FIFA arrests: sports experts at U of T on why this took so long and what it all means for the future of soccer

Seven FIFA officials were arrested May 27, accused of “rampant, systematic and deep-rooted corruption” – and that’s good news for soccer, say experts at the University of Toronto, who’ve tracked problems with FIFA for more than a decade.

Calling it “a good day for sport,” Professor Bruce Kidd, a former Olympian, said he hopes FIFA’s long-serving president, Sepp Blatter, will step down. Professor Peter Donnelly, director of The Centre for Sport Policy Studies at U of T’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, welcomed the arrests but pointed out they were a long time coming.

“I felt relief that it has finally started to happen and frustration that it has taken so long to see action on this,” says Donnelly. “Those who follow these matters have known about these issues for at least 12 to 15 years.”

The Centre for Sport Policy Studies has been casting a critical eye on FIFA and international sports organizations for years, pushing for more transparency and democracy.  In 2011, Kidd and Donnelly helped to craft the final draft of The Cologne Consensus – a major call for good governance in sport. 

Writer Valerie Iancovich spoke with Donnelly about what this latest scandal means for the federation, its top brass and the future of the World Cup.

We're at 14 indictments – nine FIFA officials and five sports marketers – so far. Will we see more charges and more arrests?

I think that's highly likely; there are other ongoing investigations (I understand that the FBI has been holding the son of Jack Warner, a committee member from Trinidad and Tobago, for some time and that he has been talking in ways that probably – along with the paper trails – contributed to these arrests). There is also the ongoing Swiss investigation, and it will probably be empowered now that action has finally been taken. It is also highly likely that those arrested will use their insider information to point the finger at others as a plea bargain for their own position. The boss is still in place. Sepp Blatter is on the arrest wish list of everyone I know who has been following FIFA misconduct.
 
Those charged include Warner, Vice-President Jeffrey Webb and the current and former heads of the FIFA regional association for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as FIFA officials connected to the South American regional association. What does it mean that such highly-ranked officials were charged?

I'm not sure about Webb, but Jack Warner's misconduct has been reported on for years; his actions were so blatant that he was forced to resign as head of CONCACAF (The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) several years ago. The fact that such highly-ranked officials have been charged may help to bring charges against others above and below them in the FIFA hierarchy, and against those hangers-on who have been involved in, for example, ticket-selling scams for World Cup events.
 
These $150 million in commercial bribes are being traced back to the 1990s. Have critics suspected this misconduct has been happening for so long?

Critics haven’t just suspected, they’ve known about this for years through the work of libel-proof investigative journalists. In 2006, Andrew Jennings published a book titled Foul!: The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals. The book summarized evidence that he had been collecting and publishing in various sources for several years before 2006.

In 2005, FIFA attempted to block publication of the book and they have made several libel threats since then; but Jennings’ work, and his subsequent research appears to be bullet proof and provides clear evidence of corrupt practices. His work has stimulated other journalists to investigate FIFA, and their work has probably contributed in a significant way (along with the paper trail) to the current investigations and arrests.

There are accusations of misconduct related to the awarding of the next two world cup events in Qatar and Russia. What could this mean for these tournaments?

At the very least I hope it will mean that the conditions of labourers constructing the facilities in both countries will improve significantly, and that there will be significant improvements to the World Cup bidding process. I’m not sure that the World Cups could be withdrawn from Russia and Qatar, or that bidding could be re-opened; there may be too many legal contracts already in place as a result of what may be revealed as an illegal process. Other benefits may be that both future World Cups would be exposed to a great deal more scrutiny, making it difficult for past nefarious practices (e.g., ticket scams) to occur.

Will all this affect the FIFA women’s world cup coming to Canada this summer?
 
I don’t think that it will have any direct impact on the players or the Games. It should shed more light on the Canadian Soccer Association who quietly remained a member of FIFA and CONCACAF all during these years of reported corruption, and whose president – it has been reported – may vote (again?) for Blatter in the election this weekend. And it will certainly shine a media spotlight on this World Cup – which will probably command even more attention than it might have.

That spotlight will also focus on any FIFA officials who attend. Try to imagine the reaction of the media, the spectators, and the players if Sepp Blatter shows up at the opening ceremonies (if they let him out of Switzerland) or tries to present the cup to the winning team. The players have particular reason to feel resentful: FIFA denied an appeal by many players to have their World Cup games played on grass (as is required for the men’s teams) rather than artificial turf; and several years ago, Blatter advised women players that they would attract larger audiences to their games if they wore shorter shorts!   

What could this development mean for the future of FIFA? What lesson does it deliver to other major sports organizations, like the IOC?

Maybe we will finally see FIFA becoming a more open, transparent and democratic organization. It should be remembered that the millions of dollars that have been taken in bribes, or in return for votes, or through other illegal means, was money intended for the development of football, especially in low income countries. I hope that the arrests will also motivate other major international sport organizations to become more open, transparent and democratic and that it will empower governments and anti-corruption NGOs to begin to seriously challenge the unregulated autonomy of international sports and to begin to implement appropriate regulations requiring good governance practices.