(FIFA). However, as the 17th FIFA World Cup opens today in South Korea and Japan, FIFA organizers are probably too busy to notice such a pathetic cry for attention.

Founded in Paris on May 21, 1904, FIFA consisted of seven European nation-members; France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. In 1909 FIFA went intercontinental, adding South Africa; Argentina and Chile joined in 1912; the US in 1913; by 1954 FIFA had 85 member states from all neighborhoods of the globe.

In 1928 FIFA cadres convened to brainstorm the first-ever FIFA World Cup. Given that many regional football federations already did (and still do) exist, the event’s success was an absolute necessity if FIFA was ever to become the commanding name in football (or what Major League Baseball executives probably know as soccer). Despite bids by many European nations, the first-ever World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930. To this day the man most credited with fathering the event is FIFA’s third president, Jules Rimet. The dedication of Rimet’s vision was so absolute that the gilded trophy, the footie golden booty, was named after him.

The FIFA World Cup is now the final word in national bragging rights for the world’s truly most popular sport, football. Every four years, in a nation of FIFA’s choosing, stadia erupt with gladiatorial zeal as the best players and national teams steadily eliminate one another until only two remain. And then there is one. One glorious one. The impassioned patriotism is so intense that outer-arena action often exceeds inner-, with erupting fan rivalries sometimes surpassing small international conflicts in both viciousness and body count.

Just how popular is the World Cup? An estimated 578 million people watched each televised game of the 1998 World Cup in France. Compare that to the one-time 72 million (Nielsen rated) who watched the opening ceremonies to the 2002 Winter Olympics (an all-time high) or the now laughable, 20-odd million (Nielsen-rated) who watched the sixth game of the 1980 Major League Baseball World Series (the most-ever watched baseball game). Any way you measure it, indeed.

The logistics alone of hosting a global football championship the size of the World Cup are Olympian. In 1974 a staff of twelve operating from FIFA’s headquarters in Switzerland handled the administrative gymnastics necessary to put together and pull off a World Cup. Today, hundreds work feverishly to accomplish the same. Much of this increased workload has to do with FIFA’s transformation from a simple organizing body to a full-blown branding juggernaut. Though categorized as a non-profit organization, FIFA is increasingly challenged to balance the purity of the organization’s original vision with the marketing onslaught that has come to characterize such global events.

With billions watching and billions buying and a few paying billions for the access to those billions, it is no surprise that FIFA has seen its fair share of scandals. FIFA’s current president, Sepp Blatter, has been accused of offering bribes for votes in 1998. And, of course, when the time comes to pick a venue, there have been the dollars-for-votes accusations that proved spot on with the International Olympic Committee.

All of this shouldn’t be surprising when one considers that along with the corporate sponsorships – of which FIFA has 15 this time around, each paying in the tens of millions of dollars – the foot traffic that a Cup provides is obscene. Estimations for 2002 are that foreign fans to Japan will inject near or over US$ 24 billion. That kind of money is never small, but it can mean a relative GDP windfall for a poorer nation such as South Africa (which lost the 2006 Cup to Germany under claims of such aforementioned dubious circumstances).

But it is exactly all of this posturing – often of ‘international incident’ magnitude – that attests to FIFA’s power both inside and outside the world of football. Recognizing this, FIFA has on many occasions used its awesome powers for undeniable good. In 1993, FIFA brought both North and South Korea and Iraq and Iran to the table to discuss 1994 Cup qualifying details, a thorny feat even for professional diplomats. This followed a FIFA-organized friendship match between North and South Korean youth teams in 1991.

With football’s popularity solidly in the net (despite some work still to do in slow-to-catch-on-America), FIFA’s brand can only increase in renown. However it will require a strict approach to brand management to ensure that the clashes remain on the pitch and don’t creep into the FIFA boardroom.

Abram D. Sauer is a writer currently living in New York. He was a columnist for The China Daily while living in Beijing and is co-founder of Chopstickfactory.com.