Over the years, FIFA’s multibillion dollar revenues have had virtually no impact on grassroots football in Africa, Asia, Central and South America. One of the main reasons is that football development programs are often little more than a cover for corruption and bribery. As muckraker Andrew Jennings demonstrated in his book Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-rigging and Ticket Scandals, FIFA vice-president Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago mastered the art of pocketing millions in just this way. The GOAL program in Africa has had similar outcomes.
Now investigative reporting by the Sunday Times of London gives us video recordings of two FIFA executive committee members — Reynald Temarii (Tahiti), president of the Oceania Football Confederation, and Amos Adamu from Nigeria — demanding bribes from two reporters posing as American businessmen in exchange for votes in support of the US bid to host the 2018 World Cup. (The US has since withdrawn its 2018 bid to focus on 2022.)
Temarii allegedly asked for £1.3 million and Adamu £500,000 with half to be paid upfront for a ‘personal project’. (Read article here.)
How did The Times reporters know how to ‘work’ the system? FIFA insiders like Amadou Diakite (Mali) of the referees’ committee told them to offer bribes of around $1 million. Diakite also suggested ‘Leaving the member to decide what he is going to do with the amount is the safest way to get his vote’.
FIFA stated it will study the allegation. We’ll be holding our breath.
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4 replies on “FIFA Bribes = Money for ‘Development’”
It is sad that the suspects come from the poorer continents. It paints all of us negatively. Let us hope the investigations and findings help to route out these sharks. Football particularly in Africa is short of resources to provide for many poor children. The game of football is their only hope of running away from poverty, world of drugs and many other social ills.
It is indeed sad that materialism has gone so deep so fast in the contemporary soccerscapes. Nevertheless, I imagine the issue of big money in soccer takes many other faces beyond the FIFA officials bribery scandal. I believe that even the big money buying of clubs and players in Europe is equally sad, we can all see what is happening to Liverpool F C
The juxtaposition of FIFA and Liverpool is very interesting. The former purports to be a non-profit acting ‘for the good of the game’, while the latter makes no such specious claims. What unites them, however, is their shared status as global capitalist sport enterprises utterly disinterested in ordinary people and ‘everyday football’.
Update: Temarii told the website insideworldfootball.biz that, “I am 100 percent convinced of my integrity . . . I will prove I am an honest man.”
More details here:
http://www.capeargus.co.za/?fSectionId=3571&fArticleId=1.687449&fFeed=sportnews
This gem comes from the man who succeeded Charles Dempsey. Remember him? The OFC czar who abstained from the last round of voting in the 2006 WC bidding process, and thus gave Germany hosting rights by a single vote (12-11).