The events of Wednesday
which saw 9 FIFA officials arrested brought a lot of surprise among spectators
of the sport but not much shock as football fans across the world are patently
aware that FIFA is probably the most corrupt sporting organization in the
history of sport itself.
The organization has been
subject to one damaging report, inquiry, expose and incident after another for
years on end with no one really taking real action to reform the organization
or against the number of individuals under the organization’s banner who have
been accused of graft until now with the US Department of Justice, in
conjunction with the Swiss Attorney General, shocking the world with its bold
action against a number of leading officials in the much disliked organization.
We’ve always known that a
number of individuals in the organization we’re dirty but looking at the
charges levied against the group Swiss authorities bagged up from the stylish
Baur au Lac hotel, these soon to be former FIFA officials are looking at
serious time behind should they found guilty. According to a report by Forbes
magazine, “the charges allege a widespread pattern of corruption—including the
bid process for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals, according
to three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the case. According
to the report, charges include wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering,
and officials said they targeted members of FIFA’s powerful executive committee”[1].
The nine individuals charged
by US and Swiss authorities are or were high ranking officials in FIFA with some
even holding more than one key role including current FIFA Vice president,
executive committee member of Caribbean Football Union and Cayman Islands
Football Association President Jeffrey Webb, Former FIFA vice president and
CONCACAF president Jack Warner and current FIFA vice president and executive
committee member Eugenio Figueredo. The charges are also levied against four
other sports marketing executives.
This news comes at the worst
time for FIFA president Sepp Blatter currently in the middle of a presidential
election he’s heavily tipped to win and handily even in light of the news of a
slew of current and former FIFA executive committee members have been placed
under arrest and set to be extradited to the US.
However, while this news
wasn’t welcome to FIFA HQ, it was the best news football fans and insiders have
had about FIFA in years as, frankly, FIFA and football itself could have done
with this type of bold action ages ago.
Allegations of corruption
have engulfed the sporting body for years on end with little to no action taken
against the individuals involved despite the countless reports providing solid
evidence of wrongdoing. How FIFA is setup and run leaves it open to graft and
outright bribery as accountability is left seriously wanting. The lack of
accountability is why FIFA’s executive committee can get away with secretly
awarding itself a pay rise and Blatter can allegedly, according to
International Businesses Times, get away with rewarding the members of the executive committee with “$4.4 million in
bonuses after FIFA’s windfall at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa”[2].
This lack of accountability
persists because the most powerful figures in FIFA with the power to effect
change won’t push for reform because they’re complicit in the organization’s
corruptibility. FIFA’s executive committee is easily it’s most corrupt decision
making body in the organization as the majority of individuals mired in the
scandals in the last 15 years where either serving or former vice presidents or
members of the committee.
Just two weeks before the Swiss
raid, another executive committee member was mired in scandal as former FIFA
vice president and Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) president Reynald Temarii
was banned for 8 years for making the truly stupid mistake of taking money from
former FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam (mired in scandal himself
as you’ll find out later) to fight, you guessed it, a corruption case back in
2011. Corruption on top of corruption is what you find when you take a closer
look at truly rotten organization that is FIFA as the body initially punished
Temarii for “breaking confidentiality and loyalty rules by discussing the World
Cup votes with undercover reporters from the Sunday Times”[3].
Temarii, along with a slew
of current and former FIFA executive
committee members, have all fallen victim from the fall out of Russia and Qatar
winning the right to host the 2018 and 2022 with many still baffled as to how
Qatar won the 2022 bid but just about everybody had the same idea about why
they won.
Impropriety surrounding the
2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process has been part of the FBI’s
investigation against the nine former and current FIFA executives which has led
to their headline making arrest and inevitable extradition. Their investigation
centered around, you guessed it, another former FIFA executive committee member
and former General Secretary of CONCACAF Chuck Blazer who was cooperating the FBI
in light of his own tax beef with the feds since 2011.
