Introduction to Corruption in Football

Discuss about the Corruption and Government in Soccer.

The transparency of the game of football has repeatedly been stained in the past. Recent activities of its governing body FIFA has raised the questions related to its presence in governing position. The current corruption in Fifa put their very activities and standards into question. Two of its biggest officials, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were charged with misconduct(Smith, 2013). This very situation raised questions about Fifa’s functioning and governing transparency. There were rumours in the past regarding corrupt practices and breach of human values by the body of FIFA. But, all rumours were directly fuelled by the revelation of bribery by two of Fifa’s biggest names (Holden, 2016).

The downfall of Sepp Blatter and his heir Michel Platini was completed after both of them faced eight years ban from the game of football. Fifa’s ethics committee conveyed their decision to the press with immediate enforcing the embargo. Later both of them were cleared of the corruption charges(Homburg, 2010). But, they were found guilty of other allegations which included conflict of interest and dereliction of duty. The investigations suggested that Platini had been paid over 1.35 million pounds in 2011 by the then president Sepp Blatter (Veloso, 2013). While these men were busy clearing the charges against them in Fifa’s appeal committee one thing was clear. The event had brought the end to Blatter’s 40-year controversial tenure with Fifa and Platini’s all hopes of getting the presidential spot after Blatter. Apparently, Blatter had violated his responsibility towards the body of Fifa. The judges of ethics panel of Fifa declared that Platini had to break his position and misused it to his advantage(Rose-Ackerman, 2015). The oral agreement which he showed was not convincing for his defence. The very foundation of the governing committee was put under question after the corruption charges.

Since it’s early day’s football has rapidly moved into its future towards becoming a global event. Professional clubs were formed who made football a lucrative profession. But as money started to flow in abundance, misuse became a practice ((Preuss, 2014). Hence, corruption silently crept in staining the transparency of the sport. Though 22 men battle it out in the field, often money controls them from behind. Fixing, referee manipulation, gambling have been part of football since last few years. Controversies are in abundance. Some raise up to the surface through whistle-blowing or media surge; others stay in the darkness hidden(Gardner, 2014).

Types of Corruption in Football

A game where millions of dollars are invested, gambling isn’t an uncommon practice. The mobile devices and use of the internet have made gaming easier and everyday affair. Just log on to Skybet or Bet365, and one can quickly earn a fortune with the right bet(Holden, 2016). Soccer having a problem with gambling isn’t a new issue. All that is lacking is a blast of information regarding the exact offenders. Fans and supports usually bet on match predictions or something else of that matter(Szymanski, 2014). But, the issue arises when betting surge happens in a certain unpredictable situation. Either person inside leaks the information or someone holding the position just sells it. The leak of information results in a flow of bets on certain occasions which may seem unpredictable until the result(Gabbe, 2013). The following incident published by sports.vice.com is an example how betting is triggered leak of information.

The famous EPL is also not an exception. Hary Redknapp had resigned as manager of Southampton and signed as a manager for Portsmouth. These two clubs are biggest in the South Coastal England with a fierce rivalry(Guskiewicz, 2013). After signing of Harry, Betfair, an online exchange of gambling revealed that it had an experience of betting in significant volume. The money invested was 16.5 million pounds, and all happened just before Redknapp’s signing for Portsmouth(Masters, 2015).  The fans were already betting on the signing of Redknapp as Portsmouth’s manager. Now sports.vice leaves the question whether there was leakage of information about this signing which triggered the great betting flow. Even Betfair shared the records with FA, but after cross-checking many suspects, FA eventually called off the investigation(Junge, 2011). According to sports.vice English football and gambling holds a complex relation. This incident of Redknapp is just an indication of the relationship.

Investing lump-sum money and getting back the amount is quite difficult at times. Especially in a game of football. Match fixing does the trick in most cases. The centres of power in most footballing areas were recorded to fix matches according to the need and investment(John, 2013). Money makes the ball role, as it can be mentioned. Betting and Match fixing has an intimate relation behind the scenes. The former, in most cases, insists the latter occur. Football being a compelling game, match-fixing is a bit tricky. But the match officials are easy prey, who controls the flow of the game(Ehrenberg, 2016). In football, it is the referee. Around the world, in most fixing cases judges seem to have played a part in most.

