This article is written by Tarun Gaur, a student of Nirma University.
The recent arrests of seven FIFA officials in Zurich made by the Swiss officials on the request of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has made the world think of what could happen next. The arrests were made on May 27, 2015 in relation to the bribery and corruption charges, just few days before the Presidential elections that were supposed to take place in Zurich.
WHAT IS FIFA?
Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), a non-governmental organisation formed in 1904 by a group of French men seeking to form an umbrella of various sports’ national bodies. In the inception, it was a European Club but gradually went on to include the rest of the world too. The aim of the organization has been to help and support the development of the game in various nations and also to take responsibility to organize international competitions, like the FIFA World Cup. FIFA also provides the rules and management of the game.
Earlier, there was a rivalry between the International Olympic Committee and the FIFA which led to the first World Cup organised by FIFA in Uruguay in 1930. The whole tournament was organised at a small scale which was hardly discussed in Britain, apparently the nation that founded the game in 1863; rather the birthplace of the sport. As of now, the competition is organised by FIFA once in every four years which is regarded as the most anticipated and watched sporting spectacle on the planet. The World Cup in France in 1998 had a cumulative audience of 37.4 billion worldwide.
HOW FIFA WORKS?
The inception of FIFA was perceived as an Aristocratic, voluntary club which now functions as replica of United Nations – indeed there are more members in FIFA (209 members) as compared to the United Nations(193 members); FIFA has its own dreamy, utopian, rhetoric international equality and development to boost.
FIFA consists of 209 member associations and is organised into six regional confederations- approximately the world’s continents combined into the overall organisation of the game namely
- South America- CONMEBOL
- North, Central America, Caribbean – CONCACAF
- Europe- UEFA
- Asia- AFC
- Africa – CAF
- Oceania- OFC
These six confederations represent and serve the needs for their national associations. The FIFA congress meets every year and takes important decisions like the elections of the President at the headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. The President and the regional head of the associations comprise the executive committee, organization’s decision-making body which decides the nation that will host the next World Cup.
THE CURRENT ISSUE
On May 27, 2015, the FIFA officials who assembled in Zurich prior to the important Presidential elections were arrested by the Swiss officials at the request of the U.S. DOJ.
The U.S. DOJ had made allegations on the FIFA officials related to the broadcasting rights in the Western Hemisphere. Investigators charged that the officials from FIFA and CONCACAF (FIFA’s governing body in Central and North America) accepted bribes for sports marketing executives in exchange for broadcasting rights for the World Cup and other tournaments organised by the body. The allegations emphasised that these executives paid more than $150 billion as a bribe to acquire the broadcasting rights. This comes after years of intensive investigation taken up by the US on the alleging the FIFA authorities for corruption.
HOW IS U.S. DOJ INVOLVED?
CONCACAF has its headquarters in Miami and many of the alleged crimes apparently took place on the US soil, which gives the US an authority to charge these officials and thus the DOJ got involved. The accused includes the current and former Presidents of CONCACAF among the 14 others charged. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that, “The investigations uncovered FIFA’s bribery since 1990 and that they did this over and over, year after year”. The investigations were guided by the former executives who were secretly pleaded guilty in the same case acting as informants. They were also accompanied by the FIFA executive Chuck Blazer who was pleaded guilty in November 2014. The DOJ invoked RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), 1970 which was enacted to restrict the organised crimes usually involving activities like money laundering, bribery, kidnapping, murder.
The Swiss Office of Attorney General is in favour of proceeding with the criminal investigation of the FIFA on the suspicion that there was money laundering in relation to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup venues. The voting done for deciding the venues was made by the FIFA executives way back in 2010, but was followed by allegations of corruptions, with the officials reportedly claiming that they had been offered millions of dollars in exchange of the votes.
Swiss officials are currently investigating the 10 FIFA executive members who were a part of the bidding procedure in 2010.
THE HISTORY OF CORRUPTION IN FIFA
The current charges of corruption would not have been a surprise for the FIFA, as they have a long history of allegations but the surprise would be that the U.S. and Swiss authorities are finally cutting through the ice.
It all started in 1974 during the tenure of the FIFA president João Havelange, who made changes to the existing rules; brought the World Cup’s first corporate sponsors, increased the number of teams, thereby increasing the revenues of FIFA. During that period, Havelange took billions of dollars of bribe and was eventually removed and the post which was later taken by Sepp Blatter, who had managed to hold on to the post since 1998. Two executive members were apparently suspended from the voting procedure due to allegations related to bribery.
Also it was witnessed during the World Cup 2014, Brazil that there were various kinds of protests by the local residents claiming that the vast sum of tax payers’ money was spent by the government on building the stadiums. They had also spent around $11billion, which included $270 million on a stadium just to host four World Cup matches. The country had spent the money in creating and arranging all the venues whereas the profits were taken by FIFA which had sparked the main controversy. On being asked about a non-profit organisation having worth Billions of dollars in their bank accounts, “They are kept as reserves”, said Sepp Blatter. The individuals arrested were accused of taking bribes and kickbacks from different private firms in the bidding which included 2010 World Cup held by South Africa.
The Qatar bid, in particular drew furious objection by the critics highlighting the appalling record on the workers’ right and the Russia bid, due to the current Ukraine issue building up, but the Russian President was praising the FIFA President on not deviating from the decisions in the midst of all the pressure by the Worldwide authorities.
Amidst the entire allegation, FIFA hired New York prosecutor, Michael Garcia to probe into the world Cup corruption case.
WHAT IS NEXT?
The U.S. authorities recently claimed that they will be presenting more names in the FIFA corruption case and same has been indicated by the Swiss authorities who are simultaneously proceeding with the allocation of the of the World Cup venues in Qatar and Russia respectively. But it seems unlikely that the investigations undertaken by the Swiss authorities would change the World Cup venues, as stated by Sepp Blatter. Although there have been no allegations against the current FIFA President Sepp Blatter, but for how long can he stay safe, although he resigned from his post according to the sources. What is the fate of FIFA with no candidate for the post of President? A question the world is eager to get an answer of.
