FBI Charges Top FIFA Execs - What Does this Mean for Soccer?
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Jonathan Sigal, GoLocalWorcester Contributor
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| Sepp Blatter, right, is the head of FIFA. Photo courtesy of: Flickr/Antoon Kooper |
In events that are still unfolding, nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives were arrested in Switzerland per a U.S. Department of Justice indictment that cites charges of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. The arrests occurred at the Baur au Lac Hotel in Switzerland, a five star hotel with sights overlooking the Alps, and came by way of money trails in U.S. bank accounts.
While 17-year incumbent FIFA President Sepp Blatter is untouched as of now, Chuck Blazer and Jeffrey Webb are two of the high-profile officials facing charges. The former hails from the U.S. and was on the FIFA Executive Committee, while the latter is the president of CONCACAF, the governing body that overseas international and club soccer in North America and the Caribbean.
In light of this shocking news, it’s important to ask just how big these arrests are. To put it simply, they’re as big as it gets for the world’s most popular game. Billions of viewers turn into the World Cup every four years and nations unite behind their national teams with unforeseen passion when World Cup qualifiers and regional tournaments are played.
Soccer Supporters Weigh In
"This all is the biggest it can get,” said Brendan Schimmel, a leader of the Providence chapter of the American Outlaws supporter group. "It’s almost so bad that it’s laughable. The fact they broke into a 5-star hotel and the Swiss of all people extradited the officials, it’s huge. FIFA as a medium can do more things in this world than any other socioeconomic body as far as bringing people together. To see something as powerful as that brought down is huge. Why this is huge is because it’s not a country solely bringing retribution, it’s that their corruption is finally being exposed to the public."
To learn that many of FIFA’s top executives thrive off a system of bribery, cronyism, and false promises casts a bleak shadow over the game of soccer and further clouds its top tournament: the World Cup.
2014’s edition in Brazil was marred by widespread protests and questions over human rights. Despite sparking virulent political unrest in Eastern Europe, Russia is set to host the tournament in 2018. Lastly, boiling-hot and migrant-worker-dependent Qatar will host the 2022 edition.
The only logical next question to ask is: where does FIFA go from here? Unfortunately, there is no clear cut answer. The organization holds massive influence over soccer across the world and institutionally there is no obvious path for the game or organization to go down.
There have been suspicions of corruption, bribes, and more for decades, but little has surfaced about them. However, all that people expected is now exposed and the future of soccer's governing body is tainted with uncertainty.
"Where does FIFA go from here?,” Schimmel said. "They have to realize there will be a public relations battle public bigger than Roger Goddell and the NFL is facing right now. It could go somewhere where supporter groups around the world protest, but how can change really be implemented? Where FIFA has to go is down the path of transparency and some people will take the fall probably, but change needs to occur. At the end of the day it’s all just grossly corrupt."
There are sure to be developments that arise in the coming days, but any time an organization sees this many top-dogs taken down for fraudulent integrity and practices, it is tough to envision a recovery. FIFA truly has been given a red card in every sense of the phrase.
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