Gambling

In 2013, The Huffington Post reported a match-fixing scandal where global betting scam triggered match fixing of hundreds of events. A betting scam from Singapore is suspected to be behind this process of match fixing(Halabi, 2012). There were around 680 matches who aroused suspicion and matches included qualifying matches for World Cup, European Championship and Champions League. Top clubs have been identified in the investigation through European Police, Europol and national prosecutors(Masters, 2015). The suspected matches took place between 2008 and 2011. Total 300 matches were played in Europe and rest in Africa, Latin America and Asia. This scandal was linked with betting syndicates from Asia who was already a threat to the game(Szymanski, 2014).

Another such instance occurred in India. In Goa Football is a popular sport with many professional clubs. A journalist from Goa, Anthony Marcus, claimed that whatever he experienced he had never seen in his entire career. He made this comment after watch a local match between Wilfred Leisure and Don Paula Sport’s Club (Paradiso, 2015). The score was an unbelievable 55-1 in the year 2004. Investigations revealed that the result was due to the rivalry between Wilfred Leisure and rivals Courtroom Gymkhana, who struggled to make the place in the premiere division. The then Second Division point table was tied between the rivals. On the other side of the story, Courtroom reduced their opponents with a score of 61-1 (Szymanski, 2014).  As a result of this whole mess, all the four teams were banned from football for a year. The two rival clubs were fined 60 USD.A local politician was suspected to be the master behind the whole set up.

Doping is a scandal which is not so much associated with the game of football. But, the rumours are there around the world of football which claims many footballers using chemicals to boost their performances on the pitch. The governing bodies may deny the use of chemicals. But the real story is far from reality(Bean, 2015). As of today, the competition has increased in the pitch at an alarming rate. Players have to maintain the form throughout the year to hold his place in the first eleven. Moreover, the club football helps the player to earn money as a professional. Altogether it is a tremendous pressure exerted on players(Veloso, 2013). What is the guarantee all they would play fair and not resort to chemical charges to boost the performance? FIFA may disqualify any rumours about it, but players in the past have been tested positive for the use of drugs. It seems that drugs and footballers have a secret relation between them. The cases of Diego Maradona, Jap Stam, and Edger Davids all had infamous cases of failed drug tests(Cleland, 2016).  The most recent addition to the list was Mahmoud Sakho. The telegraph’s sports report bear the evidence to these cases. The Telegraph, in one of their reports had raised an interesting question. They said, there were almost 3500 players who played in English Premier League, but it was strange that only one or two were tested positive and banned from the tournament(ROSE, 2014). It further deduced that in a game which depends on skill, speed, stamina a pharmaceutical boost issue can never be ignored. There is a fierce competition to get promoted to the final XI in the top teams. The Guardian had published a report on Arsene Wenger’s suspicion about doping. Arsenal coach Wenger had made a blasting comment calling most as cheats(Smith, 2013). His claim through The Guardian was that he had never insisted his players to dope to play better, but all others did not have the same mind-set. Wenger further argued over Fifa World Cup being clean or chemical-free and questioned UEFA’s testing procedures for drug users. Many experts suggest that what Wenger is doing, had to be done long back. As far as the situation is concerned, Arsene Wenger’s ideas may not be false(Rose-Ackerman, 2015). The millions of money flowing in an out behind this game has made many people break the transparency and players are no exceptions. Doping does have an illegal relationship with the game of football.

Match-Fixing

Football and its link with crime world have repeatedly been surfaced in many incidents. In the third world or developing countries, crime cartels hold the ties with the game of football as it helps to connect with globe easily. Moreover, footballers, when sold to foreign clubs, earn more money compared to the amount in the country(Ehrenberg, 2016). Therefore, these agents work as the links that are connected to the underworld. In the past, Maradona was known to have connections with Argentinian Mafias. He was also arrested in the past for consumption and possession of cocaine. The cartels provided the back-up the footballer required and instead they supplied drugs or other aided other activities(Gardner, 2014). Insightcrime.org published a report of Mexican cartel being involved in the selling of players in International levels. It was evident from the report that players were being handled by drug traffickers. The crime world finds it a good way to earn by selling players to the big clubs(Miller, 2014).

