tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/2015-fifa-arrests-17412/articles2015 FIFA arrests – La Conversation2019-06-30T09:39:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1195602019-06-30T09:39:54Z2019-06-30T09:39:54ZFIFA’s intervention in African football speaks volumes about failed leadership<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281746/original/file-20190628-94712-1xyjgwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Confederation of African Football president Ahmad Ahmad attends a press conference in Cairo ahead of the 2019 Cup of Nations.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Khalid Elfiqi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Confederation of African Football president <a href="https://dailytimes.com.pk/415592/fifa-to-take-over-the-running-of-african-football/">recently announced</a> that an official from the world football governing body FIFA would run its Cairo-based secretariat. The move to send a secretary-general to Africa comes on the heels of scandalous reports on and off the field.</p>
<p>Off the field there have been allegations against federation president <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/video/news/2017/03/ahmad-ahmad-wins-caf-election-170317122424059.html">Ahmad Ahmad</a>. He is <a href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/05/274084/fifa-investigating-corruption-sexual-assault-caf-president/">under investigation</a> by FIFA’s ethics committee over allegations of corruption, financial misappropriation and sexual harassment. And earlier this month, he was detained by French police for questioning over allegations of corruption, but was <a href="https://thewillnigeria.com/news/caf-president-ahmad-released-in-france-without-charge/">released without charge</a>. Among other things, Ahmad is accused of corruptly engaging a personal friend to purchase sports kit at inflated prices.</p>
<p>He is also alleged to have abused his power when he <a href="https://africa.cgtn.com/2019/06/06/caf-president-arrested-in-france/">summarily dismissed</a> former Africa federation General Secretary Amr Fahmy. This is after Fahmy revealed instances of corruption in the organisation. These include irregular funding of hajj pilgrimages for a number of African football association heads.</p>
<p>On the field the picture hasn’t been pretty either. The Confederation of African Football’s handling of the African Champions League final has exposed it to further ridicule. The return match played between Wydad Casablanca of Morocco and Esperance of Tunisia <a href="https://refereeingworld.blogspot.com/2019/06/caf-champions-league-final-abandoned.html">was abandoned</a> after Wydad disputed the nullification of their equalising goal. With the video assistant referee (VAR) equipment not working and therefore unavailable, it was impossible to review the contentious decision. </p>
<p>Victory was awarded to defending champions Esperance in line with rules for a forfeited match. But this decision was set aside four days later in favour of a <a href="http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/NewsCenter/News/NewsDetails?id=n3UrCHCmG13UNk%2bfryLDBQ%3d%3d">replay on “neutral” ground</a>. The fracas led to Tunisian prime minister Youssef Chahed to describe the handling as <a href="http://worldsoccertalk.com/2019/06/06/tunisian-pm-hits-out-at-caf-amid-african-champions-league-controversy/">“a farce”</a>.</p>
<p>The failure to run this important tournament to its successful end speaks volumes about the leadership of African football. </p>
<p>Amid all these controversies, and to avoid any possible sanctions, the conferederation’s president persuaded his colleagues to allow FIFA to temporarily <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/sports/fifa-takes-control-of-soccer-in-africa-where-the-sport-is-in-chaos.html">intervene</a> and re-organise its headquarters.</p>
<p>The fact that the Africa leadership unanimously consented to FIFA taking over the secretariat implies that there are major problems in the sport. It is a desperate measure that does more harm to the negative international image of African soccer. Given the history of corruption, poor leadership and management at both the continental as well as national levels, it is probably long overdue. </p>
<p>Indeed, it is an indictment of the African body’s leadership that external help is needed 62 years after it was formed.</p>
<h2>The impact</h2>
<p>The African confederation was <a href="http://www.cafonline.com/en-us/caf/background.aspx">established in 1957</a> and now has 54 national federations affiliated to it. However, the decision making is vested in the Executive Council. The confederation and its federations are also affiliated to FIFA, which funds and oversees football development around the world. </p>
<p>FIFA’s previous interventions have stopped at national federations. This is mainly to restore order after government interference or to end squabbling between officials. While FIFA is within its rights to help streamline Africa’s operations, there is no precedent for such intervention. </p>
<p>The arrangement that’s been agreed between the Confederation and FIFA is to appoint FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura as FIFA General Delegate for Africa. She will begin her new role on August 1, 2019. She has been appointed initially for six months, with the understanding that her contract will be renewed if both sides agree. According to FIFA sources, she is to be assisted by a group of experts who will work in a spirit of partnership with President Ahmad and his team in several areas.</p>
<p>The areas she will focus on include overseeing operational management, including governance and administrative procedures. She will ensure the efficient and professional organisation of all CAF competitions. Finally she will support the growth and development of football in all countries and regions of CAF.</p>
<p>In addition to this, FIFA is to undertake a <a href="https://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2019/m=6/news=joint-statement-from-fifa-and-caf.html">full forensic audit</a> of CAF as soon as possible.</p>
<h2>Uphill task</h2>
<p>Ahmad rose to power as CAFs chief two years ago on a platform of reform, promoting transparency and introducing a new code of ethics. These promises propelled him into power at the expense of Issa Hayatou, who led the confederation <a href="https://121private.home.blog/2019/06/20/fifa-is-taking-over-african-soccer-amid-corruption-charges-at-caf/">for 29 years</a>.</p>
<p>The controversy surrounding the arrest and accusations of financial impropriety as well as sexual misconduct is also a <a href="https://africa.cgtn.com/2019/06/20/fifa-to-take-over-management-of-african-football/">major setback</a> and embarrassment to Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, who has been claiming a new-look, clean and corruption-free FIFA. </p>
<p>It is evident that Issa Hayatou and now Ahmad, have ruined the credibility of African Soccer. It is also clear that football leadership is a major constraint to the development of Africa’s most popular sport. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen how much Fatma Samoura can accomplish in six months given that she will be surrounded by the same cast.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119560/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Leadership is a major constraint to the development of Africa’s most popular sport.Wycliffe W. Njororai Simiyu, Professor, Health and Kinesiology, University of Texas at TylerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/522892016-01-11T12:24:33Z2016-01-11T12:24:33ZFive reasons why your city won’t want to host the Olympic Games<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107728/original/image-20160111-6977-181humt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The prospect of hosting any mega-event – especially the Olympic Games – is cause for serious consideration. At local, national, and international levels, the discussion takes shape around two key questions: is it worth it? And if so, for whom? </p>
<p>The question of worth is not limited to cost – although that certainly remains a crucial feature. Rather, there exists a series of interrelated concerns about how mega-events can disrupt cities, and distract from long-term planning agendas. Bids to host the 2024 Olympics from both <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jul/27/boston-mayor-2024-olympic-bid-doubt">Boston</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/12025211/Hamburg-withdraws-bid-to-host-2024-Olympics.html">Hamburg</a> were withdrawn for such reasons. Meanwhile, Rio de Janeiro is demonstrating just how <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/29/rio-2016-olympic-preparations-worst-ever-ioc">challenging</a> preparations for the Olympic Games can be.</p>
<p>Here, we take a closer look at five key reasons why a city might be reluctant to host the Olympic Games.</p>
<h2>1. Sheer cost</h2>
<p>Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Here are the estimated costs of the last four Olympics, and the projected cost of the upcoming games in Rio. </p>
<ul>
<li>Sydney 2000: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/24/news/24iht-t1_2.html?pagewanted=all">US$4.7 billion</a></li>
<li>Athens 2004: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-08-02/how-the-2004-olympics-triggered-greeces-decline">€9 billion</a></li>
<li>Beijing 2008: <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121614671139755287">US$42 billion</a></li>
<li>London 2012: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/datablog/2012/jul/26/london-2012-olympics-money">US$11 billion</a></li>
<li>Rio 2016: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/apr/23/world-cup-olympics-rio-de-janeiro-brazil-sensation-disaster">US$15 billion</a> or more (over two decades following the event)</li>
</ul>
<p>While the exact cost of any Olympics is difficult to pin down, and is often a point of contention, the last three games witnessed unparalleled public and private investment. Beijing, London and Rio have built longer term “legacy” planning into their budgets, to try to ensure that investment in hosting the games continues to pay off for years after the event. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107727/original/image-20160111-7002-1umylcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107727/original/image-20160111-7002-1umylcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107727/original/image-20160111-7002-1umylcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107727/original/image-20160111-7002-1umylcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107727/original/image-20160111-7002-1umylcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107727/original/image-20160111-7002-1umylcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107727/original/image-20160111-7002-1umylcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Olympic legacies are hard to come by.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dany13/10410362514/sizes/l">Dany13/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such legacy promises often promote infrastructure redevelopment, improved transportation systems, economic growth and job creation, projects of urban renewal and regeneration, improved physical activity participation and environmental sustainability. In Rio, planned infrastructure developments are set to continue through <a href="http://www.building.co.uk/aecom-and-wilkinson-eyre%E2%80%99s-winning-rio-2016-designs-unveiled/5023410.article">to 2030</a>. </p>
<p>The financial undertaking for such bids – and the subsequent planning and implementation – is nothing short of enormous. Undoubtedly, the most significant cost relates to the (re)development of urban infrastructure. This leads us to our second deterrent.</p>
<h2>2. Infrastructure challenges</h2>
<p>Hosting a mega-event always involves urban renewal and regeneration. Yet developing the sporting stadia, accommodation and transportation networks to cope with increased numbers of tourists and athletes is anything but straightforward. Before refashioning the urban landscape, planners must know which sites are to be redeveloped, for whom, and to what end. </p>
<p>Clearly, catering to the demands of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is one priority. But arguably, it is the least significant. Rather, planners seek to capitalise on urban space by re-imagining the city as a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10261133.1989.10559088">recreational environment</a> – a resource for tourism and consumerism. Retail, festival, sporting, leisure, hotel and heritage spaces are at the core of this vision. </p>
<p>While improvements to transportation may provide benefits to the populace, these redevelopments only offer hope for increased tourist dollars and a small number of low-paying jobs. One example is the <a href="http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/destination/stadiums/stadium=214/index.html">Estádio Mario Filho</a> (better known as the Maracanã) stadium in Rio, which underwent more than <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-legacy-of-the-iconic-maracana-will-likely-be-tied-to-its-high-cost-and-to-what-could-have-been-1405116704">US$500m in renovations</a> ahead of the 2014 World Cup. Once cast in the populist light of the 1950s to communicate ideas of democracy, it <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/lag/summary/v009/9.1.gaffney.html">now aims to attract</a> a different kind of person: the consumption-oriented international tourist. </p>
<p>One of the central challenges of hosting any mega-event is what to do with the new infrastructure after the athletes and tourists have gone. Some host cities – such as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-olympic-games-changed-barcelona-forever-2012-7?IR=T">Barcelona</a> – have made good use of their stadia, but others are replete with white elephants. Montreal, Sydney, Athens, Beijing and Vancouver have all had their share of <a href="http://www.canada.com/olympics/looking-back/some-of-the-biggest-white-elephants-in-the-history-of-the-olympic-games">post-olympics venue failures</a>. </p>
<p>The 2010 World Cup in South Africa offers a particularly stark warning: the stadia continue to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/opinion/molefe-south-africas-world-cup-illusions.html?_r=0">rot from disuse</a>. And Brazil appears destined to repeat the same mistakes, as the country <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-world-cup-stadium-white-elephants-2015-1">struggles to find a purpose</a> for its 2014 World Cup facilities. White elephants are highly-visible reminders that mega-events may not be worth the cost. But there’s an even more insidious side-effect which is often overlooked. </p>
<h2>3. Human rights violations</h2>
<p>Building new infrastructure in a city means destroying established urban areas. When that happens, local populations and communities are often dispersed and displaced. To make way for Beijing’s 2008 Olympic infrastructure, an estimated <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-beijing-housing-idUSPEK12263220070605#PuyXezlpP4wPyU3o.97">1.5m people</a> were forcibly evicted from their homes with minimal compensation. The neighbourhoods <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/razing-history-the-tragic-story-of-a-beijing-neighborhoods-destruction/252760/">were destroyed</a> and residents removed to the outskirts of the city far from friends, family and places of work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107729/original/image-20160111-6981-lpbmvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107729/original/image-20160111-6981-lpbmvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107729/original/image-20160111-6981-lpbmvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107729/original/image-20160111-6981-lpbmvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107729/original/image-20160111-6981-lpbmvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107729/original/image-20160111-6981-lpbmvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107729/original/image-20160111-6981-lpbmvb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Olympic protests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/4354407229/">Krus Krug/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Rio, the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/03/forced-evictions-vila-autodromo-rio-olympics-protests">forced eviction process</a> has taken on a militarised ethos, as Police Pacification Units (Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora) <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/dec/14/rio-olympic-games-2016-favelas-hopes-of-pacification-are-shattered">try to control</a> a number of the city’s favelas. Demolition, displacement and the razing of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/opinion/in-the-name-of-the-future-rio-is-destroying-its-past.html">Unesco world heritage sites</a> all feature in preparations for the games. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2008/08/06/china-olympics-harm-key-human-rights">Repressive measures</a> within China and Tibet at the 2008 games, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26043872">LGBT rights issues</a> surrounding the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/qatar-nepal-workers-world-cup-2022-death-toll-doha">casualties on construction sites</a> for the Qatar 2022 World Cup all point toward the persistent human rights issues which all too often accompany mega-events. Rather than representing unity and diversity, it seems as though the Olympic Games have started to signify oppression and exclusion. </p>
<h2>4. Fear and security</h2>
