Jun 7, 2011

Football corruption from Zurich to Abuja

Thanks to a recent scandal a culture of corruption within FIFA has been exposed. We are now 100% convinced countries always pay bribes to FIFA members to influence their voting on World Cup hosting. But I doubt things will change. Corruption has reached the top of the organization, i.e. Sepp Blatter, FIFA's boss. Any chance of reform is slim when all his buddy decision makers have an interest in the satus quo.
Match fixing is another consequence of corruption at the top. Just a few days ago, Nigeria beat Argentina 4-1 in a friendly game which is now being investigated by FIFA.When the score was 4-0, a large number of bets were placed on there being a fifth goal. Five minutes of extra time were announced but 8 had elapsed when a contentious penalty kick was awarded to Argentina.
The FIFA investigation will probably reveal the referee was bought and that this is unacceptable. And here's FIFA great idea: it will pay Interpol $29 million over the next 10 years to educate referees, players, coaches and officials in how to resist corruption. Millions of dollars for a problem that could be solved in the blink of an eye: Just show the referee's clock on the stadium's screen. But forget about easy solutions. A vague anti-corruption million-dollar education scheme provides more kickbacks for Blatter and his buddies.

 

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