The soccer mafia
6/6/12 21:00![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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talkpolitics
http://www.droemer-knaur.de/buecher/Fifa-Mafia.7775048.html
The UEFA Euro 2012 begins in just two days. I now North Americans don't usually care about soccer, but elsewhere it's big. Really big. Beginning Friday, "King Football" will reign supreme over an entire continent for a whole month. Millions will be watching, and not just in Europe.
So this book comes quite timely. It's not about UEFA (the European ruling body of soccer), but about FIFA, the worldwide ruling body. And it has some pretty merciless conclusions about this organization and especially its leader, Sepp Blatter.
After reading the book, one'd wonder how come the special forces haven't yet stormed the FIFA offices, like they did with some of the credit rating agencies. And it's not like FIFA doesn't have some uncomfortable secrets to answer for. Corruption, cronyism, blackmail, and shady deals. So here are some scandalous facts...
For many people FIFA has long been a symbol of corruption. That's why Sepp Blatter is often booed by the fans wherever he appears on the stadiums. And there's a good reason for that. The author of FIFA-Mafia, Thomas Kistner (a former Süddeutsche Zeitung journalist), reveals to what extent Blatter and his thousands of aides have enslaved the most popular sport in the world - to their economic interests. FIFA has become like a self-sufficient state
The book was actually 20 years in the making, and is a result of extensive research. It wasn't intended to be a book about soccer, but more like a criminal/business chronicle. Comparing the international soccer association to the mafia is not incidental, and neither a mere marketing trick. The book paints a very unflattering picture of the organization, but also puts a very controversial dilemma on the table: How much commercialism in sports is already too much?
First of all, although practically being the global organization that it is (making billions of dollars annually), FIFA was registered and organized as a corporation. Its structures contain well noticeable traces of family/dynasty principles of inheritance, and there's a rampant culture of favoritism. In other words, cronyism. Joseph Blatter himself has often used the term "football family", presumably in the good sense, but ironically, many have seen what the term can mean in quite the literal sense. It's just that this huge family has one Godfather, who hands out delicious posts to his closest relatives and friends.
In fact FIFA wasn't founded by Blatter. It was Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of Adidas, Adolf Dassler. HD was the first man to create a symbiotic relationship between sport and the unscrupulous business interests by secretly collecting personal data about all athletes and sports officials who had any influence on world sports. In 1981 he appointed his protege Sepp Blatter as Secretary General, and since then the latter has maintained the "family" course.
Blatter stops at nothing in defense of the economic interests of the "family". For example the wife of one of his staunchest critics got phone threats that her kids would be kidnapped. Audiotapes from FIFA meetings regularly disappear mysteriously, "problematic" protocols sink into obscurity within days, private detectives are hired to collect compromising material against those who dare to oppose the "family" either in word or action. The phones at the FIFA headquarters are tapped. And, above all, citing "the independent statute of sports", FIFA forbids any outside interference or even investigation into its activities, including from the sovereign government of any country, threatening to ban the football association of said country from participation in international football events if said government doesn't comply. Even if it's about investigation of corruption cases within the local FIFA branch. FIFA is untouchable. Now, there's of course an Ethics Commission at FIFA, but that's mostly for PR, because of course Blatter appoints all its members, and it investigates only what he allows to be investigated. And the evidence never gets back to the top ranks of the organization. No surprise there, either.
Even organizations that are in principle supposed to be independent, are being included in the "family" in one way or another - be it through bribery or blackmail. For instance, FIFA made a donation to the International Sports Journalsits Union, 50,000 euros. And then, who'd even dare writing a word of criticism against FIFA after such generosity? Also, Interpol received 20 MILLION euros from FIFA (supposedly for "fighting match fixing"), and meanwhile one of its former chairmen is in charge of FIFA's Security Service. What better "immunity" against police investigations, eh?
Kirstner's ca.400 pages describe in great detail the multiple corruption links and dependencies around this global octopus of an organization. Even big politics serves it well. For instance, just 4 days before the decisive meeting (behind closed doors) where the host of the 2006 World Cup was to be decided, the German government approved the supply of 1200 bazookas to Saudi Arabia. And the Saudi representative at FIFA subsequently voted in favor of Germany. The scandals around the choice of Qatar for World Cup 2022 have become legendary now, it's become pretty clear that Qatar "bought" the vote (and trumped the US in its final bid to host the event). No investigation followed, no charges pressed, no one was convicted. FIFA is just above the law. Any law.
The omnipresent and omnipotent sponsors also seem to dance by Blatter's tune. You'd wonder why nobody is taking any real measures against corruption? Kistner's explanation is simple: because Blatter is the chairman of the only truly global corporate monopoly in the world in the sports sector. He alone has the ultimate power over all and any decisions concerning international soccer, especially when it comes to World Cups, the most lucrative sports event in the world. And of course every business would love getting on board with this most profitable entertainment product in the entire galaxy. Regardless of the price.
But there's more. I'm prone to sharing Kistner's conclusion that everyone shares the responsibility for the dirty state of world soccer. It seems no one is able to stand against the huge money machine that is FIFA. Despite all the scandals, the money keeps pouring into it at an ever accelerating pace. Presently, its annual turnover is about a billion euros, and rising!
Despite the scandalous revelations, supported with evidence, the book has a major challenge to it: it tells truths that everybody already knows, but nobody seems to care much about. It won't change a thing. The big wheel is already turning, it can't be stopped. I know it sounds cynical, but it's the truth. At the end of the day, what does the regular sports fan care about corruption at the tops, even if they clearly see the results of it and if it gets constantly confirmed with more and more evidence? Let's face it. What matters to people is that the match of their fave team should be played, and they should have some fun, right? Even the fact that the 2022 World Cup was "bought", won't spoil the enthusiasm from the coming matches which are to be played in the desert, under the scorching sun, in the middle of summer (hopefully the Qataris will keep their promise to build stadiums with air conditioning, something unprecedented in history).
And it's the fans who are paying the TV rights, who are buying the match tickets, and purchasing the commercial products related to the game. They're the water that keeps this weel turning. But that's probably material for another discussion, and maybe for a separate book. I'd propose a title for it: "The Beautiful Game: How To Restore Innocence". I suspect the answer to that one won't be easy at all.
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Date: 6/6/12 18:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/6/12 18:48 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/6/12 19:01 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/6/12 19:47 (UTC)I'd say there's cultural issues in play. Or a lack of interest in oversight.
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Date: 6/6/12 20:13 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 7/6/12 01:53 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 7/6/12 02:00 (UTC)That's pretty damn good.
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Date: 7/6/12 03:27 (UTC)The NFL looks the other way at players on steroids, because 'roids is good for revenue. NFL sees most of it's players as assets. Yes, powerful assets they spent alot of money on. But as long as they perform during the contact all is good, what they do after the contract expires (kill themselves, go to jail, go broke, etc.) well, who cares? A league with integrity would.
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Date: 7/6/12 04:37 (UTC)You may be thinking of Major League baseball, which is run in a shitty, FIFA-like fashion.
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Date: 6/6/12 19:03 (UTC)Unfortunately I share your skepticism as to the cleansing of the game from these flaws.
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