<p>In many host cities, publicly-funded yet privately-owned urban renewal projects have been leveraged to impose enhanced surveillance measures. For instance, London 2012 saw the rise of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/11/public-spaces-undemocratic-land-ownership">“defensible” architecture</a>, which restricts the access and activities of those deemed “undesirable” – particularly skateboarders, protesters and the homeless – in newly-developed areas. </p>
<p>London’s Strand East Community – developed by Vastint Holding B.V., IKEA’s holding company for residential development, ahead of the 2012 Olympics – is <a href="http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/viewFile/london/liquid_london">characteristic of</a> the city’s propensity towards “enclave living”. This means a high security presence, which accepts those with the capital to invest, and rejects those who are deemed a threat to the safety and security of its residents. Such projects have caused urban spaces to be splintered. Those who lack the desire or means to engage with the consumer economy are stigmatised as “unwanted”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107730/original/image-20160111-6972-1ghwvz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/107730/original/image-20160111-6972-1ghwvz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107730/original/image-20160111-6972-1ghwvz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107730/original/image-20160111-6972-1ghwvz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107730/original/image-20160111-6972-1ghwvz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107730/original/image-20160111-6972-1ghwvz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/107730/original/image-20160111-6972-1ghwvz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You shall not pass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/7481287298/sizes/l">diamond geezer/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>This process of securitisation has been fuelled by fear of attacks on popular sporting events, such as the bombing of the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/24/us/tsarnaev-boston-marathon-bombing-death-sentencing/">2013 Boston Marathon</a> and the targeting of Paris’ <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34896521">Stade de France</a> in November 2015. Planning committees have been burdened with the impossible task of preventing such attacks, by building security into the infrastructure, planning, organisation and practices associated with mega-events. </p>
<h2>5. International prestige</h2>
<p>Hosting a mega-event can create buzz, offer the chance for a positive re-brand or garner international prestige. But it can also draw unwanted attention and bad press. Host nations often obscure human rights violations, but will find it more difficult to manage the high-profile political and economic problems associated with international organisations like the IOC. For example, political scandals have recently tarnished the reputations of sporting bodies <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-for-fifa-from-the-salt-lake-city-olympic-scandal-42493">such as FIFA</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-08/athletics-faces-long-road-to-redemption-says-iaaf-chief-coe/6922746">the IAAF</a>. </p>
<p>By being more aware of the potential pitfalls of hosting mega-events, residents are in a better position to engage with the bidding process – or to resist it, like those involved in the <a href="http://www.nobostonolympics.org">“No Boston Olympics” campaign</a>. Instead of grasping at opportunities to host the Olympics, city authorities are getting better at considering how the games actually fit with their priorities – or if they do at all. This can only be a good thing. </p>
<p><em>This article is part of a series on the outlook for <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/rio-2016">Rio 2016</a>. You can also find out how hosting the Paralympics <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-london-how-hosting-the-paralympics-can-make-cities-more-accessible-53044">can change a city</a> for the better, and discover the story of <a href="https://theconversation.com/vila-autodromo-the-favela-fighting-back-against-rios-olympic-development-52393">the favela fighting back</a> against Olympic developments.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hosting a mega-event isn’t all it’s cracked up to be - and now some cities are starting to say ‘no’.Bryan C. Clift, Lecturer, Department for Health, Humanities and Social Sciences, University of BathAndrew Manley, Lecturer, Department for Health, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/475502015-09-28T20:28:16Z2015-09-28T20:28:16ZMoney, money, money: is that what’s causing all that ails sport?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96287/original/image-20150926-17694-yles7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">FIFA, world football's governing body, continues to be embroiled in scandal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Ennio Leanza</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Elite sport appears to be broken. Scandals covering a wide range of untoward behaviours continue to be uncovered. In recent years these have included the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/17/football/fifa-jerome-valcke-suspended/index.html">FIFA corruption affair</a>, widespread <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/athletics/33948924">doping</a> in cycling and athletics, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/19/match-fixing-arrests-mafia-italy">match-fixing</a> in football and cricket, and the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/deflategate-tom-brady-patriots-nfl/index.html">NFL’s Deflategate</a>.</p>
<p>What is perhaps most telling about the state of elite sport is that the untoward behaviours are not limited to athletes alone. Rather, there are allegations of corruption throughout sports systems – including entire teams, coaches, management, doctors, sponsors, governing bodies and even governments. </p>
<p>When systems fail in other areas, such as the safety-critical domains, we look at the entire system for contributory factors. A key component of understanding how systems drift into failure is to identify who is in the system, what they do, and how decisions and actions interact with one another. This gives us a picture of how adverse events are created. </p>
<p>More often than not multiple people and organisations are involved, and there are powerful levers at the higher levels of the system. Two such intertwined drivers of behaviour are financial and production pressures: the need to make a profit and the need to produce better outputs, more of them, and at a faster pace.</p>
<h2>Financial pressures</h2>
<p>Financial and production pressures play a key role in the problems ailing sport. Worryingly, when they are prominent, it seems that inappropriate behaviour from athletes, teams and coaches at the lower levels is not only enabled and tolerated but in extreme cases is actively supported. </p>
<p>It is clear, for example, that issues such as doping are driven by far more than just athletes’ desire to win. The corporatisation of sport and financial interests of a diverse set of organisations means that winning is big business – for many. In elite cycling, for example, the financial rewards associated with victory were so powerful that a win-at-all-costs attitude was adopted – nothing was off the table in terms of achieving an edge. </p>
<p>Many within the system accepted doping as normal practice and a requirement to be able to merely compete, let alone be victorious. It is alleged that those complicit <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-one-bad-apple-a-systems-view-on-the-lance-armstrong-doping-saga-36830">included</a>, for a period, the majority of competitors, soigneurs, doctors, therapists, coaches, team managers, directors and even sponsors. At the higher levels of the system, it is <a href="http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/CleanSport/16/87/99/CIRCReport2015_Neutral.pdf">alleged</a> that governing bodies were aware and even took measures to evade the issue.</p>
<p>The financial rewards for all in the system were too great to rock the boat – the network of people and organisations was tightly bound together by financial incentive. Financial gain likely lies at the heart of most of the sporting scandals in recent history.</p>
<h2>Putting on a show</h2>
<p>Intertwined with this is the need to create bigger and better sporting spectacles. Contests have to be bigger, better, faster and more entertaining. Tumbling records and seemingly inhuman feats create spiralling financial rewards for everybody involved. Just as winning is big business, sporting spectacles and heroes are too. </p>
<p>This form of production pressure is undoubtedly prevalent at the higher levels of sports systems, where governments and governing bodies will go to great lengths to enhance the spectacle and fan base in pursuit of greater financial rewards. </p>
<p>Similarly, sponsors are driven by the financial rewards associated with greater exposure. This creates a powerful incentive to turn a blind eye to untoward behaviours when the peloton is reaching greater speeds, when athletes are smashing records, or when the global audience reaches billions.</p>
<p>In cycling, the <a href="http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Mag15Racingthedemons/cyclist-lance-armstrong-refuses-lose-cancer-espn-magazine-archive">cancer survivor</a> returning to dominate its biggest event attracted a completely new audience. It was too good a sporting story for all involved to actively shut it down.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>The fix lies in the same theories that tell us how systems fail in the first place – fundamental change is required, rather than component fixes. </p>
<p>Improving drug controls might stop one drug, but driven by the same financial and production pressures, another new and undetectable drug will emerge. Allowing the use of performance-enhancing drugs to create a more level playing field won’t work either. The financial rewards are so powerful that the playing field will simply never be level – those with more financial power and a need for bigger returns will find better ways of enhancement.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lance Armstrong claims he started doping following threats from above.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In cases of corruption, removing corrupt governing body officials may work for a while, but eventually the massive financial incentives will create new corruption, either at the same level or elsewhere in the system. With component fixes, sports systems will be able to adapt, driven again by the same pressures.</p>
<p>So what might fundamental change in sport look like? The reason that fundamental change is not often forthcoming is because it is tough to conceive and implement. </p>
<p>As a starting point, perhaps the very nature of sporting systems and contests needs to be examined. What, we could ask, is the purpose of elite sports? How has this drifted to where we are now? </p>
<p>Certainly the big business aspect should be scrutinised. Are the financial incentives appropriate and, more to the point, are the financial rewards distributed appropriately? Are they fed into sports at grassroots level, for example?</p>
<p>Removing or capping the financial incentives for all involved would provide a significant shift in how elite sports systems operate. In a post-confession meeting between Lance Armstrong and Christophe Bassons (the cyclist effectively outcast by cycling for his anti-doping stance), Armstrong <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/book-extract-when-bassons-met-armstrong/">told</a> how his decision to start doping was driven by managers’ threats to oust him following poor performances.</p>
<p>Driven by financial interests, the same threats are no doubt offered across most elite sports. Without such powerful financial drivers, discussions may be less about ending an athlete’s career and more about getting the athlete to where they want to be through training regimes and coaching. The incentive may shift back to what it should be – for the love of sport and the contest, not for the love of money.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Salmon receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The recent untoward behaviours in sport are not limited to athletes alone. Rather, there are allegations of corruption throughout sports systems.Paul Salmon, Professor, Human Factors, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/428312015-06-05T13:59:34Z2015-06-05T13:59:34ZFIFA reform must not leave developing countries behind<p>I have just returned to the UK from Trinidad and Tobago, from where I watched the FBI raids in Switzerland – the raids that brought FIFA’s house of cards down and, ultimately, caused the resignation of long-time president, Joseph “Sepp” Blatter. Central to the FBI investigations is Jack Warner, who hails from this small country of 1.3 million people. </p>
<p>The former FIFA vice-president and president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) was among 14 people indicted by a US grand jury on corruption charges. He has now <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/world/europe/fifa-jack-warner-sepp-blatter-corruption.html">vowed</a> to release an “avalanche” of secrets about FIFA’s practices, says he knows why Blatter resigned and also claims to have evidence linking FIFA to his country’s 2010 election.</p>
<p>While we wait for further revelations, one thing is clear. Serious reform of FIFA’s operations must be undertaken for the good of world football. But the voices shouting loudest for reform don’t necessarily have the whole world’s interests in mind.</p>
<p>It is problematic that the US and UK – two countries with long histories of global intervention – are driving the charge for reform. These two countries share similar cultural and business practices, often asserting their way of doing things as universal or at least the norm. Others consider this behaviour as a continuation of attitudes from the imperial and Cold War eras where might equalled right. </p>
<p>Echoing comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the FIFA crisis,
Jack Warner’s newspaper in Trinidad and Tobago, Sunshine, asserts the campaign against FIFA is really about attempts <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/jun/04/jack-warner-fifa-corruption-i-have-kept-quiet-i-will-do-so-no-more-live#block-55710c58e4b0b82f8ee3850e">to discredit Russia</a>, which is hosting 2018 World Cup. Tensions between Russia and the West are at high levels due to conflict in Ukraine and Russian jets undertaking fly-overs in the English Channel. </p>
<h2>Blurred lines</h2>
<p>Every story has more than one side – even Jack Warner’s. There are <a href="http://www.insideworldfootball.com/world-football/football-americas/concacaf-news/16807-webb-gathers-his-federations-for-congress-as-new-era-readies-for-new-challenges">far more facilities</a> for football in the Caribbean than before his tenure in CONCACAF and FIFA. Likewise with Sepp Blatter, who has raised FIFA income <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fifa-corruption-scandal/fifa-charges-how-sepp-blatter-sidesteps-scandal-n365721">massively</a> during his period in office. </p>
<p>While the Anglo-American discourse asserts there is a firm line between ethical behaviour and corruption, in much of the rest of the world that line turns into a blurry continuum with less precise divisions. As a result of similar scandals besieging the International Olympic Committee (IOC), sports studies scholar Douglas Booth <a href="http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/Olympika/Olympika_1999/olympika0801c.pdf">has argued</a> the culture of reciprocity and gift-giving common throughout the world suggests one person’s gift exchange may be another’s bribe and we must be careful of cultural determinism that leads to absolute condemnation.</p>
<p>Too often, we want to see sport as pure and noble, yet it exists in the real world like anything else. The US state department has not spent millions of dollars a year on its sporting diplomacy programmes for the past 50 years <a href="http://eca.state.gov/programs-initiatives/sports-diplomacy">simply to spread goodwill</a>. Indeed, it has lists of preferred countries, which are strategic priorities, where they operate programmes. </p>
<p>If it were simply about sport and goodwill, the programmes would be universal or indeed be used to provide sustainable sporting facilities in places unable to afford them without outside assistance. </p>
<p>Imagine yourself the president of the Antiguan Football Association. You have one vote for major decisions at an international organisation equal to the vote of the US, UK or China. Would you not want to leverage that vote into as much return as possible for the development of football in Antigua? Corruption does not lie in seeking advantage for your country or football, but in diverting those gains into personal wealth out of proportion to your efforts or the income generated. </p>
<p>The question remains: where is the line and who gets to draw it? These are fundamental problems for FIFA, as for any international sporting federation.</p>
<h2>Real change</h2>
<p>FIFA is in need of reform. Indeed, many would like to see it fall, but to be replaced by what? International football is too large an enterprise to be administered by anything other than a global body, which would need to develop a set of practices to ensure the future of the game is built upon the successes of the present. </p>
