quarta-feira, 4 de junho de 2014 6:28
Abysmal governance at soccer’s global body must end
Ten days from now, millions of people around the globe will have
their eyes fixed on Brazil as the World Cup finals begin. While many
thrills and spills lie ahead, the prestige sporting event has been
tarnished by allegations of corruption at Fifa, world
football’s governing body, over the choice of Qatar to host the 2022
competition.
Fifa and its president Sepp Blatter are no strangers to
controversy. Two years ago, two leading figures at the Zurich-based body
were exposed as having received millions of dollars in bribes from a
marketing company. In 2011 Jack Warner, then head of the
Caribbean football federation, resigned from all his positions in
international soccer after facing numerous bribery allegations. That
year, the election to the Fifa presidency was clouded by allegations of
bribery, leading to the resignation of Mohamed bin
Hammam, president of the Asian football confederation.
The allegations over the Qatar World Cup are of a far more serious
order. The Sunday Times claims to have received secret documents
implicating Mr bin Hammam in the bribery of football officials to award
the 2022 World Cup to the Gulf state. The Qatari
football authorities and Mr bin Hammam both deny he was involved in
lobbying on Qatar’s behalf. But circumstantial evidence keeps emerging
that casts doubt on the legitimacy of the World Cup vote.
The case for rerunning the bid for the 2022 competition looks
unassailable. Final judgment should await a pending report into the
Qatar bid by Fifa’s top internal investigator. But a string of
controversies – among them the health concerns over staging
the competition in Qatar’s furnace-like climate – means a new venue is
now needed.
The location for 2022 is not the only issue that needs rethinking.
Fifa is a body that has been mired in corruption allegations for so long
– and which has been so lame in mending its shoddy governance – that it
demands a complete overhaul.
Fifa’s responsibility in managing world football is huge. An
estimated 700m people – a 10th of the world’s population – watched the
2010 World Cup final. The television rights for broadcasting the
competition run to billions of dollars. In many countries,
soccer has a powerful influence on social attitudes, most notably
racism.
But far from being accountable to any outside body, Fifa acts like a
sovereign state. In 2011 Mr Blatter, unable to ignore the spate of
scandals, asked outside experts to make recommendations on better
governance. One of those experts said most of the
proposals were rejected.
The Swiss government could force change on Fifa, which is legally
incorporated as a Swiss non-profit organisation. Switzerland ought to
make international sports organisations based on its territory subject
to Swiss criminal law but has been reluctant
to do so. Fifa’s six main corporate sponsors – Adidas, Coca-Cola,
Hyundai, Emirates, Sony and Visa – could also force it to mend its ways.
But they show little sign of being genuinely alarmed by the corruption
claims.
Western governments and lawmakers should therefore bring their
influence to bear. The US Congress could consider holding hearings to
examine the relations between American multinationals and Fifa. US
companies have to abide by stringent anti-corruption
laws. Congress would be right to examine the implications of US
companies doing business with a major international body that has such
weak governance. Such public hearings might make corporate sponsors
reconsider their stance.
Next week Fifa executives will bask in the party in Brazil. They
know that millions of fans are obsessed by what happens on the pitch,
not off. But the pork-barrel world of Fifa politics cannot continue. It
demeans the players, the fans and the beautiful
game itself.
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