The Qaddafi family of Libya treats soccer just like they treat politics: strangely. Father Muamar Qaddafi, Libya’s leader of the past forty years, has gone from international outcast and sponsor of terrorism to host of a peace conference between rebels in Daruf and the Sudanese government.

Son Al-Saadi Qaddafi, meanwhile, has signed for several Italian Serie A teams, played no more than one game for each, and been banned for drug use. Trying to understand the way that the family’s mind works, on politics or soccer, is difficult, is mind-boggling.

Father and son (photos: Getty Images/BBC and AP/BBC)

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That foreign investors have found British teams attractive investments in the past few years is obvious given their increasing numbers. Less clear is why these wealthy men have decided to invest their money in British soccer clubs.

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very once in a while, stories pop up in the Western press about odd goings-on at a soccer match in a remote part of the world. These stories contain sordid details of spells placed by witch doctors, animals sacrificed by fans, or objects burned by those seeking to affect the outcome of a game.

An African witch doctor (photo: Moonbattery.com)

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Soccer may have gained some popularity among Venezuelans after their country’s successful hosting of the Copa America this summer, but baseball remains king in that country. While the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is staking out strong anti-American policies, he is a professed lover of the yanquis’ game (his attempts at soccer consist primarily of passing the ball to his buddy Diego Maradona).

It is odd that Chavez, who often gives hour-long speeches railing against what he sees as American imperialism, is, like many Venezuelans, a huge baseball fan. Chavez sees American hegemony in multinational institutions like the World Bank (see his attempts to set up a regional bank doing similar work) and its media (and has created his own TV station to counteract its influence), but doesn’t mind playing the hegemon’s sport. Chavez would never be seen with a Big Mac in his hand, but he loves to pick up a bat.

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A few years ago, FIFA came up with a saying that was to improve refereeing around the globe: “Make common sense more common.” If the organization had hoped for more uniformity among its referees, it was to be sorely disappointed. The interpretation of soccer’s seemingly simple set of laws varies widely across countries, as do ways to break these laws, and what is in fact seen as law-breaking. Cheating, it turns out, is open to interpretation.

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Argentines are nothing if not passionate. They attack tango, wine, and politics with gusto. But none of these things compares with their true passion: fútbol.

Soccer connoisseurs worldwide are familiar with the passion at Boca Juniors matches, where the players’ entrance is greeted with enough toilet paper to wipe the asses of a small country.

The scene at Boca Juniors’ La Bombonera Stadium

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