The British people who took football to other parts of the world
over a century ago would never have believed it could become the
world's No 1 game.
Football historians found the game was once shunned in some
countries due to nationalist sentiments. But it has proved
unstoppable and swept the globe.
Even though FIFA, world football's governing body, cancelled the
opening gala of the World Cup finals, which will kick off at this
evening, the month-long tournament remains a focus of global
attention.
More than 3 billion people are expected to watch the matches on
TV, a figure that fully testifies to football's unmatched
popularity.
But when it comes to football, many people believe that
commercial forces have played a major part in making it such a
global success story.
Indeed, these commercial forces, although sometimes the source
of controversy, have evolved into an integral part of the game and
played an indispensable role in making football ever more popular
on this planet.
They contribute huge funds to the game and have benefited
greatly from its increased popularity.
While bearing in mind the contribution of the commercial
sponsorship, we must try every means to prevent this from exerting
an unhealthy influence on the game.
In the commercial world, the best game is often the most
profitable and also the potential prey of commercial interests.
The betting scandals that rocked the Italian league in the
run-up to the World Cup are a timely reminder of that pressing
danger.
The imprisonment of the German referee who took bribes to rig
matches, along with the negated results of 11 Brazilian league
matches for match-fixing late last year, has prompted FIFA to take
harsher measures to prevent such wrongdoings at this World Cup.
Given the many controversial refereeing decisions at the 2002
World Cup, FIFA must work harder to ensure its referees to uphold
fair play this time round.
Given that most of the world will be watching, we hope that this
World Cup is a clean and orderly tournament.
(China Daily June 9, 2006)