<p>The postcolonial era has been a long and difficult one, marred by the Cold War and continuation of exploitative economic practices on the part of those countries who benefited most from colonialism. One country, one vote may not be the perfect solution – perhaps proportional power based on population or other measures might be more equitable. </p>
<p>But the Anglo-centric worldview must be flexible enough to accommodate dissent, disagreement and differing philosophies so that the greatest good for the greatest number is practised in reality, not merely what is good for ourselves and our own global interests. </p>
<p>FIFA has an opportunity to lead the way and, with the IOC, be a voice for global equity and transparency. For a truly level playing field to be achieved, much needs to change. Real change, however, is not moving the 2022 World Cup from Qatar to England or the US. It needs to go to the heart of global inequities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42831/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Nauright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Reform of FIFA is clearly needed, but it must accommodate dissent of the anglo-centric world view.John Nauright, Professor of Sport and Leisure Management, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427852015-06-03T21:04:01Z2015-06-03T21:04:01ZFIFA, Blatter and Africa: a special relationship<p>On Tuesday, June 2, Sepp Blatter announced his intention to resign as FIFA president just four days after winning reelection to a fifth term — an electoral victory that simply could not have happened without the support of FIFA’s African members. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.colinudoh.com/2015/05/africa-blatter-africa.html">unofficial calculations</a>, the 133 votes secretly cast for Blatter came from Africa (53), Asia (46), and North America (minus the United States) and the Caribbean (34). </p>
<p>Why did Africans <a href="http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/04/07/sepp-blatter-africa-fifa-president">unanimously support</a> the leader of a troubled, even loathed, organization which two days earlier witnessed the arrest of seven of its executives in Zurich on US bribery and corruption charges? </p>
<p>As an academic who has been researching, publishing and teaching the history and culture of African football for two decades, I want to offer a possible answer to this challenging question.</p>
<h2>A long relationship</h2>
<p>Africa’s allegiance to Blatter stems in part from the continent’s rich history of engagement with FIFA. </p>
<p>In the age of decolonization, newly independent African states asserted their national sovereignty and global citizenship by joining transnational institutions like the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee and FIFA. </p>
<p>By the mid-1960s, the <a href="http://www.cafonline.com/">Confederation of African Football</a> (CAF, founded in 1957) comprised nearly half of FIFA’s membership and formed the largest voting bloc in the organization. </p>
<p>African nations went on to <a href="http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/African+Soccerscapes">transform</a> global football, or soccer, in a number of ways. </p>
<p>CAF made the sport more inclusive and representative. It introduced an <a href="http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afsocial/anti-racism/02/50/88/65/backgroundpaperonfifaanti-discrimination_neutral.pdf">anti-racist clause</a> into FIFA’s constitution. It spearheaded a successful campaign that ostracized apartheid South Africa from world football from 1961 to 1992 (with a brief reprieve in 1963). </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83825/original/image-20150603-2956-b41m4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83825/original/image-20150603-2956-b41m4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83825/original/image-20150603-2956-b41m4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83825/original/image-20150603-2956-b41m4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83825/original/image-20150603-2956-b41m4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83825/original/image-20150603-2956-b41m4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83825/original/image-20150603-2956-b41m4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joao Havelange, the seventh president of FIFA, thanks to African support.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jo%C3%A3o_Havelange_(1982).jpg">Nationaal Archief Fotocollectie Anefo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It flexed its political muscle in 1974 as African votes helped propel Brazilian businessman João Havelange to the FIFA presidency in a closely contested race against the incumbent Stanley Rous, an English school headmaster unsympathetic to apartheid’s critics. Once at the helm, Havelange shrewdly stuck to his pledge to keep South Africa out of world football until apartheid’s demise.</p>
<p>At FIFA, Africans fought for guaranteed berths in the World Cup finals. FIFA allots a different number of places in the tournament to each continental confederation based on multiple rounds of qualifying matches – but to begin with did not do so for CAF. African nations boycotted the 1966 tournament in England over this issue. Finally, the Eurocentric world body awarded Africa a place at Mexico 1970 (taken up by Morocco). </p>
<p>With Havelange’s endorsement, the number of African teams in the World Cup gradually increased, reaching five in 1998. FIFA’s new youth World Cup tournaments and, later, women’s competitions, also prominently included an adequate number of African finalists.</p>
<h2>Follow the money…</h2>
<p>Africa’s backing of Blatter cannot be fully explained, however, without considering the economic dimension. </p>
<p>FIFA’s institutionalized system of patron-client relations, crafted by Havelange and expanded by Blatter, has been <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Foul.html?id=95tJxfVtR8UC&hl=en">described by some observers</a> as rewarding African football administrators with cash in exchange for votes. </p>
<p>Under Blatter, the revenue flow from the world body to African member national associations <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v050/50.1darby.html%5D.">spiked exponentially</a> </p>
<p>An illustrative example is the <a href="http://www.fifa.com/development/facts-and-figures/association=per/index.html">GOAL</a> assistance program established in 1999 to fund football development projects. </p>
<p>Most of the hundreds of millions of dollars disbursed by the program have gone to resource-poor countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. In these regions, the money paid for the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/sports/soccer/fifa-soccer-sepp-blatter-cayman-islands.html">construction</a> of modern new headquarters for national associations and a number of pitches. </p>
<p>These are the kinds of financial mechanisms that lubricated the gears of FIFA-Africa relations.</p>
<h2>…but also the heart</h2>
<p>But loyalty to Blatter in Africa has also emotional roots: a collective affirmation of the extent to which Africans at FIFA have succeeded in making the world body their own. </p>
<p>Unlike at the UN (especially the Security Council) and the International Monetary Fund, Africans are kingmakers at FIFA. They wield real power, shape policy, and gain wealth and status on a global scale thanks to the sport’s planetary popularity. </p>
<p>In 1998, Blatter’s presidential campaign recognized this reality and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/714004858">paid his respects</a> to African power brokers with the promise to hold an “African World Cup” in the near future. </p>
<p>This commitment was tested in 2000 when Germany acquired hosting rights for the 2006 tournament in controversial circumstances. Germany received 12 votes to South Africa’s 11, with Charles Dempsey of Oceania abstaining (despite instructions from his constituents to support South Africa). </p>
<p>This unprecedented decision prevented Blatter from casting the tie-breaking vote for South Africa. Blatter, a savvy politician, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IkLYDgTnMxEC&pg=PA127&dq=When+did+FIFA+continental+rotation+begin?&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KyZvVeOWA8uWNre0gaAI&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=When%20did%20FIFA%20continental%20rotation%20begin%3F&f=false">sprung into action</a>, introducing a new procedural rule that awarded World Cup hosting rights on continental rotation, starting with Africa, of course. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83821/original/image-20150603-2946-1d26vid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83821/original/image-20150603-2946-1d26vid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83821/original/image-20150603-2946-1d26vid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83821/original/image-20150603-2946-1d26vid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83821/original/image-20150603-2946-1d26vid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83821/original/image-20150603-2946-1d26vid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83821/original/image-20150603-2946-1d26vid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Celebrating in 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Fans.jpg/1024px-2010_FIFA_World_Cup_Fans.jpg">Octagon</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The former president endeared himself to African constituents from Algiers to Zululand by bringing the 2010 World Cup to South Africa. </p>
<p>He embraced vuvuzelas in local stadiums despite broadcasters’ complaints about the noise at the 2009 Confederations Cup. </p>
<p>“It is African culture,” Blatter <a href="http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/confederationscup/southafrica2009/news/newsid=1073689/index.html">told the media</a>. “We are in Africa and we have to allow them to practice their culture as much as they want to.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bKCIFXqhLzo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">World Cup 2010.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the buildup to the tournament, Blatter announced the establishment of <a href="http://www.fifa.com/sustainability/football-for-hope.html">Football for Hope</a>, a FIFA corporate social responsibility project that intends to build small artificial pitches in 20 African countries. </p>
<p>In an ironic twist, however, the successful South African World Cup may have undermined Blatter. On Monday, June 1, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/sports/soccer/sepp-blatters-top-fifa-deputy-jerome-valcke-is-said-to-have-transferred-money-central-to-bribery-case.html">The New York Times </a>reported information that “linked Mr. Blatter’s top deputy, Jérôme Valcke, to a series of payments that are believed to be bribes connected to South Africa’s winning the vote that gave it the 2010 World Cup.”</p>
<h2>What now for African football?</h2>
<p>With Blatter stepping down in the next few months, there is little doubt he will try to shape the future of FIFA by influencing the reform process as well as the selection of his successor. </p>
<p>Will a restructured FIFA weaken Africa’s and the global south’s position in world football? Will Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, FIFA senior vice president and CAF president since 1988, run in the special election? If not, then what is the likelihood that CAF will continue to vote as a united front? </p>
<p>These are interesting and important questions. But the more fundamental issue for African football is the need to advocate for changes in FIFA leadership and structure that can tangibly address the widening disconnect between the luxurious lifestyles of football’s political elite and the everyday struggles of millions of male and female players in towns and villages across the continent. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83826/original/image-20150603-2935-fcul1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83826/original/image-20150603-2935-fcul1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83826/original/image-20150603-2935-fcul1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83826/original/image-20150603-2935-fcul1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83826/original/image-20150603-2935-fcul1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83826/original/image-20150603-2935-fcul1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83826/original/image-20150603-2935-fcul1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Playing the beautiful game in Mali.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Mali_football.jpg">Jelle Jansen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“People live at grassroots level, not elite level,” Thabo Dladla, a youth coach and former professional player in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, <a href="http://www.press.umich.edu/4038158/africas_world_cup">told me</a>. “The [2010] World Cup was successful, but too many young people in this country still have no hope, they have no future.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Alegi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Answers to the challenging question of why Africans unanimously supported Sepp Blatter for a 5th term – and what they portend for the future.Peter Alegi, Professor of African History , Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427762015-06-03T16:41:43Z2015-06-03T16:41:43ZWith Blatter gone, the hard work of changing FIFA culture starts now<p>As Sepp Blatter reluctantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-clever-politics-of-sepp-blatters-resignation-from-fifa-42733">heads for the exit</a>, many football supporters think the job of cleaning up FIFA is done. In reality, it is only just beginning. </p>
<p>The departure of Blatter following continued allegations of corruption is without a doubt an important step to changing this kleptocracy. But getting rid of a tarnished leader is often the easiest part of cleaning up an organisation. The hard part is actually resetting the routines of the entire organisation. Transforming the tone for the top is something which a new leader can do with the help of a few clever PR advisors. But cleaning up the mess in the middle takes much more time and effort. </p>
<p>Despite all the back slapping <a href="https://theconversation.com/blatter-survives-for-now-42577">following Blatter’s re-election</a> as president of FIFA last week, this is an organisation in deep crisis. The majority of its executive board have been suspended while they are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32897066">investigated for corruption</a>. The US attorney-general is investigating various charges of corrupt dealings. And the body count of construction workers <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/27/a-body-count-in-qatar-illustrates-the-consequences-of-fifa-corruption/">mounts</a> as the facilities for the 2022 World Cup appear out of the desert. </p>
<h2>Clean break?</h2>
<p>It is tempting to see Blatter’s resignation as a clean break. I’m sure we will be told that with the old guy gone, a new era of moral integrity will dawn. If only it were so simple. Blatter is by no means making a swift exit. He will stay on until the next president can be elected – which could be ten months away. This will give this 21st-century Machiavelli <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-clever-politics-of-sepp-blatters-resignation-from-fifa-42733">time to re-engineer the FIFA court in his favour</a>. It might even include a come back in another guise such as “honorary president”. </p>
<p>But even if Blatter does release his grip on power, and is replaced by a genuinely new regime, then real transformation is going to remain difficult. When a new president is appointed, they are likely to come in under a mandate of cleaning up corruption. There will be speeches filled with fine words like “integrity”, “accountability” and “transparency”. There will be inquiries to unearth the extent and underlying causes of unethical behaviour. </p>
<p>There will also be further scapegoating as representatives of the older regime are weeded out and replaced with new officials with clean bills of health. There may be some expressions of “profound regret” about the “unfortunate mistakes” of a few “rogue individuals” who “tarnished the good name” of the organisation. </p>
<p>Even if there are these changes in personnel and policy, ensuring this drives a change in practice is going to be another matter altogether. Turning new ethics policies into practice usually proves to be a difficult, if not impossible task. Often the moral clean-skins brought into the organisation are politically naïve. They don’t understand the byzantine political processes on which the organisation they are joining run. </p>
<p>They introduce policies that look like “best practice” to the outside world but appear practically unworkable within the organisation. As a result, policies often remain gathering dust on the shelf until the auditors appear. Then the organisation will be a paean of virtue, at least while the auditors are on site. For example when Anthony Jenkins took over as CEO of Barclays, he came with a background in retail banking, but has <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265253/Andrew-Tinney-The-regime-fear-inside-Barclays--boss-lied-shredded-evidence.html">struggled at times</a> with political wrangling involved in driving culture change through the American investment banking division.</p>
<h2>Culture change</h2>
<p>Alongside the challenge of putting rules into practice is the even tougher question of how you might change the culture of the organisation. Typically, large organisations like FIFA have highly ingrained cultures which provide members with the unofficial rule book they use everyday to make decisions. These rules are not learned in the classroom, but around the dinner table, in the hotel bar or in the hallways where old hands tell newcomers how things “really work around here”. This cultural knowledge is subtle, difficult to interpret, and often hard won. People take years to learn it – so it should come as no surprise that it often takes even longer to unlearn it. </p>
