaken by financial ones. So I'm very proud that UEFA and all 55 countries were able to unite.

6:16But it wasn't just us, of course. We may have started that process. But the AFC, the Asian Federation and CONCACAF in Central and North America also expressed their opposition. I'm sure other confederations would have joined further down the line had there not been this withdrawal of the FIFA proposal. But your point about finance is a really important one, because we say in the statement today in UEFA that we need to look closely with FIFA and with the federations to talk about using some of the FIFA reserves that amount to over$5 billion to ensure that the grassroots of the game is better developed in each of those 211 countries.

6:56And I appreciate that for some small countries, you know, that was a lot of money on the table, but it was at the jeopardy of the future of football. And I believe those small countries recognize that that is unsustainable. Payments such as this, one off, would not have been sustainable long term because the interest of football would have been subsumed by the interest of private equity. And whilst the money would have been very welcome, there is already money to be spent by FIFA to ensure that the infrastructure of the game becomes stronger in every one country. And finally, I would say as well that I think people assume that the smaller countries are just about finance and funds.

7:35They're not. They have the principles and the ethics of the game right at their heart as well. They care as much about where the game goes and how it's operated as anyone else. So I don't think we need to patronise them by assuming that they are taken in by one-off payments when they know the sustainable investment in the game is the better way forward. So on the subject of money, we just heard that clip there from Gianni Infantino back in 2016. This was his pitch basically of becoming the FIFA president. And he talked about money. He said it's not the money of the FIFA president. It's your money.

8:11This is about the national associations he was referring to there. And in the UEFA statement, it addressed that clip, actually. It says, on both these promises, he has failed to deliver the shabby backroomer fake deal he has hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent. And I mean, the statement says there were secret schemes on fast track time scales cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game. I mean, that's quite accusatory language. We've seen FIFA bosses go before on charges of corruption. Is UEFA accusing Infantino of corruption? I think the statement is entirely clear and entirely fair.

8:57You know, if you just take the case of the FFE initiative this week, nobody knew about that. It was a unilateral intervention by the president and I assume a few people around him. But you've seen already within FIFA that several key figures have said they knew nothing about that. So that takes in the notion of a backroom opaque deal, which I think is entirely fair. There was no due diligence around the process and it already advanced considerably. There was no good governance principles around discussion, consultation with FIFA Council or with the Confederation. So when you put all of that together, I think the language is fair.

9:36Vice President of UEFA Laura McAllister. I've also been speaking to Miguel Maduro. He's the former chair of FIFA's governance committee. He was hired by Infantino in 2016 but then left the role less than a year into the job and has been constantly critical of Mr Infantino since. Does he think the FIFA boss's time is up? It was known already in the backstages of world football that the UEFA was not happy with Infantino, but they believed that they had no chance of housing him. So they were not pushing for that. They were not publicly opposing him. But now perhaps they see an opportunity to bring down Infantino.

10:16I think they probably are going to test that with other football associations from other confederations. And the fact that so many people close to Infantino have now distanced themselves from Infantino and that other confederations have also opposed him may mean that indeed these days are over at FIFA and they may be replaced. But replacing Infantino will not solve FIFA problems. Infantino is the product of the perverse system of incentives that dominates the culture of governance at FIFA. What we really need to do is to reform FIFA. Otherwise, we replace Infantino, but the person that will be there will end up being similar to Infantino.

10:56So it's the system that's wrong then. A lot of people are looking at how the presidency could be changed within FIFA. One suggestion is that there could be a rotating presidency, rather like there is for the EU, for example. Is that something that would be a good idea in world football? It is one possibility, but it's not enough. You need to think of the system in global terms. In 2016, there was a term limit that was imposed on mandates. But in fact, Infantino was already preparing to overcome those term limits. So if you simply change that rule without changing the rest of the system of incentives, sooner or later, public pressure will decrease.

11:39They will no longer be on the spotlight. And without us even realising, they will continue to be in power. That rule will be set aside and all other problems will continue. Miguel, UEFA used its considerable weight to get this U-turn from Infantino. Could that lead to a backlash? Could other confederations, I mean notably the governing body of Africa, CAF, might they actually be quite cross that UEFA has forced this decision because some of those countries could have done with the cash, couldn't they? Yes, and I'm sure some of the other confederations see what UEFA has done, not only as being done with the aim of protecting the game and the integrity of the game, but in fact, of also protecting the commercial interests of UEFA.

12:28UEFA at the moment, for example, at the club level, has the most profitable and money-making competitions, the Champions League and the other European competitions. No other confederation has competitions that make them as much money as UEFA makes with these competitions. And I'm sure many of these confederations perceived what UEFA has done, mostly as aiming at protect the commercial value of those competitions that was likely to be impacted if indeed, for example, the World Clubs competition that Infantino has been promoting, will expand and will become much more commercially successful. Miguel Maduro, their former chair of FIFA's Governance Committee.

