Cuauhtémoc Blanco recently signed for Mexican club Santos Laguna in order to help the Holy Warriors compete for a second consecutive title.
Normally, this type of loan spell wouldn't bat an eyelash, except for the fact that Santos Laguna is in the league's playoffs.
For American sports fans in general, this again becomes part of the reason why football is so alien to them. Imagine the Lakers loaning Kobe Bryant to the Spurs for a playoff run. It just seems wrong.
Mexican standout Nery Castillo was caught in two separate scandals this semester when first, a loan deal to Spanish club Real Betis fell through, and a few months later, his bid to join Chivas de Guadalajara in Mexico was annulled.
The reason? Paperwork.
Castillo is currently on loan to Manchester City in England while his contract lies with Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine. He needed approval from three different teams, and three different federations (England, Ukraine, Spain/Mexico) to play. Sound fair?
Another hot topic in the world of football right now is who Real Madrid will get to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy for the first half of 2009 in order to bolster their domestic and European run.
Should Real lose any other players to injury or report them as such? They're allowed to replace them with whomever they wish.
Loaning players to a team specifically for a Cup run seems shady at best as they become hired mercenaries in place to do a job and then leave.
Allowing players to sign for other clubs when their original clubs are in their off-season, then returning in team for the season to start negates the whole idea of loaning players out in the first place.
Lastly, turning a blind eye to players being passed around like common currency from one club to another and then finding themselves disallowed to play due to the stacks of paperwork following them cheapens the idea that loans are designed to help players get playing time.
A reform needs to be put forth now
However, in a footballing world, where top teams are involved in match-fixing scandals, referees are bought off, entire federations are found violating rules, where one man or group owns multiple teams, and fans are constantly an afterthought, the question must be raised:
Does FIFA even care about it? Better yet, do they care about the game itself?
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