<p>The difficulty of turning around a morally tarnished organisation is by no means unique to the world of football. In the past few years, we have witnessed many other important institutions suffer their own ethical scandals and attempt to reintroduce more ethical cultures. These include <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-you-aint-cheating-you-aint-trying-how-forex-has-changed-42198">banks</a> following the financial crisis, the UK parliament following the members <a href="https://theconversation.com/miller-resigns-but-keeping-mps-honest-is-still-a-messy-business-25287">expenses scandal</a>, the NHS following <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-never-learn-abuse-complaints-and-inquiries-in-the-nhs-38124">various scandals</a> about patient care, the BBC following allegations of sexual abuse <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/jimmy-savile">by its employees</a>, the police following evidence of racism <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2015/may/07/metropolitan-police-racism-stop-search-video">among members of the force</a>. </p>
<h2>The sad reality</h2>
<p>Each of these organisations has tried to deal with its own scandal in its own ways. But in each case, a similar ritual of atonement happens each time. Senior leaders are scapegoated, and new leaders appear on the scene brandishing codes of ethics and promising a culture change process. This often leads the public to think that the job has been done. </p>
<p>The sad reality is that this is only the beginning of a longer process. The big lesson from each of these cases is that you cannot change the ethics of an organisation by changing its leaders, changing their speeches or changing the rule book. Sending middle managers on ethical training courses for a week is also unlikely to cut it. Transforming culture takes a concerted effort <a href="http://newcityagenda.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Online-version.pdf">which can last for years</a>. </p>
<h2>Change is possible</h2>
<p>It is often difficult or impossible to change people’s deep-seated values in organisation. The real key to transforming culture is altering the rituals, routines <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Davide_Ravasi/publication/259784683_COERCED_PRACTICE_IMPLEMENTATION_IN_CASES_OF_LOW_CULTURAL_FIT_CULTURAL_CHANGE_AND_PRACTICE_ADAPTATION_DURING_THE_IMPLEMENTATION_OF_SIX_SIGMA_AT_3M/links/00b7d52de43bec470e000000.pdf">and daily practices of the organisation</a>. This means changing the unofficial way people go about doing things. </p>
<p>This might sound rather abstract, but it has been achieved in other contexts. For instance, unsafe working practices were once endemic within the oil and gas industry in the UK. As soon as a new worker arrived on an oil rig, they would be taught to ignore the health and safety rules and to do even the most dangerous tasks without safety precautions. Today all this <a href="http://www.offshore-technology.com/features/feature-piper-alpha-disaster-anniversary-offshore-safety/">has changed</a>. </p>
<p>It took constantly reinforcing health and safety routines in all parts of the organisation. If you visit the headquarters of BP or Shell, you will be told about all the health and safety procedures. This is not because an office block in London is a dangerous place. It is because the organisation takes every opportunity possible to remind its employees that health and safety matters. They have built health and safety into the daily routine of the organisation. </p>
<p>It’s just one example and is by no means perfect, but changing an organisation like FIFA will involve doing something similar focused on anti-corruption and cronyism. While replacing top leadership might show the outside world change is happening, re-engineering the routines of the organisation is where the genuine rebirth is likely to come from.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andre Spicer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Getting rid of a morally tarnished leader is often the easiest part of cleaning up an organisation. The hard work begins now within FIFA.Andre Spicer, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Cass Business School, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427332015-06-02T21:15:45Z2015-06-02T21:15:45ZThe clever politics of Sepp Blatter’s ‘resignation’ from FIFA<p>And so Sepp Blatter has defied all expectations and announced his intention to step aside from the presidency of FIFA <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32983398">after 17 years at the helm</a>. Despite numerous scandals afflicting the organisation he ran, he won four successive elections. Finally, it seems that the long arm of American law has finally reached close enough to FIFA’s heart to force its leader to step down. </p>
<p>FIFA has been part of Blatter’s life for 40 years. He was <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Badfellas.html?id=0XZfPQAACAAJ">headhunted by Horst Dassler</a>, the CEO of German sportswear firm Adidas, and learned his trade at Adidas’ headquarters in Landersheim. He then became a technical director in 1975 before assuming the role of Secretary General in 1981. He finally ousted his mentor, João Havelange, in 1998, to become president.</p>
<p>Significantly, despite every news organisation stating that he had resigned, he <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32985676">did not use the word in his brief press conference</a>. The masterful politician remained in control until the end, and left us not entirely certain if it is indeed the end.</p>
<p>The key passage in Blatter’s announcement stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have decided to lay down my mandate at an extraordinary elective Congress. I will continue to exercise my functions as FIFA President until that election.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Until we hear differently – and this is a fluid situation – he is still at FIFA. More importantly, he is setting the agenda.</p>
<h2>Role reversal</h2>
<p>In other words, we may have just witnessed a piece of skill and mastery to remind us of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/may/07/lionel-messi-barcelona-bayern-munich">Argentina hero Leo Messi</a>. While his opponents are busy fighting over who will succeed him, it appears he will be setting the agenda for when they finally replace him, and the seeds were in his announcement. </p>
<p>The master tactician may have outmanoeuvred everyone. Within his brief announcement there are statements that should cause concern. He suggested that the executive committee must be reduced in size and its members “should be elected through the FIFA Congress”.</p>
<p>This looks like a clever ploy to remove the additional members that are there for historical reasons. Chief amongst these will the anachronistic position for the home countries such as England, held due to their position as the inventors of the modern game. </p>
<p>Blatter continued his brief manifesto for change by saying that: “The integrity checks for all executive committee members must be organised centrally through FIFA and not through the confederations.” This is another clever piece of politics. </p>
<p>By centralising the checks within FIFA, he is accumulating more power for the organisation – at the expense of the regional confederations. This can be seen as a swipe at UEFA, who have <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-uefa-could-leave-fifa-and-launch-its-own-world-cup-42629">attempted to act</a> as a morality check on Blatter and his cabal. Blatter was angry that his former supporter, UEFA’s president Michel Platini, had <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/sepp-blatter/11637392/Fifa-in-crisis-Sepp-Blatter-refuses-to-resign-as-Michel-Platini-threatens-Uefa-boycott-ahead-of-president-vote.html">threatened to boycott</a> the World Cup</p>
<p>Blatter is ruthless. When his relationship with his former Secretary General, Michel Zen-Ruffinen soured, he established a separate administration within FIFA to ostracise him, and then <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=95tJxfVtR8UC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=zen-ruffinen&f=false">had him removed</a>. He said to his former supporter Mohamed Bin Hammam that he would set a limit for two terms for presidents to allow the Qatari to stand. When Bin Hammam did stand against him, Blatter <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/01/mohamed-bin-hammam-timeline">brought down the full weight</a> of the FIFA ethics committee onto his head. </p>
<h2>Securing the future</h2>
<p>Now Blatter is suggesting term limits for the position of president and executive committee roles. By bringing them in now, he neuters whoever replaces him. Despite saying that he has been blocked in the past, he has been the one in control. And he is not relinquishing it yet. </p>
<p>Football fans should not assume that this is the last we will see of Blatter. It is worth noting that Article 19 of the <a href="http://www.fifa.com/mm/Document/AFFederation/Generic/02/58/14/48/2015FIFAStatutesEN_Neutral.pdf">FIFA statutes explicitly states</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Congress may bestow the title of honorary president, honorary vice- president or honorary member upon any former member of the Executive Committee for meritorious service to football. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>After successfully defending his presidency only five days ago, would anyone be surprised if he was voted into an honorary role? His predecessor João Havelange was elected honorary president <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Foul.html?id=95tJxfVtR8UC&hl=en">despite allegations of corruption</a>. </p>
<p>And these positions still attract the highly generous FIFA expenses package. Blatter is a wily old fox. One does not remain atop the FIFA pyramid for so long without knowing how to play politics. Even when the world thinks he has stepped down, it may just be that he has done anything but.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Doidge has received funding from UEFA (to investigate antiracism).</span></em></p>Blatter has stepped down, but this may not be the last we see of him.Mark Doidge, Senior Research Fellow in Sociology of Sport, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427282015-06-02T21:00:31Z2015-06-02T21:00:31ZBlatter resigns, but his toxic legacy will live on at FIFA<p>Sepp Blatter, world football’s newly re-elected president, has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/02/sepp-blatter-fifa-president-resigns">announced his resignation</a> from the position in a press conference. </p>
<p>Having voiced a post-election <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1492953/sepp-blatter-wins-fifth-term-lets-go-fifa">rallying call</a> last Friday of “let’s go FIFA, let’s go FIFA”, Blatter said during his <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/02/football/sepp-blatter-resigns-fifa-speech/">resignation speech</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football – the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at FIFA.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The collective sigh of relief among critics and cynics was perceptible – the arch nemesis of good governance is finally set to depart. Having apparently weathered the worst of whatever a <a href="https://theconversation.com/political-football-why-the-us-took-action-on-fifa-corruption-42525">New York lawyer</a>, several ethics investigations and a horde of probing journalists could throw at him Blatter has now surprised everyone and is on his way out of FIFA’s front door in Switzerland.</p>
<h2>The letter that forced his hand</h2>
<p>Despite his protestations about the absence of a mandate from his beloved football family, at first glance the tipping point for Blatter’s resignation would seem to have been the disclosure of a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/02/fifa-jerome-valcke-under-pressure-10m-bribe">letter</a> sent by the South African Football Association (SAFA) to FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke. FIFA initially claimed Valcke had never been in receipt of such a letter, but the appearance of the document clearly showed otherwise.</p>
<p>The letter to Valcke from SAFA president Molefi Oliphant was important as it instructed FIFA to make a payment for $10 million to the then president of CONCACAF, and now disgraced former FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner. FIFA was then asked in the letter to deduct this payment from revenues due to the country in respect of the 2010 World Cup. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"605660641374912512"}"></div></p>
<p>FIFA officially labelled the money as being part of its “Diaspora Legacy Programme”. </p>
<p>Until yesterday, Sepp Blatter had always claimed that he was unaware of any corrupt activity taking place inside FIFA. The problem is Valcke has been his deputy and a trusted advisor. </p>
<p>If Valcke is under suspicion, then Blatter himself is becoming increasingly exposed to scrutiny. And with the FBI circling and world opinion turning against him, Blatter has recently been running out of options, excuses and the loving support of his fellow FIFA family members.</p>
<h2>His own terms</h2>
<p>For all the journalists who have pursued him, the fans who have criticised him and the sponsors who have been concerned by him, Blatter’s departure will no doubt feel like some sort of vindication, a prelude to the start of a new era. However, much like a World Cup final in extra time, this isn’t over yet.</p>
<p>Running counter to the populist notion that we have all somehow contributed to Sepp Blatter’s downfall, there is a view that his departure was predictable. Under normal circumstances, when business leaders, politicians and leading figures have been subjected to what Blatter has, they nobly fall on their swords and leave office.</p>
<p>Yet throughout the litany of allegations, resignations and last week’s arrests, Blatter endured only to resign from office four days later. In other words, rather than being forced out by arrested colleagues or by the intimidation of his critics and those who voted against him in last week’s election, the Swiss septuagenarian is departing FIFA on his own terms and at his own pace. </p>
<h2>A long goodbye</h2>
<p>Indeed, while he may have just resigned, it will be a long goodbye. To elect a new president at the next ordinary FIFA congress would mean waiting until May 2016, hence Blatter has called for an extraordinary congress to take place. But this is unlikely to take place until December 2015 at the earliest and possibly even as late as March 2016 – still nearly ten months away. In the meantime, Blatter will remain as FIFA president. </p>
<p>Forever the FIFA paternalist, Blatter has already stressed that during the intervening period it will “free [me] from the constraints that elections inevitably impose, I shall be able to focus on driving far-reaching, fundamental reforms that transcend our previous efforts”. Blatter making one last play, this time as a great reformer - surely not?</p>
<p>Another possibility could be that he wants to get his heirs apparent in position ready to take up his mantle and secure his legacy. This would be one final, joyous blow for Blatter to inflict: manoeuvring his boys into position while casting out his doubters and critics (such as UEFA president <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/michel-platini-lead-call-arms-5804810">Michel Platini</a>) to the margins of world football.</p>
<p>It will take years if not decades to address FIFA’s problems. Whoever ultimately replaces Blatter as president will face a daunting challenge and FIFA will need the strongest of leaders. </p>
<p>Joseph S Blatter will pervade the organisation for some time to come. The intense politicking of the next ten months will pass quickly, but the blood of Blatter will run through the veins of FIFA for some time yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Chadwick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Blatter has resigned on his own terms, at his own pace. FIFA is not saved.Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport Business Strategy, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427292015-06-02T20:07:15Z2015-06-02T20:07:15ZSepp Blatter’s FIFA exit opens door for prosecutors, reformers<p>Sepp Blatter’s <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/sports/soccer/sepp-blatter-to-resign-as-fifa-president.html">surprise resignation</a> as president of FIFA on Tuesday after 17 years of leading arguably the world’s most powerful sports organization came only days following a successful reelection in the teeth of a major corruption scandal. The once unthinkable happened because he put himself in an impossible situation.</p>
<p>Now it’s up to US prosecutors and reformers in soccer’s world governing body to seize the moment and clean house.</p>
<p>Just last Friday, at the end of a week that saw 14 soccer officials and marketing executives <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2015/nine-fifa-officials-and-five-corporate-executives-indicted-for-racketeering-conspiracy-and-corruption">indicted</a> by US prosecutors in a lengthy document laying out bribery schemes and other corruption charges, Blatter easily beat back a challenge from a Jordanian prince to win a fifth term in office.</p>
