|Image: A comedian threw stacks of money at Sepp Blatter during a meeting of FIFA’s executive committee in Zurich.Credit...Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters|
In 2015, Swiss Police entered a five-star hotel in Zurich and arrested six people. These people were Office bearers of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) the governing body of World's most popular sport "Football".Hours later, the Justice Department of New York, USA unleashed a barrage of allegations to the tune of 47 counts of Indictments against 14 people including FIFA bigwigs, sports marketing executives and owners of broadcasting groups with charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. This event came as a shocker for football fans worldwide, however, many iterated that it was long pending. So, What begat this disaster which engulfed almost the whole of the footballing world? The Wholistic View carefully examines (5 Min Read).
To grasp this whole series of events and how things transpired, you need to understand FIFA, FIFA's main source of power is the World Cup, soccer's top global event organized(Olympic-style) every four years in a different host country. The last one was in Russia in 2018, the next one is in Qatar in 2022. Almost every country in the world has a national soccer team (a sort of national all-stars squad) that competes to get in. But the world cup is about more than just prestige or national bragging rights. It is FIFA's cash cow. According to FIFA, "approximately 90 per cent of FIFA's revenue is generated through the sale of television, marketing, hospitality and licensing rights for the FIFA world cup.
|Image: Official Sponsors & Partners of FIFA World Cup 2018, Russia|
FIFA generated revenue in tunes of $4.64 Billion in 2018 principally due to World Cup from sources such as sales of TV rights of the tournament and marketing rights secured by major World Cup sponsors like Coca-Cola, VISA, Hyundai etc. Such Astronomical revenues by a sporting body like FIFA puts it ahead of the GDP of many nations. So what does FIFA do with such king-size sum? FIFA claims that more than 70 per cent of its expenditures go straight back into "football development", a term that include an array of things.
There are expenses to prepare for the next World Cup, rewards to teams that qualify for the tournament, and cash payments to soccer organizations all over the globe. The money is supposed to pay for the actual development of sport around the world, through new fields, equipment and uniforms for players at the grass-root level.This makes one curious as to where the corruption comes in? Well, It seems to come in at every level. Many experts believe that FIFA does not present a clear view of its expenditure and its hard to comprehend where does all the money go. The expenditures are reported in a very broad lump-sum manner.
|Sepp Blatter (erstwhile FIFA President), right, and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, with the World Cup trophy after Qatar was announced as the host for 2022. Photograph: Walter Bieri/EPA|
FIFA executives are accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes to influence everything from who gets to host the World Cup to which TV networks can fund the game. Those kind of under the table deals are at the heart of the US Justice Department's case against several top FIFA officials.FIFA's now banned President Sepp Blatter who has not been indicted, has been accused of distributing the "football development" funds to soccer officials of each of FIFA's 209 member nations in exchange for their votes during FIFA presidential elections. Blatter had been at the helm for 17 years which is quite uncanny for a governing body if you count out the Formula 1 Chairman Emeritus Bernie Ecclestone as he owns the Formula One Group( will take it up some other time).
During the Investigation, Department of Justice(DOJ), USA uncovered evidence of other sorts of bribery. In particular, while pleading guilty and acting as an informant, former FIFA executive Chuck Blazer admitted to soliciting and accepting bribes during the process of awarding the 1998 World Cup to France and the 2010 World Cup to South Africa. Awarding World Cups to Russia & Qatar were put under the scanner by Swiss Office of the Attorney General which took up the matter in its own hands.
|Sepp Blatter announces his resignation on June 2,2015. Photograph: EPA|
In response to these Investigations and the increasing level of public outcry, Sepp Blatter resigned as president just days after winning re-election to a fifth term. Blatter admitted no wrongdoing in his resignation speech and played modestly by terming himself as a man not right to lead FIFA as it tries to reform but still, he didn't sneak his way out. Rather he himself asserted to remain in position until a new successor would be elected. Criminal proceedings were announced against Blatter by the Swiss Authorities regarding Criminal Mismanagement and misappropriation. In December 2015, Blatter was banned by FIFA ethics committee from taking part in any activities for eight years which was later reduced to 6 years.
A host of other officials were indicted by the DOJ and Swiss Authorities on charges of corruption, money laundering and racketeering including the erstwhile UEFA President Michael Platini who was tipped as the successor to Blatter. Michael Platini has also been forced to share the same fate with blatter and is now serving a similar 6-year ban from FIFA's activities. The fundamental problem isn't Blatter or any other specific FIFA Official. It's the fact that FIFA falls within a legal grey area: it's not a business, not a governmental organization, and not a conventional NGO. It's basically a members' club which has gotten to the point wherein terms of scale its has characteristics of a governmental organization or a big business. The arrests happened and investigations got launched because it conducted business on US soil and because it violated anti-corruption laws in Switzerland but it can easily avoid these hassles by moving itself to a country with no extradition treaty with the USA such as Qatar which also has less oversight.
|Image: FIFA Reform Proposals submitted by FIFA Reforms Committee in 2016|
FIFA, in order to recuperate its tarnished image, got away with its existing office bearers and a host of new representatives got elected in its executive committee with Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino taking over as Chairman in February 2016 during an extraordinary session of the FIFA congress. The new working committee proposed reform proposals in 2016 promising to improve Governance, transparency, accountability and diversity declaring the future as a "New Era" while loudly condemning their predecessors. They made a show of promising to deliver a degree of transparency that seemed radical when compared to the sport’s four-decade financial black box. “You will be proud of FIFA,” the shiny-headed Swiss, Gianni Infantino, pledged soon after being elected the institution’s first new president in nearly 20 years.
|Image: Giovanni Infantino, current FIFA president, Getty Images|
Does the future look bright?-If there’s one takeaway from the sweeping corruption case, it’s that the problems afflicting a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that has operated without anything resembling oversight for decades turn out to run awfully deep. It’s one thing to bust a few crooked officials. It’s quite another to change an entire corrupt culture. Infantino’s record isn’t pristine, either. Since taking office in early 2016, Infantino has been the subject of two separate ethics complaints. One involved expense account abuse that included him putting a $10,000 mattress for his personal use on FIFA’s credit card; the other, perhaps more worryingly, included allegations that Infantino interfered with attempts to investigate potential corrupt acts. His name popped up in the Panama Papers.
While FIFA has implemented a number of reforms, its changes so far have been derided as half measures in combatting a deep-seated culture of corruption. Its decision to award the 2026 World Cup to the U.S., Canada and Mexico may have averted another public relations disaster. But five years after the Zurich arrests, there’s still plenty to suggest it’s largely the same old FIFA. While it may not offer the joy of beautiful game anymore, the ongoing scandal does add drama to the spectacle, and a measure of shame.
Disclaimer: The views solely belongs to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization with which he is associated with or will be associated with in future. The author, in any way whatsoever, cannot be responsible for your use of the information contained in or linked from this Blog.
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