Fifa’s executive committee gathers on Tuesday as acting president Issa Hayatou attempts to steer football’s embattled governing body through the latest storm of scandals to blight their Zurich headquarters.
The extraordinary meeting was announced on October 9 after Fifa’s ethics committee suspended president Sepp Blatter, secretary general Jerome Valcke, and Michel Platini for 90 days from all football-related activities.
The trio are all banned from attending what will be the first executive committee meeting held without Blatter’s presence for 40 years and Hayatou sees restoring public trust as a matter of priority.
Cameroon’s Hayatou takes charge of Fifa’s helm amidst the worst scandals in the organisation’s 111-year history and it will be far from business as usual.
“It’s certainly an unprecedented situation for Fifa,” said the 69-year-old.
“But we remain focused on the necessary reform process, the presidential election and on supporting the current investigations.
“To restore public trust is a crucial objective. It is essential that Fifa carries on its mission of developing the game and staging international tournaments.”
On the agenda, the executive committee will hear the first recommendations from Fifa’s reform committee, tasked with suggesting changes within Fifa’s corridors of power, with the aims of restoring it’s badly tarnished credibility.
The increased need for transparency on renumeration is poised to be discussed, but the backdrop to the meeting remains the power struggle ahead of the Fifa presidential election on February 26 at next year’s extraordinary congress.
Fifa’s leaders meet in Zurich with the organisation under-fire from all sides.
After several key sponsors called for Blatter to resign, Fifa took the unprecedented step of suspending it’s president based on suspicions a two million Swiss franc ($2 million, 1.8 million euros) payment made by Blatter to Platini in 2011 was not above board.
Neither have explained the reason for the nine-year delay in payment for work Platini carried out as Blatter’s technical advisor from 1999 to 2002.
Platini, president of European football’s governing body Uefa, had been seen as favourite to replace Blatter as FIFA president in next year’s elections until he was named in a Swiss criminal investigation into Blatter’s management of Fifa.
Swiss investigators are also looking into Fifa’s awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar in a bribery scandal which has seen 14 people arrested by American and Swiss authorities.
Seven former Fifa officials were arrested by Swiss authorities in May as the United States attempts to have them extradited to face charges of accepting bribes.
Over the weekend, allegations of cash-for-votes by magazine Der Spiegel has drawn the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany into question and the German Football Association (DFB) has strenuously denied any wrong-doing.
Then on Monday, Platini admitted he had no written contract for the two million Swiss franc payment by Blatter, but had a “man-to-man agreement” as his chances of replacing the Swiss veteran as head of the world body nosedived.
Platini told French newspaper Le Monde he felt Blatter was seeking to “kill me politically” over the contested payment and says he feels “shame at being dragged through the mud”.
The Frenchman believes he is “the only one who can ensure that FIFA again becomes the home of football”.
So far, only two candidates have officially submitted applications to stand as FIFA president: Platini and Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al Hussein, who pushed Blatter to a second round of voting in May’s election.
Possible other runners include South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale, a former cellmate of Nelson Mandela, and Jerome Champagne, the former deputy secretary general of Fifa.
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Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
MIDWAY
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Directed: Roland Emmerich
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Copa del Rey final
Sevilla v Barcelona, Saturday, 11.30pm (UAE), match on Bein Sports
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
