Can FIFA Really be Cleaned Up?

FIFA the world body controlling football has been truly engulfed in scandal over the past few weeks. A number of executives have been indicted in the U.S. on charges of bribery and corruption, and their extradition is being sought. Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president dramatically offered his resignation just days after being reelected to a new four year term. One of his formerly close allies (Jack Warner) has indicated that he has provided documented evidence of corruption that will implicate Sepp Blatter. So it would appear that years of shady deals and manoeuvring have finally caught up with the organisation. 

While it is big news that FIFA's previously untouchable officials are now being held to account, corruption in world sport is not a new thing. The International Olympic Committee faced accusations of a culture of endemic bribery and corruption a few years ago. It has managed to shake these off and get back to business as usual. The world cycling body faced allegations of complicity in covering up widespread doping in the sport. It claims to have a handle on that now and is moving on. No doubt FIFA will move on from this without any substantial damage being done to the organisation. 

It is difficult to imagine how anybody working in football at an international level can claim not to have known about the culture of payoffs and influence peddling. In fact most country Football Associations have either been involved in or known of shady under the table deal making. Payments made to the Irish FA and allegations that Germany brokered an arms deal to get Saudi support for its World Cup bid have recently come to light. A New Zealand football official was charged with corruption following the award of the 2006 World Cup to Germany. While bidding for the 2018 World Cup the English FA wined and dined Blatter and Warner extensively. Franz Beckenbauer was suspended from football activities following his refusal to cooperate with an ethics investigation into the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Michel Platini the UEFA president did a deal with Blatter to not contest the FIFA presidential election some years ago. So it appears even if Blatter goes the culture of payoffs and shady deals is unlikely to go with him. 

There does appear to be a hidden agenda behind some UEFA members' very vocal calls for Blatter to go. And it has very little to do with ridding FIFA of corruption. Quite a few of the member countries resent the fact that they don't have more influence over decision making in FIFA. They don't believe the single vote per member policy recognises their status or accomplishments adequately. A lot of murmurings from UEFA seem to suggest that giving an equal say to the smaller member countries isn't very popular there. A case of 'some animals being more equal than others'. Look for moves by the UEFA bloc to try and change FIFA membership or voting rules once Blatter finally exits the field. It will be ironic that the current FBI investigation may be about to expose one set of unfair practices while laying the foundation for another form of unfairness.