Chuck Blazer, who served
under Jack Warner ( one of the nine targeted by the joint US and Swiss
operation) is responsible for Warner’s initial
dismissal from FIFA as he informed FIFA back in 2011 of a vote buying plot between
the then CONCACAF president and former FIFA presidential candidate Mohammed bin
Hammam (remember him?) to sure up votes in Caribbean[4]. Blazer’s
cooperation With the FBI saw him, according to the NY Daily News, wired up in
conversations with “Russian, Hungarian, Australian and American soccer
officials to arrange meetings the feds wanted him to secretly record” among
others[5]. Blazer
has been at the center of a sprawling investigation that’s global in nature and
“stretch from the Caribbean to Zurich, from Australia to Moscow to Qatar, the
small Arab nation playing host to the 2022 World Cup”[6]. Given
how sprawling this investigation has been, there strong suggestion that the 14
arrests are just the beginning.
FIFA, instead of seriously
attempting to address the numerous accounts of corruptions surrounding the 2018
and 2022 bidding process has either done nothing to reform how decisions get
made in the organization or stymied independent investigations into wrongdoing surrounding
the bidding process.
The best example to
illustrate just how impervious FIFA is to true accountability is how it basically
killed Michael Garcia’s report regarding the 2018 and 2022 bidding process as
FIFA’ ethics committee published just 40 pages of Garcia’s 430 page that cleared
Russia and Qatar (and by extension FIFA itself) of all wrongdoing.
However, Garcia’s report was
doomed from the start as Bonita Mersiades, a FIFA whistleblower who claimed she
received threats in planning to release a book about the World Cup bidding
process, rightly noted that “The whole concept of having an investigation by
FIFA about FIFA by people paid by FIFA - that's not what an independent
investigation is”[7].
This ridiculous state of
affairs is only matched by the justifications for not publishing Garcia’s
report in full with current FIFA president Sepp Blatter citing that publishing
the report in full would “violate not only it's in rules and regulations but
also Swiss law by making public the report in question”[8]. Blatter
is well aware that this is not particularly true as his main motive is not get to
the truth about the world cup bidding process but protect the organization from
legal attacks as Blatter believed “every person in the report would have to
give consent to publication - something that would be practically impossible”[9].
However Blatter and FIFA are
going to need more than ridiculous excuses to survive the aftermath of US and
Swiss operation that started with the surprising decision to go with Russia and
Qatar given, according to Grantland “FIFA’s inspection team had evaluated all
nine bids and rated Russia and Qatar as the riskiest of the lot”[10] . Both
nations’s ability to host an event of the World Cups magnitude were questioned
as Russia “presented major infrastructure problems” and Qatar, according to
FIFA’s own inspection team members, blazing hot summers posed a “ potential
health risk for players, officials, the FIFA family and spectators”[11]. The
winning bids also didn’t make commercial sense as other bids from countries
like England, the United States and Japan ”outperformed the winning nations in
both tournament-readiness and revenue potential”[12].
Add into the pot that both countries
have poor human rights records, a less than cordial stance towards the LGBT
community and are both undemocratic, you get the feeling that something is
amiss.
Since then, Qatar has been a
rolling headache for FIFA and Blatter since the announcement of their winning
bid with the press, unions and various human rights organizations shinning a
damning light on the horrendous conditions suffered by migrant workers charged
with bringing to life Qatar ambitions plans for World Cup 2022. FIFA has a lost
a number of sponsors thanks to the tragic stories of workers dying on site,
their families not being able to bury their dead and workers being denied their
ability to leave as Deadspin reported that They’re (migrant workers, mostly
from Nepal) generally banned from leaving the country, period, or quitting
their jobs, or traveling anywhere in a FIFA-branded Kia, because they are
slaves”[13].
The increasing focus on the
horrible conditions of migrant workers in Qatar has also shone light on the
business deals that made these horrible conditions possible with Deadspin’s
Diana Moskovitz zeroing in on oil company Petrolina and it director who not
only sits on the FIFA executive committee but backed Russia’s and Qatar’s
winning bids. Petrolina has come up trumps since as the cyprus based company
made lucrative energy deals with both
Russia and Qatar which saw their “profits (go up) by a third”[14].
