There’s a donnybrook brewing in the Old World, and
it pertains to an old sport. FIFA (the
international organizing body for global soccer), has its name splayed over
European headlines yet again.
For Americans who know FIFA only as the title of a
popular game franchise, the organization has come under increased fire in the
past couple of years. The various
accusations against it are centered on corruption, and John Oliver describes
many of them well.
At the end of his explanation/rant, Oliver discusses
the bidding for the 2022 World Cup, which went to the unbearably hot (and
unbearably oppressive) nation of Qatar.
Given the temperatures of 120+ and the draconian
conditions placed on migrant workers, this choice was bound to elicit
outrage. It certainly doesn’t take a
soccer expert to know that standing feels awful in 120-degree heat, so soccer
must be particularly gruesome. Calls to
move the 2022 World Cup to other nations or to winter have gained in volume as
a result. So how did Qatar receive the
tournament in the first place?
Last week, FIFA published a summary (note, just a
summary) of an investigatory report into the bidding process that resulted in
Russia and Qatar receiving the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. The resulting document cleared the Russian
and Qatari delegations of any wrongdoing, while devoting significant time to
the transgressions of the Football Association (FA), the governing body for
soccer in England. Among the allegations
is the charge that a member of the voting board used the FA to support charity
events in Trinidad & Tobago and also asked FA officials to help an
acquaintance of his find a job. The
member of the board has since resigned under the cloud of a separate corruption
investigation. But, the final verdict
accused the FA of “undermining the bid process.”
The response?
“Such tomfoolery will not be tolerated, and you, FIFA, are a most
despicable cad, wot, wot!”
The report has been a burr in the British saddles,
and a former FA head declared
this weekend that UEFA (the pan-European soccer body…another acronym for an
overlong French organization title) should boycott
the World Cup as a result. His comments
received further fuel from Michael Garcia, the author of the full report
(remember, the offensive document is just a summary). Garcia said
the summary misrepresented the facts and conclusions of the underlying report,
and many now would like to see the full report published, including the
president of the German
Football League and the current head of the FA.
As an American, I remain separated from the
personalities and dynamics of FIFA. But,
it is clear that oil pricing mechanisms have more transparency than this
organization. Despite taking large
umbrage at activities that wouldn’t bat an eye in almost any powerful capital
in the world, the Russian delegation submitted inadequate documentation due to “lost
emails” and still remains in FIFA’s favor.
(Sidenote: is anyone else tired, yet grudgingly appreciative, of the “lost
email” excuse? Who knew it had such
power! I bet A-Rod and Lance Armstrong
wish they had thought of that one.) This
seems especially difficult to believe given the Russian government’s strongarm
tactics with political dissidents and anatomically-named
rock bands. They probably offered
the members jobs without even being asked.
Of course, I was nowhere near the negotiations. But the whole thing stinks, particularly
given what is known about FIFA and the governments involved. After picking two countries known for being
different manifestations of Shakespeare’s Iago, and then impugning one of the most
robust football associations in the world, FIFA should answer its critics. The World Cup remains a worthy outlet for
sports fans all over the world, but eventually FIFA’s pockmarks will carry over
to the tournament if this goes unnoticed.
Vigilance and outrage might be the best way to keep the tournament at
its height.
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