FIFA has experienced some turbulent times in the past eight months. Even before England’s failed World Cup bid, there were allegations against FIFA in terms of alleged bribes being paid to officials in return for their vote. This has not gone away and a dark cloud is hanging over the governing body. On the pitch, the sport is more popular than ever with the recent Champions League Final attracting over 300 million viewers.
More recently, in June, a secret report by FIFA’s ethics committee has claimed there is “overwhelming” evidence that Mohamed Bin Hammam tried to bribe officials during his campaign to become president of world football’s governing body and that Jack Warner was “an accessory to corruption”.
The reality is, there have been many allegations against FIFA’s members in recent months and the organisation has chosen to investigate these with the use of an internal ethics committee. The problems at FIFA are internal therefore it seems ludicrous that they are internally investigated! Can FIFA really use an internal ethics committee for investigations which are to be unbiased and seen to be unbiased?
The involvement of impartial third party neutrals is clearly the only true legitimate way ahead and should have been the first port of call in this sporting storm. In my eyes, it is fundamental to have a person or people who is or are impartial and independent conducting these types of investigations and which would change the perception of football’s global decision makers.
Football’s world governing body has answered this criticism with a strategy to restore ‘faith in Fifa’. This involves Sepp Blatter establishing a quasi-independent so called ‘council of wisdom’.
This council of wisdom has now been established with a membership total of three. These include Johan Cruyff (a former Dutch footballer of considerable talent), Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State) and….. Placido Domingo (a Spanish Mexican Opera singer). This appears to be unprofessional and even acentric.
A mediator specializing in sport would be a far more acceptable route for FIFA to follow and is the only follow through they can implement to save FIFA’s face.
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