13:07We have requested a response from FIFA. So far, we've not heard back from them. We'll bring it to you as soon as we do get the response.

13:22coming up how one woman's obsession with seaweed has really paid off she's discovered a new species it's got clear bands translucent light transmitting bands that then are interspersed with red ones which are not transparent and that was how it was described in the 19th century as a bit like a jewel because of the way the bands glisten. More from Professor Christine Maggs in just a few minutes. Our headlines from the newsroom this hour. The Spanish Prime Minister has denounced some of his fellow European Union leaders for their reaction to the influx of Moroccans into the Spanish territory of Ceota and their affairs.

14:04Conflict may again break out in Ethiopia's Tigray region amid reports of fresh fighting there.

14:22This is Rebecca Kesby with NewsHour, live from the BBC. The British government minister for the Middle East has described attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as appalling and has called on the Israeli government to protect Palestinians there and take meaningful action to prevent and prosecute settler violence. It follows a wave of attacks against Palestinian villages near Nablus in the apparent retribution for a lethal confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians last weekend. Four Palestinians and two Israelis were killed during that confrontation, including an Israeli security guard from the nearby settler outpost of Hevat Gilad.

15:07Israeli outposts in the West Bank are illegal under both Israeli and international law. And the BBC's Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson has gained rare access to the outpost to speak to one of its residents. And I should flag up, he does have extreme views, which you may find upsetting.

15:28we've just driven into the outpost of Hevat Gilad I'm standing on one of the hilltops and I can see shacks and temporary housing spread all the way up to the next hilltop on one side of this outpost is the Palestinian village of Sara and on the other a view stretching for miles across the West Bank I don't go to the Palestinian people and burn the houses of Palestinians. But that's exactly what happened on Friday. Yes. Six houses in Salwa. But it's revenge. Yehuda Shimon is a resident here and a lawyer with an organization that defends Israelis accused of settler violence. He spoke to us days after an Israeli security guard from Havat Gilad was killed by a Palestinian man who snatched his weapon in a confrontation nearby.

16:22Four Palestinians and another Israeli man were also killed in that confrontation. It triggered a wave of settler attacks against Palestinian villages here. I think now, after they kill one Israeli people, we need to kill all the people in Tel and Tzara, even Jit and Farata. Why? Because we don't want it to happen again. It sounds like you're saying one Jewish life is worth hundreds or thousands of Palestinian lives. A million. One Jewish life, it's 10 million, OK? That just sounds racist. Yes, I know, I know. But this is the truth. Because God chose us. Because of this, you are jealous. These extreme views, rejected by many Israelis, are crucial to understanding the growing violence in the West Bank, which many Israeli settlers see as land given to them by God.

17:18The Bible is authorising that this land belongs to us. Israel occupied it militarily. And under international law, that means that no civilian settlements can be built here. Yes, but the God not writing the Bible, the international law. So you're a lawyer. Yeah. And you're saying the only law that really counts for you is the Bible. Yeah, of course. So what happens to the Palestinians who live here? There is three options. One option is they said, OK, I like you. I want to make a peace with you. I know that it's your land. I'm not trying to kill you, to rape you. I just want to live here in quiet.

18:03This is the best. If not, I said to all of them, you could go whatever you want to go. There is, I think, 52 countries of the Arabs, Muslim countries, and all over the world. go there. And the next option is if you don't want to make peace with us, you don't want to get out from here, I don't have a choice. I must kill you. And I kill you all. Some former Israeli military leaders have said certain members of Israel's current government are orchestrating settler violence and shielding their armed and messianic followers from law enforcement. Palestinians I've spoken to in villages across the occupied West Bank say they feel unprotected by their own security forces, threatened by Israeli ones and abandoned by the world.

18:56Lucy Williamson reporting.

19:03Now to a story where a decades-long scientific obsession and a hunch really paid off. Way back in the 1980s, Christine Maggs, then just a PhD student, spotted a very pretty looking seaweed that she suspected might be a new species. 45 years later and countless dives in the cold waters around the UK and Ireland, and she's proved it really is an entirely new species, previously unknown to science. If you have the capacity, I do urge you to look this story up on the BBC website because there's some really beautiful pictures of it, and I can caught up with Christine Maggs, now Professor of Phycology, that's the study of algae, at Queen's University, Belfast, and she started with the basics, what it looks like.

19:47What's very conspicuous about this species is the banding. So it's got clear bands, translucent, light transmitting bands that then are interspersed with red ones, which are not transparent. And that was how it was described in the 19th century as a bit like a jewel because of the way the bands glisten. Yes it's stripy isn't it and it actually looks pink. Yes it's bright pink. It's also got funny little grippy looking claw type things on the top. That's the characteristic of the whole genus this whole group of species. The tips they curve in together when it branches each tip makes two tips and then the two tips roll in towards each other, making something a bit like a pincer, which is why, you know, it's often called something like pincer weed.