<p>“I will be in command of this boat called FIFA and we will bring it back to shore,” he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/29/world/europe/ap-soc-fifa-election.html">said</a> then, denying wrongdoing himself. The 79-year-old administrator seemed determined to ride out the maelstrom, or at least go down fighting.</p>
<p>So what changed between then and now?</p>
<h2>Hand of the king</h2>
<p>The media already is pointing to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/sports/soccer/sepp-blatters-top-fifa-deputy-jerome-valcke-is-said-to-have-transferred-money-central-to-bribery-case.html?rref=sports/soccer&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Soccer&pgtype=article">report</a> late Monday from The New York Times that moved the scandal even closer to Blatter. The article noted that federal authorities believe that FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke, the president’s right hand, was involved in a US$10 million bribe at the center of the case.</p>
<p>But even before that particular development, it was clear public and global media pressure was not going to relent. By declaring himself innocent of wrongdoing, Blatter then was left with two bad choices. </p>
<p>He could reverse course and say he was in on the deals (odds on that unlikely to vanishing) or endure the drip, drip, drip of accusations until, at some point, even the most generous reading of Blatter’s tenure would be that he – the man generally regarded as the single most powerful in all sport – had no idea what was going at his own private club. </p>
<p>Either way, resignation was the only way out, and the sooner the better.</p>
<h2>A win for US prosecutors</h2>
<p>Who wins in all this? For a start, how about the federal prosecutors in the United States, led by Attorney General Loretta E Lynch. </p>
<p>Just a matter of days after confronting FIFA, Lynch and her group already have brought down the top official. Now anyone who was afraid to speak out for fear of Blatter has had that wiped away. </p>
<p>While some obstacles that existed Monday remain in place on Tuesday – wealthy defendants, potential extradition fights, to name just two – common sense says the landscape just opened up for prosecutors.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, those who see corruption as a threat to fair competition in sports around the planet were ecstatic. </p>
<p>“Blatter going is just the start,” tweeted Cobus de Swardt, managing director of Transparency International, an organization in the midst of a yearlong initiative to fight athletic corruption worldwide, “let the real reform begin!” </p>
<p></p><blockquote><p>Blatter going is just the start, let the real reform begin! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIFA?src=hash">#FIFA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/anticorruption">@anticorruption</a></p>— CobusdeSwardt (@CobusdeSwardt) <a href="https://twitter.com/CobusdeSwardt/status/605782193156145152">June 2, 2015</a></blockquote> <p></p>
<p>And, certainly, there is a lot to do. FIFA, for instance, last year refused to release a complete version of its own ethics report on the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar. It will be interesting to see if that document now has a chance to see the light of day. Reports are already surfacing that Blatter’s resignation <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-02/qatar-world-cup-hosting-odds-slashed-after-blatter-resignation">bodes ill</a> for Qatar’s hold on the 2022 World Cup. </p>
<h2>Can FIFA overcome?</h2>
<p>More urgently, however, will be cleaning the upper levels of FIFA when a special election is held sometime between December and next March. It won’t be easy. The divide between the US and Europe on one hand and the many developing nations that voted for Blatter last week on the other is still there (FIFA elects its president in a one-nation, one-vote system, with 209 members). It must be overcome.</p>
<p>After all, as Michael Garcia, the former US prosecutor who led the probe into the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/fifa-may-regret-a-qatar-world-cup-after-all">said</a> as he resigned from FIFA in frustration: “No independent governance committee, investigator or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organization.”</p>
<p>He’s right. Only FIFA itself can clean up the mess this scandal will leave behind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42729/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Affleck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The FIFA chief’s surprise resignation was the only halfway decent choice he had left. Now it’s up to the reformers to clean house.John Affleck, Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/426372015-06-02T05:12:46Z2015-06-02T05:12:46ZWorld Cup boycott would fuel Moscow’s sense of conflict with the West<p>While Western politicians strongly supported <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/2015-fifa-arrests">the arrests of FIFA officials</a>, in other parts of the world the events in Zurich were immediately seen as just another geopolitical play. In Russia, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/28/vladimir-putin-fifa-united-states-meddling">Vladimir Putin argued</a> that the arrests amounted to a case of over-reach by US law enforcement agencies. China also criticised the arrests, with a <a href="http://english.sina.com/2015/0529/815559.html">Xinhua editorial</a> complaining that it was “a bad example of overrun of unilateral power”.</p>
<p>In this polarising geopolitical discourse, calls by Western politicians for Russia to lose the right to stage the 2018 World Cup are likely to do more harm than good. Labour Party leadership contender Andy Burnham is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/31/england-boycott-2018-world-cup-andy-burnham">the latest politician</a> to link the FIFA investigation to Russia’s role in the war in Ukraine, and to press for a boycott of the 2018 competition. But making the campaign to clean up FIFA a geopolitical contest between the West and Russia is unlikely to lead to successful reform of the organisation.</p>
<p>To develop an effective response, it is important to understand the Russian narrative. From Moscow’s point of view, the FIFA investigation looks less like a genuine anti-corruption campaign, and more like an attempt to undermine Russian attempts to play a greater role on the international stage. Russian leaders were already unhappy with the international media coverage of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/sochi-2014">the Sochi Winter Olympics</a>, which focused on stories of widespread corruption in the construction budget, rather than the actual games themselves. An attempt to remove Russia as World Cup host for 2018 will only add to the narrative of victimhood that often informs Russian political discourse.</p>
<p>But Russian objections to the events in Zurich go much deeper. Moscow’s over-arching concern is about the dominant role of the US in the international system and what it sees as a geopolitical approach to international law enforcement.</p>
<p>For several years, Moscow has been increasingly concerned about the apparent ability of the US to extend its arrest and prosecution powers beyond its borders. After the FIFA arrests the <a href="http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/E7D8E10011CEDAD043257E530039EB92">Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We would like to point out that this is clearly yet another example of arbitrary exra-territorial enforcement of US law … Time and again, we call on Washington to cease its attempts to initiate court proceedings far beyond its borders with its own legal standards, and to follow universally accepted international legal procedures.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Russia claims that the <a href="http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/brp_4.nsf/e78a48070f128a7b43256999005bcbb3/dd3fb90dfeed1a1244257cc90045aaf9!OpenDocument">US engineered the detention of ten Russian citizens</a> in a variety of countries in 2012-2013, of which at least seven were extradited to the US. Not only are the extraditions unsound, argue Russian officials, but trials of these individuals in the US have been unfair. </p>
<p>In rather undiplomatic language, a 2014 ministry statement argued that US courts were biased against Russian nationals, and complained that “judicial proceedings for those who were in fact kidnapped and moved to the United States, usually ends with guilty verdicts with long prison terms”. The ministry <a href="http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/DDC3B43E156674D044257CBA00542068">even issued a travel warning to Russian citizens</a>, suggesting that they might be at risk of arrest by US law enforcement officials if they travelled abroad.</p>
<h2>Building consensus</h2>
<p>The US responded by saying that “law-abiding” individuals had nothing to fear. Russian complaints usually concerned individuals accused of involvement in drugs or cyber crime, such as Maxim Chukharev, who was extradited from Costa Rica and <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-liberty-reserve-it-manager-sentenced-36-months-prison">sentenced to 36 months</a> in prison in January 2015 for his role at Liberty Reserve, a digital currency service that the US authorities labelled “the bank of choice for the criminal underworld”. The most notorious of these extraditees was Viktor Bout, the arms dealer extradited from Thailand to the US in November 2010, who was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison.</p>
<p>Given the nature of these cases, Russia’s complaints about US overreach might seem overwrought. Indeed, Russia has itself been accused of <a href="http://www.osce.org/odihr/124364?download=true">misusing Interpol and extradition procedures</a> to pursue political opponents and dissidents abroad. Yet concern about the expansion of US law enforcement internationally is shared by other non-Western states, worried about the blurring of sovereignty and legal jurisdiction in international affairs. Hence some quiet support diplomatically from non-Western states for Russian concerns about the US actions in Zurich.</p>
<p>Instead of fuelling a Russian narrative that explains everything in terms of a geopolitical conflict with the West, European politicians should focus on building an international coalition to clean up football. A first step might be for the UK and EU authorities to pursue their own corruption investigations into FIFA, rather than relying so heavily on the US Justice Department to make the running. Using the FIFA campaign as just another way to attack Russia, on the other hand, is only likely to produce further international polarisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lewis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Russia sees last week’s FIFA arrests as politically motivated mischief-making by the US. A UEFA boycott would add to this paranoia.David Lewis, Senior Lecturer, Politics, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/426572015-06-01T16:29:26Z2015-06-01T16:29:26ZWhat the FIFA scandal really tells us – about the US<p>I have lived in the US for over three decades. And I have never seen soccer – that is, real “football” – dominate the front pages of US newspapers for so many days and with so many stories. In that sense, at least, FIFA rules.</p>
<p>Of course, trust the Americans to inject themselves in such an unorthodox way into the nearest thing that the rest of the world has to a universal religion. </p>
<p>While billions watched the annual cup finals in England, France and Spain over the weekend, the bigger stories in the US focused on fraud, corruption and the reelection of FIFA’s notorious 79-year-old president, Sepp Blatter. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YWZ6RoKkPLE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The 2015 Football Association Cup Final.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, in case you wondered, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/sports/soccer/messi-and-arsenal-remind-us-what-soccer-is-all-about.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-4&action=click&contentCollection=Soccer&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=true&pgtype=article">Arsenal</a> in England and Barcelona in Spain (if not the more dour PSG in France) amply demonstrated why football fans love the game so much that they will put up with the kind of corruption that threatens its purity in the reputed squalor that is FIFA. </p>
<p>But be clear: this is not just a story about cronyism in soccer. It isn’t even about cronyism in sport. </p>
<p>This is a story that intersects with four major themes that transcend the world of sports – and the world of crime. </p>
<p>This is a story about the issues that the US has to grapple with in many places and in many ways. </p>
<h2>The US as the world’s sheriff</h2>
<p>The first concerns the US’s more general role in global affairs. </p>
<p>Students of international relations, or of the interminable debates in the run-up to presidential elections, will be familiar with a central question: should the US be the world’s sheriff (or policeman, if you aren’t an American), or should it have a more restrained role in world affairs? </p>
<p>Republicans like John McCain and Lindsey Graham believe that the US should be an unmitigated bulwark against tyrants, bullies and thieves. Republicans like Rand Paul think America should be more reticent to involve itself in issues that are not of substantial and explicit interest to American national security. President Obama – like many Democrats – often falls somewhere in between these two views.</p>
<p>In the FIFA case, the US has decided to act as a sheriff and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/sports/soccer/fifa-officials-arrested-on-corruption-charges-blatter-isnt-among-them.html">vowed</a> “to end graft in FIFA.”</p>
<p>It has exercised its power well beyond its shores, in the posh confines of Zurich, Switzerland – demonstrating what the lawyers called “extraterritoriality.”</p>
<p>On the – let’s face it – relatively flimsy basis that money was moved through US banks, it had people arrested across the globe. And even when some returned to their home countries, it used local courts to press its demands for extradition – <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/05/28/sports/soccer/28reuters-soccer-fifa-warner.html">Jack Warner</a> in Trinidad being one notable example. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, some cheered the US’s use of its power to reclaim the sanctity of football’s governing body. But it would be naïve to assume that was the universal response. One Argentinean magazine <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/sports/soccer/sepp-blatter-fifa-corruption-soccer.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share&_r=0">called</a> the US’ behavior “Yankee imperialism.” </p>
<p>Vladimir Putin, sensing that this scandal might challenge Russia’s right to stage the 2018 World Cup, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/sports/vladimir-putin-fifa-corruption-soccer.html">called</a> it an American conspiracy – in effect, to paraphrase Prussian general and military theorist Carl Von Clausewitz’s famous adage, the FIFA scandal has become “geopolitics by other means.” </p>
<p>Blatter’s own daughter Corinne agreed with that assessment, although she was more discreet in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32952426">not focusing</a> on the Americans and the British. But Blatter <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/30/europe/fifa-corruption-case-blatter/">himself</a> was not so discreet in pointing the fingers at the Americans. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83550/original/image-20150601-7006-1c9imjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83550/original/image-20150601-7006-1c9imjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83550/original/image-20150601-7006-1c9imjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83550/original/image-20150601-7006-1c9imjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83550/original/image-20150601-7006-1c9imjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83550/original/image-20150601-7006-1c9imjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83550/original/image-20150601-7006-1c9imjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Leading the anti-Blatter charge: Michel Platini.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Platini#/media/File:Michel_Platini_2008.jpg">Anders Vindegg</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>America’s supporters were just as predictable – the Europeans, led by the irascible, supremely talented former French player <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Platini">Michel Platini</a>, who now heads Europe’s governing body. And yes, just as predictably for many Americans, France was one of the reportedly 18 European countries who defected from the supposedly unified European position and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3104028/UEFA-nations-betrayed-pro-reform-mandate-oust-Sepp-Blatter-FIFA-president.html">voted</a> for Blatter’s reelection on Friday. </p>
<p>So the Europeans were as fragmented and incoherent as ever. But the French held true to their custom of opposing America’s unilateral exercise of power in an international forum. </p>
<p>It is Bush’s invasion of Iraq all over again!</p>
<h2>Defining democracy</h2>
<p>The second broader theme raised by the FIFA scandal is the question of the true meaning of democracy. </p>
