IN-CLASS ONLINE LESSON #11

Theme - Justice

FIFA Corruption (Bribery)

FIFA’s choice to award the 2018 world cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has been widely criticized by media. There have been reports stating that Russian kickbacks of cash and gifts given to FIFA executive members were enough to secure Russian 2018 bid weeks before the results were announced. Also, England was frustrated as they failed to secure the 2018 finals. When they questioned FIFA, evidence of bribery during the world cup bids started leaking out.

Bribery is an act implying money given that alters the behavior of the recipient. Some members of the FIFA executive committee accepted bribes just for the sake of money instead of making the decisions in which countries should host which world cup and ignoring the needs and opinions of both footballers and football fans. I feel that they are abusing their power out of personal interest. Given a high post, they should have high moral values and stick to the laws. Furthermore, people would lose respect of them and FIFA would have a bad image.

FIFA should have high discipline and prevent such things from occurring in the future. A few years back, It launched a fair play campaign called ‘My game is fair play’ that represents positive benefits of playing by the rules, using common sense and respecting fellow players, referees, opponents and fans. However, because of such allegations of briberies, their reputation of being a fair and responsible organization to govern football has been tarnished. This led to illegal activities like match-fixing in Turkey. As we all know, football is the world’s most popular sport. It should be enjoyed by millions around the world. If such cases of bribery in FIFA continues, how can be ensure that football is fair for all of us? Another point to take note of is that FIFA would lose its major sponsors such as Coca-Cola and Adidas because they want to cut off ties with the corrupted FIFA.

Looking at the big picture, FIFA’s irresponsibility could ultimately cause the increase of corruptions happening all over the world. The organisation has always been a large one and is well known to many through their organization of major international tournaments, notably FIFA World Cup. It should set a good example to other small organisations by being strict when dealing with corruption.

All in all, FIFA must not point fingers and instead work as a team to emerge stronger and from within, as stated by IOC president Jacques Rogge. They must ensure that no bribery occurs in the future and be more responsible at what they do. Football would then be respected as fair sport to be played.