FIFA: A Corruption Story

What can be said about FIFA that hasn't already been said? No democracy when it comes to choosing their President, no transparency within the organisation, and continuous allegations of widespread corruption that have been running rampant for years. There is no doubt there is definitely something not quite right with world football's governing body.

Yet! Despite strong concerns over FIFA's underhanded tactics, they seem more determined than ever to just sweep any accusations under the football carpet. And if anyone was in any doubt before over the honesty and integrity of this organisation, this past week must surely have laid those doubts to rest.

Rewind to December 2010. As football fans (including myself) watched Sky Sports with baited breath to see which nations would be awarded the chance to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectfully, I personally was left in utter shock when England's bid to host the 2022 World Cup didn't even make it past the first round of votes. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I was left completely dumbfounded when it was announced who would be the lucky hosts...Qatar.



The World Cup Trophy

Qatar?

Really? 

Obviously every nation that is capable of hosting a successful World Cup should get the opportunity to, and that right should not be monopolised by the stronger footballing nations like the South American and European countries. But for sooo many reasons, Qatar is just the wrong choice.

For starters, Qatar's football team is ranked 88th in the world according to FIFA rankings. Is there going to be strong home support from Qatar's citizens for the football when its own national team is so bad?

Secondly (and I think most importantly), what is FIFA going to do about the heat? World Cups are usually held in the summer months between June and July, where daily temperatures in Qatar can reach 40 degrees Celsius and beyond. And FIFA may say that stadia with speciality created roofs will be built to regulate the temperatures and keep it cool for the players and the fans inside the ground,  but what about outside the ground? What about fans travelling to and from different venues? How are they going to cope in the roaring heat.

Such concerns has now resulted in there being an ongoing debate as to whether or not the competition should be moved to a different date, and if so, which date? With so many other tournaments occurring throughout the year in different regions, including Europe's Champions League competition running in November/December and the IOC's Winter Olympics in January and February, awarding this World Cup to Qatar was not a decision based on thorough research as to its likely implications for the rest of the world.

Rather it was based on the financial gain  FIFA stood to receive in exchange for the award.

In response to the ferocious wave of corruption theories surrounding FIFA and Qatar's 

FIFA, World Football's Governing Body

World Cup bid in particular, FIFA sought to preserve its credibility by appointing lawyer Michael Garcia to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.

But now, FIFA has shot themselves in the foot by releasing a report conducted by their very own ethics judge, which clears both Russia and particularly Qatar of any corruption or wrongdoing, a report that has been highly criticised and condemned as "incomplete" and "erroneous" by the very man FIFA appointed to investigate allegations of corruption in the first place!

Now with rumours of some countries boycotting the 2022 World Cup in protest of the lousy report, it is truly a sad reality that the beautiful game is not only governed, but is also controlled and ruled with an iron fist by an organisation that is incompetent, institutionally corrupt and thus lacks legitimacy, credibility and trust among millions of football fans.

Good luck Qatar.