<p>Like the UN, each member of FIFA gets one vote when it comes to electing the organization’s president. American Samoa gets the same number of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32925307">votes</a> as America. But unlike the UN, there is no Security Council to oversee the vote of the 209 members, no veto power to ensure a degree of unanimity. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83553/original/image-20150601-6960-8zeu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83553/original/image-20150601-6960-8zeu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83553/original/image-20150601-6960-8zeu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83553/original/image-20150601-6960-8zeu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83553/original/image-20150601-6960-8zeu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83553/original/image-20150601-6960-8zeu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83553/original/image-20150601-6960-8zeu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">He’s got the votes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Sepp_Blatter_at_announcement_of_Brazil_as_2014_FIFA_World_Cup_host_2007-10-30_1.jpg/640px-Sepp_Blatter_at_announcement_of_Brazil_as_2014_FIFA_World_Cup_host_2007-10-30_1.jpg">http://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/arquivo/node/638022</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So British Prime Minister David Cameron’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32933962">call</a> for Blatter to resign even before the vote took place went unheeded. And it proved relatively easy for Blatter, in the midst of the organization’s crisis, to muster the simple majority needed to win reelection in Friday’s vote. </p>
<p>Some <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-sepp-blatter-fifa/">critics</a> called the process “undemocratic,” despite the universal franchise. Now many among the dissidents, including the English, are <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32943765">calling</a> for European countries to withdraw from the next World Cup, the pinnacle of global soccer. </p>
<p>How could these vocal critics, mostly hailing from liberal democracies, reject the results of this process? </p>
<p>Well, as with voting in Russia, Gaza or Venezuela over the last decade, many in the US and Europe don’t like elections when “the wrong” people get elected. They object when they think that a formal process has been observed but the rule of law has been sacrificed to corrupt practices – what Americans used to call <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=tammany+hall&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#safe=off&q=tammany+hall+machine+definition">“Tammany Hall machine politics.”</a></p>
<p>There is plenty of evidence that Blatter’s FIFA has dispensed patronage and earned the loyalty of some of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/sports/soccer/fifa-soccer-sepp-blatter-cayman-islands.html">smallest members</a> of the organization relatively cheaply. But the whole case again raises the question of what means to “buy a vote” – whether it is by the purposeful bribing of officials or the process of simply bringing home the bacon.</p>
<h2>Corporate responsibility in the modern age</h2>
<p>The whole question of corruption brings us to the third theme – that of corporate social responsibility. </p>
<p>Over the course of the last decade, the world’s largest firms have embraced the notion that firms don’t just have to make money. They also have to be good corporate citizens. And from pharmaceutical firms to the Clinton Foundation, the American government has learned to partner with corporations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in implementing key aspects of US foreign policy – like the fight against <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/partnerships/ebola.htm">Ebola</a> in West Africa last year.</p>
<p>Likewise, the UN’s <a href="https://www.unglobalcompact.org/">Global Compact</a> partnership “asks companies to embrace universal principles and to partner with the United Nations” in the enlightened implementation of those principles. It <a href="https://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/transparency_anticorruption/call_to_action_post2015.html">advocates</a> “an appeal by the private sector to Governments to promote anti-corruption measures and to implement policies that will establish systems of good governance.” </p>
<p>American firms were generally slow to accept the notion that they had a responsibility beyond their own shareholders. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2005.00567.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false">European firms</a> really led that process in the early 2000s. </p>
<p>Yet the whole question of the FIFA scandal brings the role of corporations into sharp relief. From Visa to McDonalds, Coca-Cola to Budweiser, Adidas to …okay, Gazprom: the world’s largest firms <a href="http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/partners/">partner with FIFA</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83554/original/image-20150601-6955-1gtfm01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83554/original/image-20150601-6955-1gtfm01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83554/original/image-20150601-6955-1gtfm01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83554/original/image-20150601-6955-1gtfm01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83554/original/image-20150601-6955-1gtfm01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83554/original/image-20150601-6955-1gtfm01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83554/original/image-20150601-6955-1gtfm01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 2010 FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour airplane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FIFA_World_Cup_Trophy_Tour_Coca-Cola_aeroplane.jpg">2010 World Cup - Shine 2010</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>No World Cup is complete without the accompanying bombardment of advertising. </p>
<p>As one reporter has succinctly <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20150528/heres-what-fifas-corporate-partners-are-saying-about-the-indictments">suggested</a>, “FIFA’s best friends are multinational corporations, and theirs is a friendship rooted in helping one another make lots and lots of money.” Many have remained <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20150528/heres-what-fifas-corporate-partners-are-saying-about-the-indictments">silent</a> about the current scandal or have crafted diplomatic comments. </p>
<p>The optimist might suggest that at least they are speaking up now, having largely ignored the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/27/a-body-count-in-qatar-illustrates-the-consequences-of-fifa-corruption/">deaths</a> of scores of workers laboring in intolerable conditions in building the stadia for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But these firms can’t claim they didn’t know what has been going on. </p>
<p>They knew there were problems when <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/sports/soccer/michael-j-garcia-resigns-as-fifa-prosecutor-in-protest.html?action=click&contentCollection=Soccer&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article">Michael Garcia</a>, the chief investigator and author of a report on ethics in FIFA in the selection of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, resigned from his post in protest over the censorship of his report last December. </p>
<p>From a broader perspective, these companies’ willingness to tolerate FIFA’s brazen institutional and individual corruption speaks volumes about the lack of progress in the field of global corporate citizenship. There has simply been too much money at stake for them to worry about corruption.</p>
<h2>The role of global finance</h2>
<p>And finally, of course, is the role of global banking. </p>
<p>The US Supreme Court <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood">tells us </a>that corporations have the same rights as people. But unlike people, they don’t go to jail. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/sports/soccer/questions-and-answers-about-the-fifa-case-one-day-after.html">Fourteen</a> FIFA officials have been indicted. Many more, we are confidently <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/05/29/sports/soccer/29reuters-soccer-fifa-usa-indictments.html">told</a>, may be in the future. </p>
<p>But, even here we see the echoes of much bigger financial issues. For we can be sure that the bankers involved in the fraudulent wire transfers and money laundering at the heart of the Department of Justice’s case will not go to prison. </p>
<p>Like the malfeasance that led to the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the banks will get off with a fine at worst. Only the relatively “small fish” beneficiaries – the convicted FIFA officials – will go to jail.</p>
<p>So at the end of the day, the FIFA case isn’t really about football at all. </p>
<p>When an American gridiron football player takes a swing at his partner in a lift, we understandably make it a story about domestic violence. When an African-American hockey player is booed, we understandably make it a story about racism. When a football gets deflated, we make it a story about honor. So we had also better understand that this is a story about America’s role in the world: about its power, its allies and rivals, its great corporations and – ultimately – the values it tries to promote.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
I have lived in the US for over three decades. And I have never seen soccer – that is, real “football” – dominate the front pages of US newspapers for so many days and with so many stories. In that sense…Simon Reich, Professor in The Division of Global Affairs and The Department of Political Science, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/426292015-06-01T14:59:47Z2015-06-01T14:59:47ZHow UEFA could leave FIFA and launch its own World Cup<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83518/original/image-20150601-6987-1imw5uv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">UEFA could break away from FIFA.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ververidis Vasilis / Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The corruption scandal engulfing FIFA is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/fifa">same old song</a>. The question is whether the repeat button can be dismantled. Michel Platini, head of European football’s governing body UEFA, Europe’s peak footballing body, has a colossal choice to make; one with far reaching ramifications. Should UEFA stay or go? </p>
<p>UEFA is in a quandary. To stay as part of FIFA tars UEFA with the same brush – even if no European official is caught in either of the current investigations by US and Swiss law enforcement officials, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/fifa-meeting-begins-with-a-bang-as-arrests-put-corruption-top-of-the-agenda-42425">indicted 18 people</a>. </p>
<p>Corruption has continuously dogged FIFA since Blatter’s predecessor, former president João Havelange, transformed it from a small office on the edge of Lake Zurich into a billion-dollar industry with murmurs of scandal <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=95tJxfVtR8UC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">dogging every step</a>. The continual barrage of accusations means that everyone perceives corruption <a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/5/28/8676185/fifa-corruption">to be endemic in FIFA</a>. </p>
<h2>Influence from within</h2>
<p>Members from UEFA have attempted to exert pressure on FIFA and Blatter – so far, with little effect. As a result of the arrests and Blatter’s re-election, FA vice-chairman David Gill has refused to take up his position as a vice-president <a href="http://www.thefa.com/news/thefa/2015/may/david-gill-withdraws-from-fifa-executive-committee">on Fifa’s executive committee</a>. Platini threatened a boycott of European nations <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/sepp-blatter/11637392/Fifa-in-crisis-Sepp-Blatter-refuses-to-resign-as-Michel-Platini-threatens-Uefa-boycott-ahead-of-president-vote.html">from the World Cup</a>, while the FA’s chairman, Greg Dyke, has reiterated that England <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32943765">could boycott the 2018 World Cup</a>. </p>
<p>UEFA’s dilemma is that if it backs out (as Gill has done) then it further alienates its members from the rest of the world and reinforces the perceived arrogance of Europe. Such a move could potentially reduce their power even more. </p>
<p>Out of the eight vice-presidents and fifteen members, UEFA is actually over-represented on the FIFA Executive Committee. As the founder of the modern game, the UK has one vice-president (which was David Gill until he resigned). UEFA has another two, while every other regional confederation has <a href="http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/committees/committee=1882019/index.html">just one</a>. </p>
<p>In absentia, European members would not even be able to defend the tenuous influence they currently have. They would be unable to prevent what would be a logical response: a reduction of the number of European seats on the executive committee. </p>
<h2>Going it alone</h2>
<p>UEFA could go it alone. Arguably it has insufficient influence as things stand – Blatter’s re-election over the years thanks to support from across Africa and Asia makes this evident.</p>
<p>So UEFA could secede from FIFA and declare itself the sole authority over European football, drawing on EU legislation to give it additional gravitas and legitimacy. Given that the European nations are the economic engine of the World Cup, this would be a very significant challenge. FIFA can hardly claim to have a World Cup without Europe. This is something Blatter is well aware of and he has announced that Europe can bid for the 2026 World Cup, <a href="http://www.espnfc.co.uk/fifa-world-cup/story/2472731/fifa-to-allow-europe-to-bid-for-2026-world-cup-hurting-us">in contravention of the standard rotation policy around continents</a>. </p>
<p>European officials recognise their nations are among the main box office draws for FIFA’s World Cup. A World Cup without Germany, Italy, Spain, England, France and Portugal would not attract the TV audiences, even though the majority of viewers don’t reside in these countries. There have been reports that Europe <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3105084/UEFA-plotting-breakaway-World-Cup-bid-force-reform-rid-Sepp-Blatter.html">could host its own World Cup</a> – a European Championship where the top countries from other continents are invited. </p>
<p>Or UEFA could establish the Champions League as the legitimate rival spectacle to the World Cup. While this doesn’t involve national teams, there has been a growing trend of fans <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2000.00419.x/abstract">identifying with their club over their country</a>. A new global Champions League could expand on the existing one to include the national league champions from other nations. Imagine the television audiences for quarter final fixtures like River Plate vs Barcelona, Bayern Munich vs Fluminese, Gamba Osaka vs Juventus and Chelsea vs Club América. </p>
<p>It is these clubs that actually employ the players. They pay the wages and assume the risks of injury even when their athletes play at the FIFA World Cup. Unlike cricket and rugby union, players are not centrally contracted to national governing bodies. This gives the clubs and UEFA by extension more power over FIFA.</p>
<p>The political, economic and logistical challenges of seceding would be enormous. But they are not insurmountable, nor are they unprecedented. The premiere international baseball tournament in the world is <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4086080/The_World_Baseball_Classic_The_Production_and_Politics_of_a_New_Global_Sport_Spectacle.">run by Major League Baseball</a> and not the International Amateur Baseball Federation. If UEFA is to see reform, its members must have the courage of their convictions and either establish a separate tournament or fully commit to FIFA and set about reforming FIFA from within. What’s needed now is firm action, not just more threats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42629/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Doidge has received funding from UEFA (to investigate anti-racism in European football).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas F Carter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>UEFA might lack the members to out-vote FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, but it’s got a lot of power in other forms.Mark Doidge, Senior Research Fellow in Sociology of Sport, University of BrightonThomas F Carter, Principal Lecturer, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425382015-05-30T14:58:36Z2015-05-30T14:58:36ZUS soft power triumphs in probe of Sepp Blatter’s corrupt casino<p>Soccer is truly the world’s sport. It is played and <a href="http://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/most-viewed.htm">watched</a> by more people across the globe than any other sport. </p>
<p>Every four years, it is the center of global attention when the World Cup is held. It’s as if the World Series and Super Bowl were rolled into one mega-sporting event with viewership in the hundreds of millions. </p>
<p>A private organization based in Switzerland called FIFA controls the selection of the host country, the commercial sponsors for the event and the rules by which the matches are played. In other words, FIFA has monopoly control over this massive global event. </p>
<p>For decades, many fans and players, including leading professional soccer stars, have considered FIFA to be a deeply corrupt organization. Now the US, itself not a leading soccer nation, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/sports/soccer/loretta-lynch-with-assist-from-soccer-makes-strong-global-impression.html?emc=eta1&_r=0">has challenged</a> FIFA’s position as global arbiter of the sport by indicting leading soccer officials. </p>
