The Corruption of FIFA
William Agentowicz
The Corruption of FIFA
The 2014 World Cup showcases a classic and modern example of how FIFA neglects an area and uses it for the organization’s own gain. With millions of dollars going into the pockets of FIFA and football associations while millions of people suffer, the corruption permeating all throughout the footballing world shifted to the forefront and became ever more apparent. But in order to understand how FIFA became this misguided and distrusted organization, the seed of corruption must be understood.
As the focus of Goldblatt’s “The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football” shifts to Joao Havelange, FIFA takes on the role of marketing soccer to the world. Television sets were becoming more widespread and allowed more people to receive the full experience without being at the stadium. This created a new market, through TV rights and sponsorship, for Havelange and FIFA to move into. These opportunities proved to be extremely lucrative because of the insanely high selling price, which was possible because of the ingrained appeal and widespread following soccer already had around the world. FIFA could sell the TV rights or have a product become the “official” product of the World Cup. With almost no costs associated with these types of products for FIFA, the revenue coming in was nearly all profit. But instead of using the vast amounts of money to further soccer’s development around the world, Havelange and his cohorts used this money to live a lavish lifestyle as they watched the game they were supposed to be governing. At the 1982 World Cup in Spain, the expenses of FIFA executives were $3 million more than the cost of bringing all 24 teams to Spain and house them for the duration of the tournament. This kind of activity has been happening ever since, with no true accountability for a person’s actions, despite minor slaps on the wrist after they and are long gone. By acting so obviously with their own interests in mind, it raises the question of how FIFA can do this and never have to pay for their actions.
Part of the reason FIFA’s actions go largely unpunished is because they are not held accountable by any institutional governing body except themselves. Although FIFA is incorporated in Switzerland, Swiss authorities did not do much to curtail their actions until 2015, when 14 people, including 9 FIFA officials were arrested on suspected bribery and money laundering. Another aspect of FIFA’s corruption has to do with the benefit it brings to Switzerland. By going in and properly regulating FIFA, Switzerland run the risk of making a very powerful enemy who can negatively impact their own national team and national league, which would hurt Switzerland in the long run despite appearing beneficial in more immediate terms. Finally, countries that are members of FIFA often engage in rent seeking, which is the manipulation of policy or economic factors in order to increase profits. This has been an obvious part of the last two World Cups in South Africa and Brazil. For example, Local construction companies, are allowed to charge enormous rates for the construction of the stadiums used for matches, which lines the pockets of local officials who have ties to the companies involved. The stadiums are useless after the tournament, while millions of dollars in taxpayer’s money has been spent to play a few games and make corrupt officials very wealthy. In order to eliminate these problems, FIFA must be gutted and reorganized with the true goals of soccer in mind; to watch and grow the game we love.