The terrible conditions
suffered by migrant workers in Qatar has inspired outrage from the Nepalese
government (Nepal has a large number of citizens working in Qatar) who were
less than pleased when the gulf country refused to give Nepal workers on World
Cup construction projects special leave
who lost their relatives in a deadly earthquake a month ago. The reason
given for the refusal was quite telling as Qatar stressed, according to Nepal’s
labour minister, “the pressure to complete (World Cup) projects on time”[15]. What
this means is, thanks to FIFA migrant workers from Nepal will have wait to say
goodbye to loved ones because their bosses are feeling the pressure from on
high to make further progress at their expense.
This horrible state of
affairs is only possible because Nepal is neither the biggest or most powerful
country in world which allows Qatar and FIFA to basically ignore the country
and the needs of citizens just to keep up on schedule for the 2022 deadline
which shows A level indifference and D level humanity on part of both Qatar and
FIFA.
This A level Indifference
and D level Humanity was displayed by current FIFA General Secretary Jerome
Valcke who recently paid a visit to Qatar and praised the facilities despite
surely being aware that World Cup construction sites has claimed thousands of
lives and if the 2022 World Cup goes ahead, is estimated to claim more lives than
the September 11th attacks[16].
FIFA has been under pressure
from sponsors of late after thanks to the truly miserable conditions migrant
workers find themselves in building the vision Qatari officials sold FIFA on to
host the 2022 world cup. Just last week long time FIFA sponsor Visa was
compelled to release to encourage FIFA to "remedy" the harrowing
stories regarding the poor conditions of migrant workers[17]. Sponsors almost never urge Fifa to take on
issues like the treatment of migrant workers but given how bad it’s making both
FIFA and its sponsors look, it was only a matter of time.
Sponsors themselves have the
subject of external pressure as the guardian reported “a coalition of trade
union groups and MPs coordinated by Jaimie Fuller, chairman of the sportswear
company Skins, called on sponsors to take a stand against the abuse of migrant
workers in the tiny Gulf state (Qatar)”[18].
Russia on the other hand,
much like Brazil previously, are feeling the weight of the financial burden
placed on the country. There are even questions surrounding whether Russia has
the means to brook the financial cost to host the 2018 World Cup in lieu of
crippling sanctions from the west. Also taking into consideration that the low
oil prices has had a detrimental effect to Russia’s energy driven economy, it’s
no surprise that the Russian government has announced a $71 million cut to its
$13.2 billion World Cup budget[19] .
Sepp Blatter, president of
FIFA, has so far had no charges levied against him by the DoJ or Swiss
authorizes but has received calls from far and wide to resign from his post
just a day out from the organization's presidential election which he is slated
to win handily. This is quite remarkable given the sitting FIFA president has
been surrounded by scandal pretty much since he got the top job. Unlike any
other election, you'll hear no hear no praise nor read no tracts bolstering his
incumbency simply because no one, and I mean no one, is in support of his
presidency outside of the large sums of money FIFA has generated and
distributed to its member nations over his reign.
Blatter is comfortably the
most unpopular man in the sport and yet it looks like he will get an extra four
years presiding over an organization that has brought the beautiful game into
disrepute. FIFA's current president will likely hear numerous calls for him to
step down as his position has become untenable given the level of corruption
that has proliferated under his watch which exposes Blatter to claims of either
his complicity or incompetence given that so much graft has been exposed in the
past but largely gone unpunished.
How such a man can endure in
a position of power while being a grossly unpopular figure is testament to how
the organization itself is setup and the returns FIFA have made off the World
Cups sponsorship and TV deals under Blatter's reign. While FIFA is a
non-profit, the organization makes money hand over fist and this gives Blatter
a lot of power to buy friends in the organization to secure his power base.
Because the member nation’s benefit from the fantastic return Blatter has
managed under his reign, it gives member nations the incentive to, in the words
of Forbes Magazine's Zach Bergson, "vote for status quo and more financial
success by many delegates"
This sorry state of affairs ensures that despite
how bad the organization reeks of corruption, member of FIFA's congress have to
grin and bear one shameful scandal after another as their choice to stick with
the devil they know rather they angel they don't ensures the sport is set to
endure more incidents that blacken the name of the sport.
