The main chess event of the week, which literally stunned the public, took place a few days ago in Abu Dhabi. The President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov, speaking at the meeting of the Executive Committee of FIDE, put forward the proposal that the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov should take the position of the President of FIFA. This suggestion was supported by nearly all the delegates and greeted with the prolonged applause.Thus, the main question that immediately arises is: does the President of FIDE have real odds to lead the International Federation of Football?
In this regard, we should recall that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is not a stranger to the football. Thus, when he was the President of the Republic of Kalmykia he had built a modern stadium and created the football club ‘Uralan’ in the small Elista. The club first made its way into the domestic Super League and showed the good results successfully over the years.
Pursuing the football subject, we must state that its main problem today is the continuous corruption scandals that led to the resignation of the former leadership of FIFA as well as significantly undermined the chances of his opponents to take the place of the discredited officials. Almost all of them turned out to be disgraced. Such painful background has generated a situation in which an outsider should be invited to ‘rein’ FIFA, like the Varangian had been invited to rule Russia. This person must be familiar with the football and the prestigious leader with the key requirement of being absolutely unblemished in the terms of corruption. Considering this viewpoint, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is the ideal candidate for a highest post of sports.
Let us not forget that form the very beginning, when Ilyumzhinov has taken over the almost completely dilapidated and bankrupt World Chess Federation, he acted as the main, and sometimes the sole sponsor of the chess world being a kind of sports patron. It is not surprisingly that FIDE managed to happily avoid the corruption disgraces for 20 years of his management with the exception of the recent scandal of Garry Kasparov and Ignatius Leong running for the presidency.
The impressive achievements and numerical figures of FIDE, which, after Abu Dhabi She had taken four other members amounting to 186 national federations is more than any other international sports federation. It is worth mentioning the political stability of FIDE. Thus, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is the only the sixth leader of the 91 years existence of the Federation ...
Therefore, the first move is made. The move, which can be viewed as a kind of trial one designed to test the attitude of the world football community for quite a surprising idea.
Incidentally the FIDE President said that he is willing to accept such a flattering offer and join the election campaign. We also should considering that Ilyumzhinov candidacy should be officially approved by one of the national football federations. However it seems quite likely that it will soon happen.
Marina and Sergey Makarychev
