Fifa 's Effect On The World Cup

In our socratic seminar about the article “Soccer’s Corrupt Soul,” we talked about FIFA’s deep-rooted corruption and where their greed has lead the World Cup’s future. FIFA is soccer’s main governing body, an oligarchy composed of very wealthy and powerful people. It has been discovered that these corporate bigwigs were associated with many deceitful and dishonest acts in the pursuit of making more money.

Based in Zurich, “The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)” is the international governing body of association football, futsal, and soccer. It has been recognized as the “United Nations of Football”, affiliated with 209 associations across the globe (FIFA, 2015). Like any other sport organization however, FIFA has long experienced allegations following the decision of Russia being awarded the 2018 World Cup and Quatar having the 2022 hosting rights. According to the reports, the United States Department of Justice reviewed the contracts related to the 2014 Brazil World Cup involving FIFA, commercial partners, and suppliers.

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.” (Steinbeck) International Sports Organizations have long been regarded as entities who are committed to the highest level of honesty among many multinational governing bodies. They set programs in place for mass inclusion, fund programs designed to help conflicting communities through sport, and demonstrate commendable levels of fairness and transparency. Self interested policies could never exist within such a fair democratic structure, many times the policies implemented are meant to provide the utmost level of cooperation needed to further the expansion of sport on a global and local level. At least that’s what they would have you believe. The argument to be made is whether international sports organizations, specifically FIFA, are engaged in questionable practices that allow them to impose their will upon those who stand in their way. FIFA has long been regarded as the dominant governing body in the world of football as they control the entire process behind all aspects of the World Cup and other international tournaments. However, have you ever stopped to think about why they have been so successful in remaining the sole actor in this role? International sports organizations maintain a high level of influence on a global scale, the amount of power amassed by FIFA since their inception has exceeded that of many governments and has allowed them to be massive

FIFA has no credibility. Just look at where the next two World Cups are being played at. They must be wonderful footballing nations, right? Ha, not at all. In 2018, the world turns to Russia, who might have tampered with the 2016 U.S. election. Four years later, the world will be broiling in Qatar during winter un-the-less, who have violated humans rights by being stuck in the dark ages with slavery. And both countries were right in the middle of the FBI's investigation of FIFA's World Cup brides. Nothing FIFA does can be taken serious….

The next objective that Reform Taskforce 29 looks to accomplish is to rethink the way FIFA is governed. Sepp Blatter, the former President of FIFA throughout all of the corruption allegations, led the organization for 17 years. In 2015, many top executives were arrested on suspicion of corruption while attending FIFA meetings. These executives accepted kickbacks and other incentives from nations bidding the host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. Following the arrest of these individuals, Blatter resigned his position of President just days after winning an election to remain in office. Blatter was under suspicion of corruption after a large payment was made to Michel Platini, President of UEFA, Europe’s football confederation, for what Blatter explains as “advisory work.” While many programs and initiatives were completed under the leadership of Blatter, we need to discover beneficial strategies to elect non-corrupt leadership in a democratic and fair manner. Our first action to complete this objective is to limit the length of a president’s term in office. According to Emmanuel Bayle, “FIFA must follow the International Olympic Committee’s example and limit presidential terms of office...This would improve democracy throughout the organization and prevent cults building up around omnipotent, lifelong leaders” (Bayle, 2015.) Our second action to complete this objective would create a smaller and more diverse FIFA executive committee. This FIFA executive committee should meet six times a year, two more than the current committee, in order to provide checks and balances on the president’s power. “The new committee should be reduced in size, contain more women, be more professional and include independent administrators with skills in areas such as marketing, law and finance” (Bayle, 2015.) The final action to complete this objective would be to create an international organization that regulates sport governance (Bayle, 2015.) FIFA could team up with

In Crisis Management and Communication, Coombs ranks blaming others for the crisis one of the least accommodative reputation repair strategies. Blatter put the blame on everyone indicted by stating “I know many people hold me responsible. We, I, cannot monitor everyone all the time. If people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it,” (ESPN Staff, 2015). He went on to say “Those who are corrupt in football are in a minority, like in society and must be held responsible for their actions. Football cannot be the exception to the rule. There can be no place for corruption of any kind” (ESPN Staff, 2015). Sepp Blatter also blamed the United States for the eight-year ban awarded to him for violating FIFA’s ethics rules when he approved a $2 million payment to then FIFA Vice President and President of the Union of European Football Associations, Michel Platini. Blatter stated in a news conference “If we had awarded the World Cup in 2022 to the USA, we would not be here.” (Perez, 2015). Blatter opened the news conference by saying “I regret I am a punching ball and for my organization I have served with my heart and conscience for 41 years,” “Specifically I regret for all the team members working in FIFA” (Perez, 2015). There was no apology for the alleged improper payment from Blatter. "I am not ashamed,” Blatter said. “I regret, but I am not ashamed. I ashamed.” The information stated above shows how FIFA ineffectively managed this crisis by first, having the wrong person speak for the company. Secondly, the President of FIFA refused responsibility for any of the actions that occurred. Lastly, FIFA failed to repair the reputation loss by not taking action toward Sepp Blatter’s Presidency. The possible long term consequences of this crisis could result in a loss of major sponsorships. Visa, one of FIFA’s biggest sponsors,

