FIFA’s dishonesty

By Ifeanyi Ibeh and Jide Alaka


November 18, 2010



It has always been very difficult to get straight answers from the world football governing body, FIFA, especially on bribery scandals. At the press briefing on Thursday, Carlos Sulser, the Head of the Ethics Committee that handled the investigations, just stopped short of condemning the action of London’s Sunday Times whose journalists have posed as lobbyists from the United States.

He alleged that the Times had grossly exaggerated its claims and “had twisted the truths”. But even more responsible for the mixed signals was that the body did not come out to say categorically that its members were corrupt. However it still went ahead to fine and ban six of its members for breaching its rules.

If the members had been found guilty, the sentence should have been more stringent than the maximum four year ban that was handed to Ishmael Bhamjee. Mr Bhamjee’s case is bizarre to say the least because the Botswana representative had been banned from all football related activities in 2006, after a ticketing scandal.

“He ( Amos Adamu) should have been banned for a longer period,” said TV football pundit Sola Aiyepeku. “Considering the allegations against him he probably should have been banned from football related activities for life.

“But I must admit that the three year ban handed to Adamu was more than I had expected.

It’s a good step in the right direction especially if they (FIFA) stick to it.” Another football pundit, Bode Oguntuyi however feels the ban period is enough for the government to get Nigerian football back on track.

“At least all the talk about interference anytime the government tries to effect changes in our football will cease because personally I think Adamu and his cohorts are responsible for this,” he told NEXT.

“But now that he is out of the way, hopefully for the next three years, government can try to make some positive changes in our football,” he added.


The IOC example

Another sports body that got in a similar scandal, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), used the Salt Lake scandal of 1998 to rid itself of the corrupt toga in the eyes of a watching world. When it was announced that there were issues of bribery, four independent investigations were carried out: by the IOC, the USOC, the SLOC, and the United States Department of Justice.

And as a result of the investigation, ten members of the IOC were expelled and another ten were sanctioned. Though nothing illegal had been done, the acceptance of the gifts was adjudged to have been morally dubious.


Blatter as incorruptible judge

With the IOC example in mind, this would have served as a good opportunity for FIFA to purge itself of the corrupt organisation tag that had been associated with it since 2001 when its marketing partner, ISL/ISMM went bankrupt amid allegations of bribery, plunging the football body into a financial crisis and fuelling accusations that Blatter and other FIFA officials were being bribed by the company.

“Never have I tried to corrupt anyone else and I am not corruptible,” said Mr Blatter back then before admitting that corruption was at least possible in FIFA.

“I can tell you that in the 26 years I have spent at FIFA, attempts have been made to bribe me or to influence me in some form ... but never ever have I bribed anyone and I cannot be bribed,” added Blatter who, a year later, and for unknown reasons, suspended the probe by FIFA’s Finance Committee into corruption allegations within the organisation.

Ahead of the 2006 World Cup, credit company MasterCard tried to prevent FIFA from signing Visa as a sponsor for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. MasterCard took FIFA to court and settled for $90 million.

Also in 2006, FIFA vice-president Jack Warner was embroiled in a scandal for selling tickets for the World Cup, the competition from which FIFA earns about 90 percent of its income, at inflated prices through a travel agency owned by his family.

FIFA, in its usual character, however cleared Warner of any wrongdoing but demanded that his son pay a fine close to $1 million.