FIFA’s stain on the IOC

IT WILL be a major embarrassment for the Olympic movement if FIFA president Gianni Infantino is elected to the IOC at the session before the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, as was expected to happen.

But that is now a critical matter of debate after Russian deputy prime minister Vitaly Mutko was banned for life from the Olympics for his role in the state doping programme. FIFA insist that sentence will not impact on Russia’s Mutko-led staging of the World Cup.

Lord Coe, president of athletics ruling body the IAAF, who led the way in having drugs cheats Russia banned from track and field at the Olympics in Rio, is the other major federation chief expected to win an IOC seat at the vote in South Korea.