经济学人下载:美丽的运动,丑陋的政治

FIFA's presidential election

国际足联主席选举

Beautiful game, ugly politics

美丽的运动，丑陋的政治

Pity the republic of football. It has a government much like many another

为足球界的共和国惋惜，它的政府和其他很多政府同属一丘之貉。

May 26th 2011 | from The Economist print edition

IN ZURICH on June 1st a presidential election is due to take place. It is a rare event, the first since 2002, with a mere 208 voters. No incumbent has lost since 1974, and the man in possession is expected to win again. The winner, despite his grand title, will not be a head of state. Yet he will be better known than many who are—and his writ, unlike any of theirs, runs the world over. The presidency in question is that of FIFA, the global governing body of association football; the electors are its members, national associations. Sepp Blatter, a Swiss, has had the job for 13 years and thinks he deserves four more.

6月1日在苏黎世（Zurich）一场主席选举将如期举行。这是一次仅有208名投票者的罕见的选举，上一次发生还是在2002，。自1974年起，在任者从未在这个选举中失利过，而如今大权在握的现任者也被看好能再次胜利。尽管胜利者头衔颇大，但他却不是一名国家元首。可是他比很多国家领导人更广为人知——而且与其他元首们不一样，他的权利笼罩全世界。这个职位就是管理足球联合会的全球性组织国际足联；投票者是各成员，国家性足协。瑞士人塞普??布拉特（Sepp Blatter）已经担任国际足联主席一职长达13年，他认为自己理应再连任四年4年。

On May 25th his only challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam, a Qatari who was once an ally, faced an unexpected obstacle: allegations of bribery involving him and Jack Warner, a Trinidadian who heads a regional confederation with 35 FIFA members. The claims were made by Chuck Blazer, the American general secretary of Mr Warner’s group, who sits with both men on FIFA’s 24-member executive committee (in effect, its cabinet). FIFA’s ethics committee is due to examine the claims on May 29th. The accused deny wrongdoing.

5月25日，他的唯一挑战者、也是曾经的盟友卡塔尔人穆罕默德??本??哈曼(Mohamed bin Hammam)遭遇一个意想不到的障碍：他与来自特立尼达岛的杰克??沃纳(Jack Warner)因涉嫌贿赂而受到指控，后者是拥有35名国际足联成员的地区性组织的主席（译者注：即中北美和加勒比海地区足联）。该项指控是由美国人查克??布拉泽（Chuck Blazer）提出的，他是沃纳先生任主席的足联的秘书长，同时两人都为由24人组成的国际足联执委会（实质就是国际足联的内阁）的成员。国际足联道德委员会将于29日审查该项指控。被指控者均否认了指控。