FIFA face melt down in latest scandal

As I sat down to watch the Hollywood blockbuster, ‘The Green Lantern’, it dawned on me that a superhero is only as good as his nemesis.

For me, FIFA has it’s own villain, the untouchable Sepp Blatter. So there is a need for a Super Hero to emerge from the murky waters and save us all. That man could well be American Michael Garcia, who has been recently appointed head investigator of the new Ethics Committee.

 

Sepp Blatter claims that he did the right thing when he helped form the Ethics Committee in 2006, but what he forgets to mention is that one of the specific terms was that whatever happened in the past should be left well alone. There was a reason for this.

 

This condition was created to allow Jack Warner, who was then a FIFA vice president and the president of CONCACAF, to distance himself from allegations of wrong doing concerning his involvement in World Cup ticket selling operations.

 

Recently, the Swiss federal court ordered the release of the very same ISL documents that FIFA fought not to have published. The Swiss courts rejected to open the file on 3 previous occasions.

 

The documents confirmed what many had suspected for years. Former president Joao Havelange and his former son in law, Ricardo Teixeira, who was the Brazilian confederations leader until he stepped down last year citing ill health, had received millions of dollars in commissions, or as I like to call them bribes, from International Sports Media and Marketing (ISL).

 

ISL was the marketing partner of both FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.

 

It was Havelange, who awarded ISL the marketing rights for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups in exchange for ‘commissions’. Both men are accused, along with others, of receiving payments from ISL, who went bankrupt in 2001, after only twenty years of existence.

 

The document also confirmed that senior sports officials including CAF president Issa Hayatou, CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz and international athletics boss Lamine Diack were on the payroll of ISL. Last year the IOC saw fit to take action against their members Hayatou and Diack, but Havelange resigned his membership before an IOC eithics hearing, thus escaping any official punishment.

 

Blatter, who is named under an alias of ‘P1’ in the document, is not accused of any wrong doing but his statement that receiving commercial commissions from companies was not against Swiss laws at the time, although true, does not bode well for his ethical values. Did he know about these payments but ignore them because, technically, they were not breaking the law?

 

Michael Garcia has been granted to look deeper than any man before into FIFA’s most darkest corners, what more will he find?

 

On the agenda is the whole fiasco of the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. Allegations of bribery have been rife ever since the voting took place. Garcia will have full authority to investigate. However it is fair to say that neither Russia nor Qatar need worry, they will still host the tournaments. So it could well be a hollow victory.

 

Garcia’s calender suddenly has become rather full. Let’s hope he has the engergy resources to see this right the way to the end. Some people have called for the abolishment of FIFA altogether after the latest scandal.

 

 I agree.

 

Watch action from FIFA’s showpeice – the 2010 World Cup

 

Kam Gill