FIFA: A Story of Politics and Corruption
FIFA’s recent history of awarding the World Cup to oppressive regimes has been a blemish on the beautiful game. Art: Faizah El-Gamasy and Erica Wong
By INÉS BARRAGÁN
“Keep politics out of sports!” is a phrase we often hear from die-hard soccer fans. But this is easier said than done.
This year, the FIFA World Cup was held in Qatar, raising questions about the integrity of the sport’s leadership. Many wondered whether Qatar had bribed its way into relevancy. Journalists also raised concerns about the way the country treated its migrant workforce.
Protecting human rights is (for the most part) a deeply held value in the Western world. However, not every country has adopted that position, and Qatar is one example.
Qatar is a small but oil-rich nation in the Middle East with a history of human rights violations. In 2021, the United States Department of Justice reported restrictions there on free speech and freedom of movement and assembly. The DOJ also noted the country’s prevalence of violence towards women, laws criminalizing same-sex relationships, maltreatment of migrant workers, and corruption in political elections. Similar reports have been made every year over the last decade.
In 2010, FIFA, the governing body for international soccer, granted Qatar the honor of hosting the 2022 World Cup. Since then, Qatar spent hundreds of billions of dollars and hired migrant workers to build stadiums and other infrastructure. These workers allegedly suffered abuse, working long hours in terrible conditions for little pay, and many have died under questionable circumstances.
Suspicions of bribery sparked an uproar as well, since the announcements that Russia and Qatar were granted the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively, given both countries’ lack of preparedness to host and their record of human rights abuses. Leaked emails suggest that Mohammed bin Hammam, a Qatari soccer official and former FIFA committee member, paid millions to FIFA officials, including three from South America, to vote for Qatar. In addition, many of the people involved in the voting scandal for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups have been accused of malpractice.
However, the corruption seen in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups is not new. In fact, ever since Joao Havelange took over FIFA in 1974, it’s been hard to separate politics and corruption from soccer. Before Havelange’s arrival, FIFA was an amateur organization with barely any money and no desire for expansion.
Havelange became president in June 1974, after allegedly bribing representatives from various African countries to vote for him in exchange for benefits and increased stature for African soccer. He revolutionized the organization and introduced capitalistic practices to soccer to foster its growth and worldwide expansion, like multi-million dollar marketing and sponsorship deals.
Despite serious protests, Havelange held the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, which at the time had been taken over by a fascist, violent military junta. Havelange himself believed politics should be kept out of sports. But by saying that sports and politics shouldn’t mix, Havelange took part in the worst kind of politics: enabling bad actors and governments to raise their profiles and hide their abuses, rather than using the organization’s power and reach to take a stance against said abuses.
While the Qatari government isn’t at the same level as Videla’s Argentina or Nazi Germany, it participated in “sports washing,” meaning the selling of a sanitized image through association with sports. By being the host of the World Cup, the Qatari government was able to conceal its human rights violations to the world and establish itself as a respectable country.
Vladimir Putin did the same thing in 2018, trying to disguise the malfeasance of his regime by hosting the World Cup. Representatives working for Russia had also allegedly bribed FIFA officials, including Rafael Salguero, who was promised $1 million to give his vote to Russia. Interestingly, the current FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, received the Order of Friendship medal from Vladimir Putin.
FIFA’s biggest scandal broke out in 2015 when a total of 32 FIFA officials were charged with money laundering, bribery, wire fraud, and racketeering. Most pleaded guilty. Among them were the biggest names in the committee, essentially the people who run the organization and decide who will host each World Cup.
While the World Cup is a global celebration that brings soccer fans together every four years to watch the most beautiful game, played by the most talented players, instilling national pride amongst fans from all participating countries, it is also an event that historically has highlighted the moral issues of corruption, where growth and profit overpower sustainability and moral rectitude.
Despite FIFA’s political and moral shortcomings, it is arguable that there would be no global soccer without it. Bundled with all the morally questionable decisions and practices from FIFA are also its successes at expanding the reach of the sport and bringing hope and joy to more places on Earth.
Thus, fans worldwide hoping that FIFA can transcend politics one day and focus solely on the sport are arguably engaging in another form of sports washing. Maybe fans should instead be hoping for FIFA to continue engaging in politics, albeit without the corruption, so that they can be a force for positive change. Only time will tell.