It also ensures that Blatter
can even gloat about his staying power as he recently referred to himself as a “mountain
goat that keeps going and going and going” after his two of his rivals for the
presidency dropped out of the campaign[20].
However the stamina of the mountain goal is not appreciated everybody as
Argentine and all time football great Diego Maradona laid waste to the incumbent
Fifa president emphasizing the damning irony of the notable lack of popular
support for Blatter’s presidency yet the air of inevitability among many in the
sport about his re-election as Fifa president.
Maradona attacked the
incumbent president record on addressing racism in the sport and women’s
football as he barbed ““Recently he pledged to follow through in addressing
racism in football and promoting women in the sport. That made me laugh. My
question is: ‘Sepp, what were you doing in your last four terms?’”[21]. However,
Maradona last sentence regarding Blatter reign and Fifa seemed to echo associated
the sentiment of just about everybody in the sport as he noted “If this is the
face of international, we are in a very bad place”.
A very bad place indeed.
[1]
M. Brown, 2015, More Than 10 FIFA Officials Arrested Over Corruption, Scheduled
To Be Extradited To US, http://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2015/05/27/more-than-10-fifa-officials-arrested-over-corruption-scheduled-to-be-extradited-to-the-u-s/
[2]
T. Barrabi, 2014, FIFA Secret Pay Raises: Executive Committee members had Salaries
Doubled, report says, http://www.ibtimes.com/fifa-secret-pay-raises-executive-committee-members-had-salaries-doubled-report-says-1609148
[4]
T.Thompson et al, 2014, Soccer Rat! The inside story of Chuck Blazer, ex-US
soccer executive and FIFA bigwig, became a confidential informant for the FBI, http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/soccer/soccer-rat-ex-u-s-soccer-exec-chuck-blazer-fbi-informant-article-1.1995761
[5]
Ibid
[6]
Ibid
[7]
Sky Sports, 2014, FIFA corruption whistleblower reveals threats over book about
2022 bidding process, http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12098/9566360/fifa-corruption-whistleblower-reveals-threats-over-book-about-2022-bidding-process
[8]
Daily Record, 2014, FIFA president Sepp
Blatter rejects English FA over allegations of corruption, http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/fifa-president-sepp-blatter-rejects-4656947
[9]
Ibid
[10]
B. Phillips, 2011, Corruption, Murder, and the Beautiful Game, http://grantland.com/features/corruption-murder-beautiful-game/
[11]
Ibid, (quote by B.Phillips)
[12]
Ibid
[13]
T.Burke, 2015, FIFA Slaves Banned From Attending Relatives Funerals, http://deadspin.com/fifa-slaves-banned-from-attending-relatives-funerals-1706700425
[14]
D.Moskovitz, 2015, German TV program Shows Qatar Slave Conditions, More FIFA
Corruption, http://screamer.deadspin.com/german-tv-program-shows-qatar-slave-conditions-more-fi-1702124833
[15]
M. Hanrahan, 2015, Nepali Minister Blast Qatar, FIFA, Over Treatment Of World
Cup Migrant Workers, http://www.ibtimes.com/nepali-minister-blasts-qatar-fifa-over-treatment-world-cup-migrant-workers-1936125
[16]
B. Glanville, 2015, FIFA’s den of thieves free to carry on with their
corruption, http://www.worldsoccer.com/columnists/brian-glanville/fifas-den-of-thieves-free-to-carry-on-with-their-corruption-360053
[17]
O. Gibson, 2015, Visa expresses ‘grave concern’ to Fifa over migrant work in
Qatar, http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/20/visa-fifa-migrant-workers-qatar-world-cup
[18]
Ibid
[19]
Ibid
[20]
The Guardian, 2015, Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter, likens himself to a
mountain goat, http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/24/sepp-blatter-fifa-president-mountain-goat
[21] Ibid,
( Quote by the Guardian)
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