Nigeria Content Online

Nigerians are
exasperated with the way our football has been governed and are
desirous of change. This led many to hope FIFA’s ban would remain in
place to force us put our house in order. We should begin to learn what
really matters to FIFA if we didn’t know before – “what is FIFA really
after”? I have selected a few of FIFA’s scandals to shed more light on
FIFA’s ways.

1. Polish football threatened

In 2005 Polish
authorities began an investigation into widespread corruption within
Polish football. In July 2006, the Polish sports minister criticised
the PZPN (Polish Football Association) for failing to take adequate
steps to fight corruption, and announced an audit of the organisation.
In January 2007, PZPN board member Wit Żelazko was arrested by Wrocław
police. Shortly thereafter, the entire PZPN board was suspended by the
sports ministry. This move displeased FIFA which announced that the
principle of autonomy of football associations was of utmost
importance. The Polish sports ministry, Prime Minister Jarosław
Kaczynski, and most fans felt that the battle against corruption was
more important, but when FIFA threatened sanctions, the sports ministry
backed down and agreed to re-instate the PZPN board. This certainly
sounds familiar to us.

2. Millions allotted to Goal Project schemes that never materialised

a) In 2000, FIFA
agreed a $471,364 grant towards a training centre for the Antiguan
& Barbadian Football Association outside the Antiguan capital of St
Johns. For three years the site stayed empty but FIFA did not do
anything. In 2003, the Antiguan government tried to intervene and FIFA
suspended the membership of the Antiguan & Barbadian FA, whose
national team missed out the 2004 Olympic qualifiers as a result. The
suspension was lifted later that year but nothing changed until 2005,
when FIFA did do something: they handed over even more money, a
$503,098 Goal grant for a second project. This grant was for a pitch,
floodlights, security fencing and dressing rooms to the training
centre, which had still not been built. FIFA has nothing to say about
either project and directs enquiries to its own website, which simply
shows an empty field in Antigua.

b) Goal project in
Barbados “shelved until further notice due to a lack of progress”
despite a $400,000 grant being agreed five years ago towards a proposed
$627,500 training centre. According to the Barbados Goal link, the
first stone was laid in July 2003 yet the project has been abandoned.

Warner’s CONCACAF
region has 39 members and 35 are also full FIFA members. Of those 35,
all bar one (the US) have received Goal grants.

3. Jack Warner Scandals

a) 2006 World Cup
Ticket Scandal: Warner has been accused of corruption on BBC’s Panorama
for repeatedly taking advantage of his position for financial gain.
FIFA’s auditors, Ernst & Young, estimated that his family made a
profit of at least $1 million from reselling 2006 World Cup tickets
that Warner had ordered.

b) Trinidad and
Tobago 2006 World Cup bonuses: Before the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Warner,
as special advisor to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation,
brokered a deal between the Federation and the players on Trinidad and
Tobago’s 2006 World Cup team to share the proceeds from their
participation in the World Cup. After the tournament the Federation
declared revenue of TT$18.25 million, costs of TT$17.9 million and
offered the players a split of TT$5,644.08 per player. The players
rejected this figure, disputing the Federation’s numbers.

The Trinidad and
Tobago government later revealed that the Federation received in excess
of TT$173 million for their part in the tournament in Germany. The
T&TFF proposed that the bonus dispute be heard before the UK Sports
Dispute Resolution Panel and the players agreed. Arbitrator Ian Mill QC
heard the case and ruled that Warner had “the authority of the TTFA to
commit it to financial transactions” and that the players were entitled
to 50 per cent of the FIFA World Cup participation money and the
commercial revenues gained from Trinidad and Tobago’s qualification, as
well as half the net income from World Cup warm-up matches.

4. Jérôme Valcke

The 46 year old
scored the worst-ever own goal. Ten months ago, the Frenchman’s career
was in tatters but now he’s back running football as the general
secretary of FIFA. He lost his job in marketing at FIFA after a judge
ruled he had lied over a sponsorship deal. A New York judge had stated
that Valcke, then FIFA’s marketing director, had lied to two groups –
MasterCard and Visa – bidding for the right to sponsor the 2010 and
2014 World Cups. This prompted his employer to “part company” with
Valcke and three of his colleagues. “FIFA’s negotiations breached its
business principles,” the governing body said. “FIFA cannot possibly
accept such conduct among its own employees.”

His recent return
to FIFA as its top appointed official ranks as an extraordinary shift
in fortune. It shows how highly FIFA president Sepp Blatter must rate
the former Canal Plus executive that he was rehired even though the
affair in effect cost FIFA half the revenues it was expecting from the
eight-year sponsorship.

“Our world is a very small world,” says Valcke of his return to favour.

“We worked closely
together for three years. Whatever Blatter asked me, and what I
committed to deliver when I joined FIFA, I did. So we have a strong
relationship, Blatter and myself”. And very rewarding too if I must say
so.

FIFA’s track record
in handling corruption allegations indicate a habit of either looking
the other way or dishing out no more than ‘a slap on the wrist’ to
offending officials in their organisation. So how can they possibly be
expected to encourage any investigation and punishments to FIFA
representatives [like our NFF]? In my opinion, FIFA has never pretended
to encourage governments to fights corruption within their federations
or associations because it could affect them adversely so their people
are protected no matter what. So we shouldn’t expect them to change, we
have to effect the change ourselves.

I reiterate my previous statement in previous articles that, in
matters of government interference or not, FIFA does not have the
[moral] right to apply the same rules to most African countries as it
does to the more developed ones in the rest of the world. This
never-ending circle of banning and unbanning events will continue so
long as FIFA keep ignoring Africa’s uniqueness rather than accepting
the stark reality of it. So long as governments still provide most [and
sometimes all] of the funding in football [or sports], they have the
right to ask questions and investigate how the money is spent as well
as demand a significant role in administration. However, our
government’s latest interference in a long list of many was totally
unacceptable and must be stopped permanently for our football to grow.
If FIFA is sincere, insistent and serious about zero government
interference all over Africa, the organisation should be working
hand-in-hand with individual governments, football federations or
associations to find unique solutions; rather than issue offensive
statements, bans and warnings that suggest a picture of complicity in
alleged and proven cases of corruption.