Still, the complexity of sports law itself is probably just at the surface as of now. The significance of sports law as a distinct area will continue to gain prominence as the globalization of sports become a reality. Different rules in various countries will need to be adopted which not only requires an advance comprehension of the games and its components, but also the legal issues that develop as a result of a game being played in a different country. Overall, sports law, with its many elements and combination of complex issues deserves to be deemed as a distinct area of the

There should be acknowledgement that in 2015, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were banned from all football related activities for eight years. This is as a result of the U.S. investigation in 2015, as well as, after a FIFA ethics committee coordinated the notion (Bagchi, 2015). Following this landmark move, the next major portion of this ongoing investigation occurred on March 22, 2016. The Swiss attorney general’s office placed former FIFA (at that time) President Sepp Blatter under criminal investigation for mismanagement and misuse of FIFA money. Already targeted by U.S. investigations, the Swiss also launched their own. This adds to the current twenty-four year

The history of global sport is important because it brings up many controversial topics, such as amateurism, effect on society, gambling, racism, and feminism. Sport is not important because of what happens on the field, but rather the politics that aren’t highlighted in the game recap. It is important to know the issues that arise through sports to understand society during the era. First off, amateurism vs professional isn’t often seen as an issue, but in The Olympics and the NCAA, it once was. With the NCAA, students did not like the amateurism ideal because of the commitment required and felt they should be compensated in some way other than free tuition and boarding. The NCAA even prohibits athletes from attaining a job, preventing them

Throughout the ages sport has always  taken some form, whether it was to train the armies during the medieval era to the current explosion that has become the global football industry. This essay will discuss whether or not sport has become a subject that is no longer just about itself, but has gained a heavy focus on business more so than itself. To do this, the essay will look at how business has affected two sports sectors and their 'elite ' level of sport, by delving into the way in which it has affected the English Premier League (Football) and the National Football League (American Football).

Though different places of the world may call it differently, all can agree on the fact that soccer truly is the Beautiful Game. No other game has such an international popularity and prominence, with an unmatched ability to unite fans and players over a great passion. Unfortunately, the game’s overarching organization is stained by unwanted headlines of corruption and fraud that has forced experts to question why they have such a consistent history of misconduct. Specifically, looking at FIFA’s decision to award Qatar with the 2022 World Cup can provide insight into the corruption and dishonesty of their operations. What does this FIFA’s extensive history of corruption mean for the future of the Beautiful Game?

Governments currently show great interest in sport mega-events investment since that they may have the opportunity to stimulate economic development, create international image and prestige, generate a ‘feel-good’ factor among citizens and inspire grassroots participation (Grix and Carmichael, 2012). Moreover, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) states that their critical mission is ‘to promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host countries’ (International Olympic Committee, 2007, p.15), although legacy is hard to define or measure and could be both positive and negative in practice (Agha, et al. 2012). In particular, emerging states like China, South Africa and Brazil have managed to bid for the Olympics or the World Cup. The use of hosting sport mega-events to enhance their soft power and achieve equal positions in global affairs has been highlighted in recent years (Grix and Lee, 2013).

In fact, one can cull out many different lessons from the way South Africa delivered a faultless, snafu-free pageant spread over 30 days and many locations. However, this article focuses on the management principles reiterated by the actual game of football played out during the FIFA 2010 matches.

“By early 2008, the ICC had cost the international community over $600 million and had yet to be anywhere near its first conviction.” (Barnett, 26). The large use of financial resources by the ICC has not shown to be worth the money.

Swiss based Sports federations such as the IOC and FIFA have always tended to follow tactic similar to their country’s banking systems, which is to be risk averse. Developing nations seem to offer a whole host of challenges that hinder their bids being accepted. The aim of this paper is to analyze the problems facing developing nations and trying to find ways to ensure that developing nations can compete on an even playing field with established economically nations when competing for ‘mega-events’. This will be achieved by analyzing the selection criteria that governing bodies use when judging nations bids to host mega-events and by looking at the Olympic bid of Qatar, a developing nation with a strong economy. Qatar has superb sports facilities that the government are attempting to leverage in its bids for both the World Cup and Olympics. However, as is the case with all developing nations it faces a unique set of challenges that hinder its desire to host ‘mega-events’.