Translated material
There is no third option
Ruben Acosta extended his term as FIVB President
At the congress of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) in Tokyo, 74-year-old Mexican Ruben Acosta was once again re-elected as president of this organization for four years. Today, among all the heads of international federations in Olympic sports, Acosta has the longest tenure - he has headed the FIVB since 1984. The world volleyball community also holds another record - for the entire existence of the FIVB (since 1947), only two people have stood at its helm. Acosta replaced the Frenchman Paul Libault 22 years ago.Although Ruben Acosta was born in a country that did not achieve any success in volleyball, the Mexican did a lot to develop and popularize the sport. The revolutionary change in the scoring system in 1999, the introduction of the role of libero, was carried out in the interests of viewers and television - the initiative was exclusively of Acosta. The Mexican was the author of the idea of holding the largest commercial tournaments, and today it is no longer possible to imagine the international calendar without the men's World League and the women's Grand Prix. At the same time, Acosta created a maximum-favored-nation regime for representatives of the media. According to the regulations of the world's largest tournaments, the FIVB pays the costs of transport and accommodation for journalists going to away matches, whom national federations are required to officially include in their delegations.
Despite Acosta’s enormous contribution to the popularization and development of world volleyball, the last four years have been especially difficult for him. Attempts to remove the Mexican from his position were made by the former president of the Argentine Volleyball Federation, Mario Goikhman, and the former general director of the FIVB, the Swiss Jean-Pierre Seppi. During the 2002 World Cup in Argentina, Acosta accused Goikhman of misusing the international federation's funds, in response to which the South American launched a massive campaign against the Mexican, emphasizing that the FIVB and its president were abusing their dominant position. Over the next year, Goikhman repeatedly attacked Acosta in the press, which is why Argentina was temporarily suspended from participating in all international competitions, making an exception for only one pair of “beachers.”
However, a year after re-elections in the Argentine federation, the disqualification was lifted. Still, Goikhman’s campaign did not pass without a trace for the Mexican. The IOC Ethics Commission, as a result of its own investigation, confirmed the validity of the Argentinean’s claims regarding Acosta’s abuse of power and improper distribution of funds received from the International Olympic Committee. The Mexican was offended and in May 2004 announced his voluntary resignation from the IOC membership.
Having barely dealt with Goikhman, Acosta entered into a confrontation with Jean-Pierre Seppi, the one who was the main initiator of the exclusion of the Russian women's team from the 2005 Grand Prix because in the previous draw in the pre-Olympic year, Nikolai Karpol's team did not perform in the strongest lineup . After a series of attempts by Seppi to remove Acosta from his post, the general director was expelled from the FIVB and accused of colossal waste of the federation's funds. From the published financial documents it follows that Seppi led a riotous lifestyle at public expense - during business trips he lived in the most luxurious hotels, rode around in limousines, and spent huge amounts of money on hospitality expenses. According to the FIVB, Seppi's whims and carousings over several years cost the federation an exorbitant sum of 2.5 million euros.
Now Seppi, a colonel in the Swiss army, is trying to create an alternative organization to govern world volleyball. He sent out invitations to the heads of national federations to the founding meeting of the FIABVB, scheduled for November 25-26 in Copenhagen. It is no coincidence that the current FIVB Congress began with the adoption of the Tokyo Declaration, approved by representatives of all delegations. The main idea of the document is as follows: “Congress categorically refutes all attacks on President Acosta and does not allow the possibility of creating any organization that claims to govern world volleyball.” According to authoritative Italian analysts, after this Seppi and Goikhman, who plays for the company with him, have no chance of creating any real alternative to the FIVB.