<p>“These individuals and organizations engaged in bribery to decide who would televise games, where the games would be held and who would run the organizations overseeing organized soccer worldwide,” US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. “They were expected to uphold the rules and keep soccer honest. Instead, they corrupted the world of soccer.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Loretta Lynch announces indictments.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>How I became a fan of the ‘beautiful game’</h2>
<p>I came late to my interest in soccer. I grew up in California playing the classic American sports of football, baseball and basketball. Soccer was not a varsity sport at my high school, and there were no youth soccer clubs. Only when I had children and they signed up for soccer teams sponsored by a relatively new group called the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) did I become interested, learning the rules and agreeing to become an assistant coach.</p>
<p>As an American ambassador in Europe during the Clinton administration, I began to follow soccer more seriously (although ice hockey was still the predominant sport in Finland, where I served). By the time I returned to the US for an academic position in Los Angeles, I had become a fan.</p>
<p>At Occidental College, I began teaching a course on sports and diplomacy, inviting leading soccer experts such as Financial Times columnist Simon Kuper and journalist David Goldblatt to speak on campus. During the summer of 2014, I was thrilled that ESPN broadcast every World Cup match in real time; I watched as many games as I could.</p>
<h2>FIFA’s dirty casino</h2>
<p>The US Department of Justice announced indictments of 14 FIFA officials and sports marketing executives this past week, charging them with “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted” corruption. When Swiss authorities made early morning arrests of half of them at a posh hotel in Switzerland as the FIFA World Congress met to reelect its authoritarian leader Sepp Blatter, I cheered at the news. </p>
<p>The US move has been praised and condemned, but I think that it strengthens America’s soft power around the world, sending a clear message against monopoly, anti-democratic processes and corruption – and in a sport that most of the world loves.</p>
<p>The importance of the role that FIFA plays in controlling a global sports event cannot be underestimated.</p>
<p>For many countries, hosting the World Cup or the Olympics is seen as a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/sports/soccer/13legacy.html">coming of age</a> event – an opportunity to promote its country brand on a global stage. Hosting the World Cup in 2010 signaled that South Africa was now a rising multiracial society. When Brazil was awarded the 2014 World Cup, the country’s president announced that the country had arrived as a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andres-t-tapia/world-cup-hangover-brazil_b_5583063.html">global player</a>. The competition to host the World Cup can be a high-stakes game; FIFA owns the casino, sets the term of the bets and controls the winnings.</p>
<h2>Soft power triumphs</h2>
<p>The selection by FIFA of Putin’s Russia to host the 2018 World Cup and of tiny Qatar to host in 2022 was highly suspect. Suspicions of money changing hands and undue influence on the FIFA executive committee were <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/fifa-corruption-further-allegations-impropriety-over-2018-2022-world-cup-bids-emerge-1730856">widespread</a>, and led to cynicism about FIFA as an international sporting organization.</p>
<p>Blatter, who was re-elected for his fifth term as head of the organization, has continually <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-world-cup-notes-20140611-story.html">shrugged off</a> concerns about his leadership. He has worked at FIFA for 40 years, the past 17 as president. Although FIFA is mocked by TV comedians like John Oliver and criticized by citizen groups demanding great transparency, reform of the organization has seemed unlikely. Blatter maintained tight control of the organization. FIFA’s insider-controlled governance structure seemed impenetrable, until the US took legal action.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">John Oliver riffs on FIFA.</span></figcaption>
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<p>“Today, soccer wins, transparency wins. Enough of dirty deals, enough of lies,” former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/corruption-allegations-reach-into-highest-levels-of-soccers-fifa-1432774912">told</a> the media after the indictment. Romário de Souza Faria, a Brazilian soccer star turned politician, praised the FBI on the floor of the Brazilian Senate. Popular British soccer blogger Roger Bennett <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/roger-bennett-of-men-in-blazers-on-fallout-from-fifa-corruption-probe/">told</a> CBS Morning News that the US deserved the thanks of the world for moving against FIFA officials. </p>
<p>The immediate impact of the Department of Justice action is a plus for American soft power. Although the US is late to the soccer world – baseball, football and basketball have always had more appeal – the game has greatly expanded from AYSO youth leagues to top collegiate teams to a professional soccer league. Begun in 1993, Major League Soccer (MLS) has <a href="http://worldsoccertalk.com/2015/03/18/days-of-caution-in-mls-expansion-are-gone-by-steve-davis/">expanded</a> to 20 cities in the US and Canada and is now moving toward profitability. Average attendance at matches exceeds that of the NBA and the NHL. </p>
<p>Growing Latino immigration has also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cox/soccer-in-america_b_4740668.html">fueled interest</a>. The US women’s World Cup soccer team, led by such stars as Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach, has helped grow the sport as well. Slowly but surely, the US is becoming a soccer nation. </p>
<h2>US overreaching? Hardly</h2>
<p>Some countries are less than pleased with the US legal moves. Russian President Vladimir Putin <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/28/politics/fifa-vladimir-putin-world-cup-corruption/">charged</a> that the US actions “are another blatant attempt by the United States to extend its jurisdiction to other states.” At a press conference, Putin <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/sports/vladimir-putin-fifa-corruption-soccer.html?emc=eta1">tried</a> to link the FIFA indictments to the US pursuit of former NSA employee Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. </p>
<p>No doubt Qatar officials are getting nervous that their selection as 2022 hosts might be reversed. After the arrests this week, Swiss prosecutors <a href="http://time.com/3897468/fifa-officials-arrested-corruption-soccer-football/">announced</a> a new criminal investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Authorities in Brazil and Argentina have begun <a href="http://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/TDJNDN_2015052811537/brazil-argentina-probe-soccer-industry.html">investigations</a> of their own soccer officials in cooperation with their US counterparts.</p>
<p>In the voting for the head of FIFA at the close of the week, the US and most European nations <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/fifa-presidential-election-2015-us-vote-jordans-prince-ali-replace-sepp-blatter-1943398">supported</a> reform candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, while most Asian and African nations stuck with the incumbent. FIFA’s president is elected in a one-country, one-vote system, with a secret ballot among its 209 member country soccer organizations. Blatter has used his position and control of millions of dollars doled out to developing countries to offset his unpopularity in the US and Europe, so it was not a surprise that he <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/may/29/fifa-to-vote-on-sepp-blatter-presidential-bid-amid-corruption-scandal-live">was reelected</a> by a 133-73 vote.</p>
<p>Like Putin or other authoritarian leaders, Blatter <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/29/opinion/the-long-game-of-soccers-world-body-fifa.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share">will not give up power easily</a>. It will be interesting to see if the US will <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-break-fifa/">stay the course</a>, continue legal investigations and use public diplomacy to call for transparency and honesty in global soccer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Shearer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US move against corruption in FIFA, which has been both praised and condemned, strengthens America’s soft power around the world.Derek Shearer, Stuart Chevalier Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs, Occidental CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425772015-05-29T17:17:26Z2015-05-29T17:17:26ZBlatter survives – for now<p>Sepp Blatter has been re-elected for an unprecedented fifth term as FIFA president. Of course, the Teflon-like Swiss leader’s re-election amid calls for his resignation and a <a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/5/28/8676185/fifa-corruption">firestorm of criticism</a> for corruption at the heart of the global game is not exactly news. With the support across Asia, Africa and the Americas, the result was widely predicted.</p>
<p>It’s a great story, but nothing new. It is merely the continuation of an all-too-familiar late-modern tale of key figures among the global sporting administrative elite on the take, with their slippery, unashamed leader claiming a familiar (and successful) “few bad apples” <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32923104">defence</a>. </p>
<p>And yet this feels like a wholly destructive narrative, one which seems to have been running for decades in football’s case. There is also light as well as shade in this intriguing tale.</p>
<h2>A different story</h2>
<p>It is true that watching some of UEFA’s hangdog delegates filing in to vote in the election for FIFA president was a little like recalling the critical abstainer’s view of political plebiscites: no matter how sensibly you vote, the government still gets in. But media interviewers latching on to FIFA delegates from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32928984">Asia and Africa</a> soon discovered a very different story. </p>
<p>Why was there a need for change, they asked? Why get rid of a man, Sepp Blatter, who has listened to our problems, funded the development of the sport in our marginal locations, and brought World Cups to new continents? Why indeed?</p>
<p>This is an important and powerful rejoinder to a Eurocentric view of football: that the key interests of the international game should naturally revolve largely around the fortunes of the dominant European leagues, their global ambitions and burgeoning television markets. This is also old fashioned thinking. </p>
<h2>Beyond Eurocentrism</h2>
<p>Indeed, when the British grammar school boy Sir Stanley Rous was ousted as FIFA president in 1974, replaced by the Brazilian entrepreneur Joao Havelange, who promised an expanded World Cup and to give a voice and junior international tournaments to the minnow nations, the easy dominance of Europe in the international game was effectively up. Havelange used sponsors’ money to fund his new regime, a critical ideological <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/fifa-under-former-president-joao-havelange-was-involved-corruption-long-sepp-blatters-1941099">shift</a>. Those cosy gentleman’s agreements would soon be gone too that world cups would be hosted in South America and Western Europe on an alternate basis.</p>
<p>Of the first 16 world cups up to 1998, nine were held in Western European countries. In the new century, as things stand, only one of the first six FIFA world cup finals is due to be hosted in Western Europe – an extraordinary power shift on the back of new democratic voting rights for FIFA’s 209 member associations – and amid criticisms of some shady dealing. </p>
<p>FIFA’s official rationale, of course, is that this new direction counters the power of the strong in its civic mission to spread the rewards and grow the game around the globe. This looks like a laudable goal to those who support Blatter and African and Asian national teams have had their successes since, even as domestic leagues have been ransacked for their best players.</p>
<h2>Old vs new markets</h2>
<p>Havelange’s chosen successor, Blatter, has also carefully minded the interests of FIFA’s new family of corporate sponsors in their own concerns to open up new markets and cement their ties with iconic national football brands. The ten-year link-up between Nike and Team Brazil is only part of this story, with a key allegation in the US indictment against FIFA officials that bribes were paid <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/06d28cd0-055b-11e5-bb7d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3bKCTbV9F">to secure sponsorship rights to the Brazilian national team</a>.</p>
<p>More than this, Blatter has carefully nurtured his power base among a host of previously ill-considered national federations and in opposition to the perceived arrogance and growing economic strength of the Europeans and their all-conquering elite clubs. Blatter saw, for example, how the FA in England had been neutered by the Premier League and took careful note not to make the same mistakes.</p>
<p>The outcome has been this murky, largely unaccountable international democratic forum in which, on the one hand, smaller nations vie desperately for favour and development funds (and FIFA has actually done something to redirect some of the game’s riches to its poorer outposts). And, on the other hand, we have effectively a personal fiefdom, directed and sustained by corporate interests. Blatter’s great success, of course, has been in sealing himself off from federation corruption stories and convincing his allies that his successor would inevitably mean a move back to old-style European sporting colonialism. Checkmate.</p>
<p>Blatter has survived (again) but he has also been hit potentially below the waterline this time. Even a new generation of FIFA recruits – Jeffrey Webb for example – is implicated now, and the president looks even more like a lame duck leader as a result. Even though UEFA leader and personal friend of Blatter, Michel Platini, seems reluctant to press the European case to the hilt right now, the possibility in the short term of a Western European breakaway or boycott of FIFA cannot be wholly discounted. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Russia and Qatar are already looking like soiled commodities. And who would the TV and sponsors’ money follow anyway: a “world” event shaped around the European elite, or a stained FIFA World Cup without its key players? Go figure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42577/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Blatter’s re-election reflects the powerful rejoinder he’s made to the Eurocentric view of football. But he’ll be hard pressed to outlive the latest crisis.John Williams, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425072015-05-29T05:44:10Z2015-05-29T05:44:10ZWhy sponsors may be the only ones who can reform FIFA<p>That FIFA officials, past and present, are embroiled in investigations for an array of bribery, fraud and money laundering is both shocking and unsurprising. This is not the first time that FIFA has been associated with governance failure and lack of accountability. The way the organisation is set up means that pressure from sponsors could be the only way that things will change.</p>
<p>FIFA has long been seen as a self-servient institution; reluctant to allow any external involvement in its activities. Individuals <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/93DJKjEXhVLY5LyK73iFvN/Fifas-structure-is-typical-of-organized-crime-Andrew-Jenni.html">such as the campaigning journalist Andrew Jennings</a> have sought for many years to expose repeated failings in world football’s governing body. So, while some sponsors have severed their ties with FIFA, most have stuck with them, with much to gain from FIFA’s global market share.</p>
<h2>A profitable non-profit</h2>
<p>A non-profit organisation, FIFA lays claim to existing for the public interest and to holding an important place in global civic society. Its <a href="http://resources.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/02/58/14/48/2015fifastatutesen_neutral.pdf">objectives</a> range from narrow football-specific purposes through to rather abstract intentions such as improving the game of football constantly and promoting it globally “in the light of its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values”. </p>
<p>But FIFA is also one of the most successful multinational enterprises in the world, having successfully expanded into emerging markets and has even started making <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/6/us-soccer-americaasmainstreamsportfifaworldcup.html">inroads into the lucrative US market</a>. It is also highly profitable, with the 2014 World Cup helping FIFA post a record revenue of US$2 billion last year and US$337m in profits coming from the four-year cycle <a href="http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/fifa-reveal-2bn-revenue-and-record-profit-360460#xVUFit4vw0Oe9ZLr.99">leading up to the finals in Brazil</a>. </p>
<h2>Accountability</h2>
