And FIFA’s battered reputation
On 2nd June, millions of football fans across the world celebrated the resignation of 79-year-old Sepp Blatter as President of FIFA, world’s football governing body, amid a mammoth corruption scandal involving the top executives of soccer federation. The scandal has rocked the football world and has badly affected the beautiful game of soccer.
Blatter’s resignation came four days after he was re-elected president of FIFA for an unprecedented four-year fifth term. Two days prior to the vote, seven FIFA officials, including two vice presidents, were arrested in a five star hotel in Zurich by Swiss authorities at the request of the United States Department of Justice on charges of corruption, money laundering and vote-rigging. So far, fourteen people have been charged by the US Justice Department. They are suspected of, among other things, pocketing of hefty sum of $150 million in bribes and kickbacks. Allegations of bribery, corruption and fraud inside world’s richest and most powerful sports body are as old as the organisation itself. However, the latest scandal is the biggest crisis in its 111-year history and is a cause of Blatter’s departure from the FIFA boat.
The soccer federation is run like a private club by a handful of powerful executives. There are no principles of transparency, accountability and good governance. Details are not disclosed about its operations, policy-making, and murky deals with the multinational corporations like Coca Cola, Visa, Adidas and others. Little is known about the salaries and perks and privileges of its officials. These things have not only battered FIFA’s reputation but also have indirectly affected the most widely watched and played game in the world.
For more than forty years FIFA remained under the leadership of Sepp Blatter and his Brazilian predecessor, Joao Havelange. They have made it a modern-day sports mafia. It was Havelange who sowed the seeds of culture of corruption and bribery. When he became president in 1974, FIFA was a small body with limited financial resources. By signing sponsorship deals and selling television rights, he made it a multi-billion organization and became the most powerful man in the world of sports. Not only that, he also made himself rich by taking millions in bribes. And Blatter, since becoming president in 1998, continued the tradition of his mentor.
He behaved like a dictator. He had no tolerance for opposition and those who disagreed with him were ousted. Under his presidency, there was no proper regulation of internal operations of the organisation and he was accountable to nobody. The respect he earned and the status he enjoyed in Asia and Africa were no less than that of a head of a state.
It is true that under Blatter’s presidency FIFA did a great work to promote football outside Europe, especially in Asia and Africa. For instance, it built more than 700 soccer stadiums and facilities in Africa. However, there are serious suspicions that due to lack of transparency millions of dollars doled out to football associations to promote the game also went into the pockets of high officials of these organisations.
These beneficiaries were loyal to their patron and were determined to keep him in power. In the last presidential election, Blatter got 133 votes in the first round, most of them from Asian and African nations and his opponent, 39-year-old Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, secured 73 votes, bulk of them from European countries. But despite re-electing the president Blatter’s supporters could not save him. In the end, he had to succumb to the expanding probe of the US Justice Department, growing threats of UEFA, European football body, to boycott the 2018 elections, and louder calls for resignation across the globe.
With the stepping down of Blatter, both Russia and Qatar have lost a strong supporter of their bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively. There are serious allegations of bribery in relation to the awarding of hosting of these tournaments. As 2018 World Cup is just three years away, it is too late to change the location. But it is highly likely that the tiny oil-rich gulf state may be stripped of the 2022 World Cup hosting. Along with the accusations of corruption, Qatar has been plagued by serious allegations of migrant workers abuse in relation to the construction of stadiums and other facilities. Around 1,200 workers, most of them from India and Nepal, have reportedly died since the construction work began in 2010. This controversy has further marred Qatar’s plan to host the tournament.
Most recently, it is reported that South African football authorities paid bribes to high-ranking FIFA officials to win the hosting of 2010 tournament. The man who is closely connected to this bribe is the right-hand man of Sepp Batter, Jerome Valcke, secretary general of FIFA. It is alleged that he authorised the transfer of $10 million to Jack Warner, former FIFA vice president and head of the North and Central American Football Association (CONCACAF). This latest development has brought the ongoing investigation closer to Blatter.
He did nothing to bring much-needed reforms in the organization. Under his presidency, FIFA lurched from one crisis to another, and inability to eradicate corrupt practices was one of his greatest failures. His excuse that he “cannot monitor everyone all of the time” was totally unacceptable. If he did not know what was going on in the soccer federation right under his nose, he was incompetent. If he knew, he was complicit in the criminal activity and must be brought to justice.
Now Blatter’s seventeen years reign is over. There is need to reform the global soccer body from top to bottom. First of all, its not-for-profit Swiss sports organisation status must be abolished and should be run as a public company. This will greatly help ensure transparency, accountability and good governance in the organisation. Its executive committee must consist of neutral and truly independent members and presidency should be limited to two terms.
Along with that, it is necessary to set up a powerful independent audit committee to ensure that the money paid by FIFA to national football associations and confederations is properly distributed and spent. And all details of revenue and expenditures of the organisation should be published. FIFA must also ensure that those who indirectly serve the game of football, such as migrant workers building stadiums in Qatar, are provided their due rights and improved living conditions. Greater efforts should also be taken to combat the racism in the game of football, and promote it at the grass-roots level in the developing countries of the world.
By taking these measures FIFA can save world’s most popular game, restore its battered reputation and can achieve its primary objective “to improve the game of football constantly and promote it globally in the light of its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values”.