The Ugly Game

Português: Joseph Blatter, da Fifa, fala à imprensa após audiência com o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, no Palácio do Planalto (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

World football (known in North America as soccer) has survived many things:  wars, depressions, violence on and off the field, use as a propaganda tool, etc.  Yet those who play and/or watch still swear by the game they love, often placing it high on the list beside family and religion.

So how come the game is run by incompetent fools who care more about making money than in improving the sport itself?  Or shouldn't we be surprised by this because that's how most corporations seem to work?

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation made headlines by announcing the arrests in Switzerland of several top officials in FIFA, which is soccer's governing body.  It's part of an investigation that includes $150 million allegedly doled out in bribes and kickbacks through U.S. banks over the past two decades.

Not among the indicted (at least not yet) is FIFA's longtime president Sepp Blatter, for whom no amount of wrongdoing involving the organization seems to have stuck to him.  Blatter was just re-elected to a fifth term with little opposition, so the soccer world still has to deal with him.  How much longer remains to be seen.

Much of the investigation revolves around what it took to award past and future men's World Cup tournaments in South Africa (2010), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).  FIFA officials allegedly took money from those countries' football organizations in exchange for a favorable vote to host a World Cup.  It's not much different than, say, a politician discreetly taking lobbyists' moolah in exchange for a favorable vote in Congress.

Russia and Qatar have their own set of baggage, none of which should affect their standing as future World Cup hosts.  For Russia, it's worldwide outrage over President Vladimir Putin's lust to regain territories lost after the Cold War.  For Qatar, there is the summertime heat that might force the move of the tournament to late fall, as well as allegations of human rights abuses.  It seems they've been building stadiums with alleged slave labor, or using labor who are paid and allegedly treated like slaves.

Given that this is an ongoing investigation, how much are things really going to change at FIFA?  There is talk of boycotting the World Cup among some countries and corporate partners, but do they really want to pass up the money and exposure that comes with such a prestigious event?  What about the backlash from fans in their own countries?

In the United States, where soccer is just starting to get a foothold on people's consciousnesses, will FIFA retaliate by denying them a chance to host a World Cup in the foreseeable future?  Or punish the American teams in other ways?  There is precedent.  The U.S. has yet to host another Olympic games (NBC's money notwithstanding) since the scandal involving the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

(Oh, by the way, FIFA is holding the Women's World Cup in Canada this month.  Any guesses as to how this scandal is going to affect people's perception of the competition?)

Yes, the game of world football/soccer has survived many things.  Can it survive the people who run it?

UPDATE (6/2/15):  Blatter announced that he is stepping down as FIFA's president, pending the election of his replacement.  Maybe he just realized he's become a liability?