They were responsible for thousands of unexplained migrant worker deaths in Qatar. They were condemned by the human rights group, Amnesty International. Their president bragged that they “manage their finances like a housewife,” and their top officials have been charged with racketeering, conspiracy, and corruption.
Meet FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, the organization responsible for the World Cup, and recently awarded Donald Trump, the fascist responsible for the US’s democratic decline, the first FIFA Peace Prize.
In 1974, FIFA’s seventh president, Joao Havelange, accepted bribes in the form of diamonds, bicycles, porcelain, paintings, and art books. FIFA knew about the bribes, but they didn’t believe it was their problem. They have not made any effort to make amends.
In 1988, FIFA elected its eighth president, Sepp Blatter. He bribed Farro Ado, the vice president of the Confederation of American Football, $100,000 to vote for him.
He has a long list of offenses, the first beginning in 2004. He said, “Let the women play in more feminine clothes…for example, have tighter shorts. Female players are pretty…They already have different rules than men…So why not do it in fashion?” Ironically, this comment came around the same time that he was divorcing his third wife, a dolphin trainer named Graziella Biance, who was his daughter’s friend.
In December of 2010, when it was announced that the 2022 World Cup would be taking place in Qatar, Blatter said, “I would say they [gay fans] should refrain from any sexual activities,” sparking backlash from queer rights activists. His frat boy attitude reflected poorly on FIFA when Amnesty International condemned the organization for not taking sufficient action to prevent human rights violations. Little did they know that Blatter wasn’t concerned about human rights because he was too busy being interested in the sexual activities of homosexual soccer fans.
In 2015, the US Department of Justice charged nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives with racketeering, conspiracy, and corruption. According to DOJ archives, “Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner – the current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States – [were] among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses.” Swiss authorities raided the FIFA headquarters in Zurich and arrested seven more defendants at the request of the US.
Shortly after the scandal erupted, Blatter resigned. In 2021, Blatter was charged by Swiss authorities with fraud and falsifying documents. FIFA then banned him from football for 8 years. He was cleared of all charges by Swiss authorities, but his legacy remains an ugly stain on FIFA and a regret for the football community.
After Blatter’s resignation, Issa Hayatou acted as the interim president until FIFA could elect a new one. He was chosen despite having allegedly taken 1.5 million in bribes from Qatar to vote for them to host the 2022 World Cup.
In 2016, Gianni Infantino was elected to be FIFA’s new president. He has billed FIFA for personal expenses, including £8,795 for mattresses for his home, £6,829 for a stepper exercise machine, £1,086 for a tuxedo, £677 on flowers, and £132 on personal laundry, according to the FIFA ethics committee.
Infantino’s tenure was relatively uneventful until he was called out by multiple human rights organizations. The rushed construction in Qatar to build football stadiums was disastrous. The Human Rights Watch said, “Many migrant workers have faced serious abuses, including illegal recruitment fees, wage theft, injuries, and unexplained deaths.”
In accordance with their other scandals, FIFA wasn’t fazed. They claimed that they took all necessary precautions. Amnesty International, a human rights organization, disagreed, saying, “FIFA failed to take sufficient action to prevent this suffering when it could have done so.” They even took it a step further, accusing FIFA of enabling the abuse “[FIFA] in fact enabled [the abuse] by choosing to award the World Cup to a country where widespread labour abuses were clearly foreseeable, without imposing any conditions to protect workers’ rights,” they said.
From the foolishness of the FIFA Peace Prize to the absurdity of spending £8,795 on the president’s mattress, FIFA has long since been one of the dumbest sports organizations to exist. Add on human rights violations, and FIFA is now the organizational embodiment of crocodiles that eat little dogs when they get too close to the water. •