20:42Yes. So you came across this back in the 80s. Tell us about the moment that you saw this and what went through your mind, because you had a hunch way back then that it was something special. And my PhD supervisor had offered me a different topic and I said no. And then he said, well, what about merle? Now, I knew merle was interesting. So merle is these banks of coral-like seaweed. So I went down and started diving on the banks of coral seaweed. And I wanted to describe what happens like a year on the merle beds, what grows when, what reproduces when, and the interactions, a sort of ecology project.

21:22But I soon realised that I couldn't actually put names to many of the species, we needed really to describe them as species that weren't known to science. This little tiny one, this little ceramium, I couldn't really put a name to it. And it was just far too small. And in those days, there was no molecular opportunities. You couldn't use DNA to identify things. So I sort of put it away. I knew it was there. And then I found one living on an ascidian, that's a sea squirt. And we did grow that and we did get DNA sequences from it and we knew it was a new species. So we need a new name for this species, which you've now identified.

22:03And because of its pretty appearance, there are lots of ideas coming around. Pink zebra weed is one suggestion. Ribbon claw is another. What's your favourite name for it? The Latin name, I am naming it to honour my colleague in Oslo called Jan Runes. So it's going to be called Runesianum. And he's just sent me a message this morning to say that he saw it on the news in Oslo this morning and it's his birthday. So I am really happy. Well, congratulations to him and to you for persevering with your hunch from 40 odd years ago. Yes, that's right. It's very satisfying to come. You know, I'm actually past 70 now and I am really, really excited that it's come the whole way round.

22:53And now I've got a name for this little seaweed that I've been studying for so many decades. And you were right all along. Yes, that's right. Always a nice feeling, that one. That's Christine Maggs, Professor of Thycology and the Study of Algae. I had to look that one up at Queen's University Belfast speaking to us earlier. And do check out the pictures on the BBC website. It really is worth it.

23:23Welcome back to News Hour. Over the years, the Church of England has built up significant assets currently worth some$10 billion, which is why it's able to afford the Archbishop of Canterbury's pledge to spend£100 million, or$135 million, in reparations for the Church's direct role in the transatlantic slave trade. The Archbishop, Dame Sarah Mullally, head of the Church of England, has been in Ghana this week and is now on her way to Cameroon. Our religion editor, Ali Makbul, is travelling with her. When they stepped out, they were chained. They waited in line so they got a sizable group. The horrors of the slave trade being explained to the Archbishop of Canterbury at the spot in a castle where so many saw Africa for the very last time after being forced through that door onto ships.

24:13We lament and repent of the evil that was the transatlantic slave trade. Dame Sarah looked emotional and said a prayer at the spot and then reflected on the historical crimes associated with the slave trade committed by the institution she now leads. We have to recognise that as a church we played that part. We have to apologise for that. And therefore, for me, I have to understand the story and continue to commit to saying part of repentance, part of lament, is to actually find a way of healing, reconciliation and restoration for those communities that have a legacy of that today. Three years ago, the Church of England set up a£100 million reparative justice fund that's caused considerable controversy, with some within the Church questioning the historical accuracy of accounts of the extent to which the Church was involved, rejecting a report by the Church's own endowment fund saying it made more than a billion pounds in today's money from investments in the slave trade.

25:20Ghana has been leading a global campaign for institutions and nations around the world to pay reparations. And the country's foreign minister, Samuel Akujato-Ablakwa, praised Dame Sarah Mulally. Those who are revisionists or who are obstructionists within the Church of England are going to start thinking twice. Because the Christian religion teaches us, without admission of saints, there can be no salvation. Although earlier this year a resolution tabled by Ghana at the United Nations to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity was passed, in the vote all European nations abstained.

26:05The arguments against the next step, reparations, often centre around questioning whether the slave trade has a lasting negative impact today, or raising the issue that some Africans were themselves complicit in the trade. The Archbishop confirmed her commitment to the£100 million fund to be spent on projects in the UK, the Caribbean and West Africa. Though the voices opposed to it, those who don't think the sins of the past should be paid for today, grow loud. Alim McBull with that report there. He's our religion editor.

26:53You're listening to NewsHour live from the BBC. I'm Rebecca Kesby. Now, in the past hour, it has been reported that the British Nepali mountaineer, Nimal Perja, who appeared in the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks, has been killed in an avalanche. He was attempting to climb the world's 12th highest mountain, Broad Peak, with nine other climbers. Three other bodies have been recovered. Broad Peak is located in the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan region, and the authorities have been carrying out a rescue mission to try to locate other members of the expedition. Let's speak to Naila Kiani now.