The infamous murder of Columbian player Andres Escobar is quite a dark spot in the history of football. He was shot in the car park in Medellin by drug dealers after the poor campaign in World Cup 1994 (Smith, 2013). The Gallon brothers who killed Escobar revealed in court a strong link between football club directors and managers with crime world.  The biggest name announced was that of Rene Higuita. He was suspected to have links with cocaine infamous lord Pablo Escobar (Szymanski, 2014). Further information revealed that twenty top referees of the country were murder in a five years span. Ex-international striker Freddie Rincon further added that best players were sold to international clubs to fill the pockets of the owners (Szymanski, 2014).

 President of Albanian club Tomorrow Berrat, Adrian Cobo sat down for a cup of coffee just outside the Selman Stermassi Stadium. His club had just edged victory to gain an advantage in a closely matched league table. He was just joined by the referee of the game, Luan Zylfo.  An unknown gunman assassinated both of them in an instant(Eberhardt, 2016). The murder took place near the capital, and it sprang the level of corruption in football. Cobo earned much of his money from drugs, prostitution and was a suspect of mafia connections. Another club president SK Tirana exclaimed that football was like everything else in Albania which was rotten till the heart. The reduced payment of the referees forces them to accept the bribe from anyone else(McCormick, 2013). This situation had been in practice for many years until the incident opened the real undercurrent.

Doping

The corruptions in the system of Fifa are not unknown. There were decisions by Fifa in the past which overlooked the humanistic side (Szymanski, 2014). The best example is perhaps Rio World Cup. Brazil was already on the verge of the weak economic structure. Crime, corruption, poverty was on the rise and jobs were scares. Despite all these problems, the chance was given to Brazil to host a costly event like the World Cup (Halabi, 2012). Fifa’s so-called publicity in the order set Brazil on world stage left many scars which were irrecoverable. It was due to the world cup more than 250,000 peoples were removed from their homes in slums. Some were compensated with minimal cash (Wilson, 2014). The others were forced from their homes. The whole event itself proved so costly that even the tourism sector could not handle to bring up the expenditure. The worst allegation came when UNESCO revealed that more than 3 million Brazilian children were involved in child labour(Wilson, 2014). The Huffington Post openly claimed in their report that most Brazilians were unsatisfied with the world cup in Rio.The allegation was that government was cutting the budget of the tournament from education, health or other relevant aspects. The other problems which The Huffington Post marked were exploitation of the prostitutes; repression against the vendors in the street had been raised after the arrival of the tournament. Fifa, despite having a pre-assumption of these issues just revoked the chance on Brazil without any analysis (Gabbe, 2013). Moreover, they kept their eyes closed despite media flashing these matters and NGO’s trying to draw attention to the underlying problems in Brazil. The very decision making of host nation was suspicious and questionable. The best bids were rejected remarkably to provide Brazil with the chance of hosting. Questions are plenty, but the answers are scarce. FIFA only showed its dictatorship and monopoly to make money under any circumstances(Wilson, 2014). Let’s not forget around 70 percent of total income of FIFA comes from the World Cup itself.

Conclusion

The legends of football, which turned the game into “the beautiful game” has always kept the spirit and integrity on the high (Meier, 2015). As money and professionalism silently moved in; the dark sides became prominent. Corruption and scandals have stained the face of the sports year after year. It was clear that a group of people’s interest and pocket-filling was becoming more important than the players and the fans that turned it into a popular sport worldwide (Georgakis, 2016). The responsibility of players began to be questioned. The beginning years of professional football didn’t fetch the amount of money it does today. So the national jersey brought the players the honours that they deserved. When the flow of money is increased, the players turned to maximise their earning. The clubs brought them the money whereas the national jersey brought them glory.  The organisations which help the players to learn as professionals, its role could not be denied either. So to make the most out of it, the players play their hearts out for the clubs (Guskiewicz, 2013). Fifa, the governing body, has been hit by most noticeably awful affirmations which denounced its Presidents and force holders. At the point when the controlled enterprise itself is in inquiries, it puts question blemishes on the games and its validity in itself. Despite the fact, it’s hard to match fix and alter a dynamic play of football through the players. Circumstances uncovered that there are different strategies as well. Authorities and arbitrators were “purchased” much of the time.

Other Problems

References

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