<p>FIFA’s primary accountability is to its national member associations and regional federations. These stakeholders are the principal financial beneficiaries of the organisation’s commercial success. They are also the groups responsible for electing the FIFA officials who are in control of distributing the organisation’s financial rewards. In these circumstances it is not difficult to see the limitations in conventional systems of hierarchical and independent accountability.</p>
<p>But given the organisation’s repeated failures, one frustration has been the unwillingness of other commercial sponsors and partners to play a more active role in seeking to improve governance, transparency and accountability. Considering the amount they contribute to FIFA’s total revenues (<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-fifas-finances-tell-us-about-its-sponsor-relations-27842">nearly a third</a>), they should have some clout.</p>
<p>FIFA’s corporate sponsors are a veritable who’s who of powerful multinationals: Visa, McDonalds, Adidas, Budweiser, Coca-Cola. Their response to scandals that have occurred over the years – whether it is the conditions of workers involved in building World Cup infrastructure or bribery and corruption – have tended toward <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fifa-key-sponsors-visa-adidas-and-cocacola-pile-on-pressure-in-wake-of-corruption-scandal-10280496.html">public statements</a> expressing “disappointment” and “desire for change”. </p>
<h2>‘Voice’ and ‘exit’</h2>
<p>Multinational sponsors are, of course, at risk from their relationships with FIFA. They therefore have a direct stake in FIFA’s performance, reputation and standing. But, until there is any prospect of this impact on their own financial performance or status, sponsors have seemingly been content with economist Albert Hirschman’s notion of <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674276604">governance by “voice” and not “exit”</a>. </p>
<p>This is the idea that companies (as well as customers and civilians) have the choice of voicing their dissatisfaction in a business relationship or severing ties with (exiting) it. FIFA’s sponsors have always opted with the “voice” option, restricting their attempts at influence to dialogue, instead of stronger action. Unfortunately, however, FIFA’s track record suggests that this has been a dialogue of the deaf.</p>
<p>Ostensibly Visa’s more concrete <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/28/fifa-crisis-blatter-calls-resign-sponsors-disappointment">threat to exit</a> following the latest scandal may turn out to be highly significant in FIFA’s reform. They wouldn’t be the first to leave, however. In 2014 Emirates and Sony both decided <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/25/us-sony-soccer-fifa-idUSKCN0J90R020141125">not to renew their sponsorship contracts</a> amid the last corruption probe. </p>
<p>So far, other top tier sponsors <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/27/coca-cola-corruption-world-cup">Coca-Cola</a> and <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/adidas-statement-on-arrest-of-fifa-officials-2015-5">Adidas</a> have merely voiced concern. Decisions to take the more dramatic route of severing ties with FIFA are of course predicated on the objectives of these multinationals and their accountability to their own shareholders. </p>
<p>But what is emphatically clear now is that there is a growing business risk from their association with FIFA. Together with the charges being pursued by US and Swiss prosecutors, ironically it may well be market accountability that will provide the most likely route to lasting reform of this supposedly public interest organisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Morrow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is a growing business risk for sponsors from being associated with FIFA and they are better placed than UEFA even to push for reform.Stephen Morrow, Senior Lecturer in Sport Finance, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/424652015-05-28T21:54:52Z2015-05-28T21:54:52ZFIFA prosecution is worth it, even if the big fish get away<p>The fellow journalists I pitied most at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa were the FIFA beat reporters. Charged with covering the governing body of the world’s most popular sport, they would dutifully troop off to news conferences armed with a fistful of smart questions and come back to the office with a basket of parsed non-answers, then try to make something of it. </p>
<p>It was a tough gig. While any credible journalist from Durban to Cape Town that summer would have told you FIFA was insular and very likely corrupt, the people in power were a slippery bunch. Too big, perhaps, for any single team of reporters. FIFA controlled huge revenues, and it operated beyond boundaries. </p>
<p>It could tell governments to back off, as it did twice just that year, in the cases of <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/football/13631/fifa-threat-ban-france-over-political-interference">France</a> and <a href="http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/y=2010/m=10/news=suspension-the-nigeria-football-federation-1312576.html">Nigeria</a>. Not to mention that journalists who wanted to cover the story billions of people cared about most – what happened on the field – were to some extent dependent on FIFA’s beneficence in terms of media credentials and access.</p>
<p>For anyone who has been trying to crack FIFA, then, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fifa-meeting-begins-with-a-bang-as-arrests-put-corruption-top-of-the-agenda-42425">indictment</a> of 14 soccer officials and marketing executives – in an investigation led by US prosecutors and laid out in a document about 160 pages long – has got to be considered a <a href="https://theconversation.com/political-football-why-the-us-took-action-on-fifa-corruption-42525">welcome</a> moment. That’s true even if FIFA President Sepp Blatter manages to hold on to power – he faces reelection Friday and has vowed not to step down – and even if the verdicts ultimately are a mixed bag. </p>
<p>The reason? Because corruption at the highest levels of sport sets a tone for all of sport. And it doesn’t get any higher than FIFA’s top brass.</p>
<h2>Integrity of the game</h2>
<p>It may well be that Blatter will hold on to his position, by the way. Never mind what a Blatter reelection would do to confidence in worldwide soccer or, as NFL executives like to call it, the integrity of the game. </p>
<p>FIFA’s electoral system – one country, one vote – means all the outrage in Europe and the US won’t matter at all in practical terms if a bloc of countries from another part of the world – Africa, say, or Asia – vote as a group for him. His only opponent who overtly advocated a reform agenda, <a href="http://www.transparency.org/news/pressrelease/fifa_presidential_elections_only_one_candidate_makes_pledge_to_tackle_corru">according</a> to anti-corruption group Transparency International, dropped out last week. That was retired Portuguese star Luis Figo, who <a href="http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/story/fifa-president-blatter-hits-back-at-figo-s-dictator-claims-052615">called</a> the 79-year-old Blatter a dictator as he did so. </p>
<p>Now the anybody-but-Blatter faction has a single candidate, Jordanian prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, an underdog even with the support of European soccer countries.</p>
<h2>Mixed success prosecuting sports</h2>
<p>Whatever happens in the election, it’s no lock that the work done by American and Swiss investigators ends with a chain of convictions leading to the big boss, as is the aim of a classic mafia case. Federal attorneys have been notably unsuccessful in some of the highest profile sports cases in recent years. </p>
<p>In baseball, Cy Young-winning pitcher Roger Clemens <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/roger-clemens-trial-verdict-reached/2012/06/18/gJQAQxvzlV_story.html">was acquitted</a> in 2012 of charges that he lied to Congress about drug use, and home run king Barry Bonds had his obstruction of justice conviction in another drug case <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-bonds-obstruction-conviction-20150422-story.html">overturned</a> in April. </p>
<p>Federal prosecutors investigated Lance Armstrong about the role of doping in his seven Tour de France victories but <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/01/27/why-did-federal-prosecutors-drop-their-lance-armstrong-case/">dropped</a> the case before even bringing it to trial. And just on its face, there <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2015/05/27/fifa-president-sepp-blatter-releases-statement-on-todays-arrrests-indictments/">are obstacles</a> to the FIFA case – foreign, wealthy defendants for a start, whom Blatter has quickly distanced himself from.</p>
<h2>Why it’s still worth it</h2>
<p>Yet chasing the FIFA case is worth it. A culture of corruption doesn’t do the public any good.</p>
<p>Transparency International, which fights for clean governance around the globe, is in the midst of a yearlong initiative aimed at making sports more aboveboard (in the interest of full disclosure, I wrote a piece unrelated to FIFA for the project which will be published in June). It’s notable that the subject of sports was chosen – of all the evils in the world, why choose to focus on sports? – but Transparency <a href="http://www.transparency.org/news/feature/sport_integrity">frames</a> the issue well on its home page for the project.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Sport is a multi-billion dollar business engaging billions of people. It is also a global symbol of fair play and a source of great joy for many people on this planet, whether participating, attending or watching events,” the group’s introductory statement says. “With so much public involvement, political influence and money at stake, corruption remains a constant and real risk. Mounting scandals around match-fixing, major events and elections, and systemic deficiencies in sports governance are now so undermining public trust that it is reaching a tipping point.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, if you don’t think corruption at the top really matters, think again. Already, a convicted match fixer <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/fifas-match-fixing-problem-1408645287">has said</a> FIFA doesn’t do enough to stop a practice that cuts to the very heart of the game. Does anybody at this point really expect FIFA to clean up a dirty sport if its executives are profiting to the tune of millions of dollars?</p>
<h2>Failure may lead to success</h2>
<p>So, yes, simply what Attorney General Loretta E Lynch and other prosecutors have done already is a step forward. Knocking at the door of the heretofore impenetrable FIFA may well be fruitful in its own right. But sometimes even failure leads to success. </p>
<p>When the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles dropped the Armstrong case, for example, the US Anti-Doping Agency, led by its CEO, Travis Tygart, picked it up. Within a year, Armstrong was banned from cycling and an incredibly detailed cheating scheme <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/22/sport/lance-armstrong-controversy/">was exposed</a> – one that led all the way up to cycling’s international governing body. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/03/news/circ-report-executive-summary_362351">report</a> suggests Armstrong could not have gotten away with it if the officials at the top of the sport hadn’t protected him. So even if the FBI’s investigation itself ends right here, it could be the spark that eventually exposes FIFA’s endemic corruption by inspiring others to crack the organization’s deep foundations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Affleck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Corruption at the pinnacle of sports sets a tone for all the rest. Targeting its roots is the right thing to do no matter what comes of the FBI’s investigation.John Affleck, Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/425252015-05-28T17:32:38Z2015-05-28T17:32:38ZPolitical football: why the US took action on FIFA corruption<p>The arrest of seven top FIFA officials and the indictment of a group of 14 on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32897066">corruption charges</a> has left many people stunned. But those paying close attention to world football over the years have been wondering why it has taken so long to topple FIFA’s house of cards. </p>
<p><a href="http://jss.sagepub.com/content/22/3/299.refs">Research</a> has exposed corrupt practices within FIFA going back to the 1990s. In Europe, where the game dominates, little to no action has been taken. It took interest from the US, where football is still only emerging as a popular sport, for arrests to be made.</p>
<p>Despite all its merits, sport has, in recent years, become more and more <a href="http://eprints.brighton.ac.uk/13542/">enmeshed</a> in a global system based on growth and inequality at the expense of social and economic justice. A good example of this is the 2014 World Cup venue in Manaus, deep in the Amazon, which is now Brazil’s largest <a href="http://www.latinopost.com/articles/6247/20140620/amazon-river-arena-amazonia-world-cup-2014-world-cup-fifa-john-oliver-controversy-expensive-rainforest.htm">bird toilet</a>.</p>
<h2>Not on our watch</h2>
<p>While the culture that has developed inside the corridors of footballing power has attracted the most attention in the FIFA case, what this particular situation demonstrates is the growing significance of football (or soccer) in the US and the increasing influence of US interests in the global game.</p>
<p>British clubs Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, among others, now have <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14660971003780321">American owners and investors</a>. American corporations such as Nike, Visa and Coca Cola are major sponsors of FIFA and other football organisations.</p>
<p>But many more companies and interests want to profit from the international football marketplace. And some try to do it by what the American legal system views as <a href="http://www.sportbusinesscentre.com/events/the-insiders-guide-to-match-fixing-in-football-declan-hill/">illegitimate means</a>.</p>
<p>As the largest single sports marketplace and a dominant regional power, the US is positioned to play a significant role in global football in the 21st century.</p>
<p>While many laws in the US protect corporate interests, these laws are also very tough on openly corrupt business practices. Leverage and influence are one thing, overt bribery and money laundering are something quite different.</p>
<h2>When sport meets politics</h2>
<p>Sport has been recognised for quite some time in the US as more than a game. Major League Baseball was exempt from many <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/february/antitrust-baseball-court-022415.html">anti-trust laws</a> for more than a century, for example. But this has been challenged in recent years. Congress <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20050318friday.html">intervened</a> in illegal drug use in baseball when it felt the sport was not fully addressing the issue.</p>
<p>Though the league is a private organisation, the companies and doctors supplying performance enhancing substances fell under medical and health care acts and individual players were called to testify.</p>
<p>It was efforts by the US that forced the International Olympic Committee to address corrupt practices, at least in part, in the scandals surrounding the <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-for-fifa-from-the-salt-lake-city-olympic-scandal-42493">Salt Lake City Winter Olympics</a>. At the same time, Utah congressmen planted plenty of “pork-barrel” funding by attaching infrastructural monies to other bills, which would assist Utah in holding the Games.</p>
<p>American congressional legislators also challenged the right of National Football League teams to relocate to other cities as they sought better deals on stadiums. And when a lockout of referees by the NFL was thought to have led to a blown call changing the result of a game, politicians <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/25/politicians-grab-political-football-run-with-it/">spoke out</a> and pushed the NFL to resolve the dispute.</p>
<p>As football attracts greater attention among fans and businesses in the US, lawmakers will naturally take an interest too.</p>
<p>The challenges for global sports organisations, businesses and other interests is to understand the climate in which they operate, but first and foremost to operate in a transparent manner.</p>
<p>In a revealing article about the power of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Verner Moeller asked “<a href="http://www.theouterline.com/anti-doping-is-the-cure-worse-than-the-disease/">who is watching the watchers?</a>”. In this case, the question is: who is able to hold FIFA accountable for its actions?</p>
<p>FIFA has declared itself custodian of the “people’s game” – a sport popular across all ages around the world. As such it must be held accountable for the management of the sport or be replaced by an organisation that will practice better stewardship.</p>
<p>The FBI and US Justice Department may not be everyone’s choice for holding FIFA accountable, but through American action, supported by Swiss investigations, we may learn how pervasive the culture of corruption haunting the world’s favourite sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Nauright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Football is a huge deal in Europe but less so in the states. So why did it take action from Loretta Lynch to topple FIFA?John Nauright, Professor of Sport and Leisure Management, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.