Only in professional sports can a $1 billion-plus business be run like the worst sort of little league. Soccer--football to the world outside the U.S.-- is no exception.
As the world's most watched sporting tournament is about to get underway, the game is being split by damning allegations of corruption, cronyism and financial mismanagement at the top of its worldwide governing body, the
No sports administration has as tight a global grip on its game as FIFA. It is the umbrella body for the national associations of 204 countries, and its rule of the game is unchallenged. But its internal politics have become Machiavellian as a power struggle has developed between the long-established football powerhouses of Europe and South America, who generate much of the game's burgeoning wealth, and the far more numerous emerging soccer nations, who have increasingly become the recipients of it.
So assiduously and adeptly has it done this, in fact, that Blatter now stands accused of running "a dictatorship" and worse. What has been so damning to his credibility outside the soccer world is that the accusation has been made by FIFA's second-highest official,
In a 21-page dossier containing 300 pages of evidence presented to FIFA's executive committee early in May, Zen-Ruffinen accused Blatter of making unauthorized payments, covering up the extent of the losses from the bankruptcy in March 2001 of FIFA's former marketing partner
On May 10, 11 of the 24 members of FIFA's executive committee filed a criminal complaint against Blatter with Swiss authorities. Zen-Ruffinen turned over his dossier to them. The Swiss prosecutor has the power to bring criminal charges if he believes Swiss law has been broken. Zen-Ruffinen has since been gagged form speaking in public by FIFA's executive committee--chaired by Blatter and on which he has majority support. Zen-Ruffinen's administrative duties for FIFA's finances have been turned over to
Blatter has denied the allegations, releasing a 30-page rebuttal. He says that any unauthorized payments that may have been made were out of his own pocket. On the central issue of the collapse of ISL/ISMM, he said the estimated loss would be $32 million to $38 million, and claims that the loss would be higher were "fantasy."
The collapse has reportedly already cost FIFA $100 million in writedowns of claims in an out-of-court settlement with liquidators; the total loss has been put as high as $278 million.
The bankruptcy was followed by a second embarrassment for Blatter, the collapse of
In another blow, FIFA was forced to cancel the 2001 World Club Championship when another television partner, the Brazilian TV company
Blatter says the charges against him are a politically motivated smear campaign. They have provided added vitriol to the final weeks of an already rancorous election campaign for the FIFA presidency.
Blatter is seeking a second four-year term. His sole opponent is
The secret ballot will be taken in Seoul at the FIFA Congress on May 29. Blatter is widely expected to win easily, despite the corruption and mismanagement allegations against him.
Whatever the outcome, the charges against Blatter have highlighted the need to reform FIFA, just as the bribes scandal surrounding the Salt Lake Winter Olympics forced change upon the International Olympic Committee.
As soccer has grown as a sport, so has it as a business: Television money has poured into the sport, along with it, all the bitterness over whether it should be used to develop the game in developing nations or returned to the European countries whose teams and clubs generate so much of it. FIFA's organization has grown from an office of 50 to 150. But the professional financial administration for this burgeoning business has not followed. Executive power has remained with the president and his unaccountable cabinet of highly paid advisors, not even with the 24-strong executive committee drawn from FIFA's member associations.
Zen-Ruffinen says he went public with his charges and took them to the authorities only after failing to initiate reform from the inside. He and some of the powerhouse soccer nations of Europe have called for FIFA's structure to be reformed to bring more openness and accountability to its workings, with the presidency becoming a figurehead position rotating among the organizations various regional groupings.
"FIFA, like any another commercial entity, has to publish its accounts and maintain an open access to the press, players and management," said Hayatou en route to Japan and South Korea. "There is a need for change and a more ethical environment." UEFA has already made moves in this direction. It has appointed a board of directors to oversee its affairs and mandated greater openness in its dealings with its member national associations.
Sports administrators are famously introspective. Many developing nations will see no need to shut off the spigot that has provided them with an ever bigger share of the sport's dollars. But there comes a point where, without greater accountability and transparency, the ultimate source of those dollars, multinational advertisers such as
Once the only global game in town, soccer has recently gained competition from basketball. Some figures for the two sports:
| Soccer | Basketball | |
| Total viewers for finals | World Cup final, 1998: 1 billion (FIFA) | NBA playoffs and finals, 2001: 2.5 billion (NBA) |
| Number of countries tuned | World Cup final, 1998: 200 (FIFA) | 2001: 210 (NBA) |
| TV rights | World Cup: $1.3 billion (FIFA) | single NBA season: $765 million (NBA) |
| Total spectators | World Cup, 1998: 2.75 million (FIFA) | NBA playoffs, 2001: 1.46 million (NBA) |
| Best compensated player | Zinedine Zidane, $12.24 million (France Football) | Shaquille O'Neal, $24 million (Forbes) |
| Richest team | Manchester United, $166.35 million (Deloitte Touche/4-4-2) | Los Angeles Lakers, $403 million (Forbes) |