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| cartoon by Christopher Weyant, The New Yorker |
THE GAMES we play come to mirror the world in which we live, and have always done so. As much as we would like for sports to exist within a vacuum, they cannot do so, nor have they ever done so. Two books which I have mentioned before, and which constitute required reading for all disciples of The Lose, are Franklin Foer’s sociological treatise How Soccer Explains the World and Simon Kuper’s classic 1994 exposé Football Against the Enemy: How the World's Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power, which has been updated for a 2nd edition and given an American-friendly title. Both authors delve into the seedy underworld of the game of soccer: football clubs dealing arms, fan clubs forming paramilitary units, assorted would-be kingpins and tycoons and grandstanding Ministers of Sport heisting the game for their own personal good. These books are extremely useful if you want to get a sense of just how messed up the game of soccer really is. Both these books are acts of gonzo journalism which are quite entertaining to read, although calling them ‘funny’ would do a disservice to some of the subject matter. There isn’t a whole lot that’s funny about Argentine juntas and Bosnian civil wars. I think ‘absurd’ is probably a better term, or maybe ‘crazy.’ The world is mad about soccer, and madness can make you do some stupid things.
Soccer is a beautiful game played by spectacular athletes before millions of adoring fans worldwide, but it is also a shameful sty of sleaze, slime and swine. But apparently it’s always been this way – in another excellent book, Andreas Campomar’s Golazo, a chronicling of the history of soccer in Latin America, Campomar traces the history of the game all the way back to its roots in ancient cultures such as the Mayans and the Aztecs, who played sports where a ball could only be kicked towards the goal and which, as it turned out, were often accompanied by large amounts of gambling. HUGE amounts of gambling, as in, “I’ll bet my entire kingdom that my team is better than yours” kind of gambling. Something about the act of kicking a ball seems to make humankind lose its collective head, and a whole lot of money winds up changing hands.
And it’s a whole lot of money these days, thanks to FIFA. Sky Sport just agreed to pay over £5 billion to broadcast EPL games, which is why Norwich City’s glorious victory (gloat gloat) on Monday took on such value. Broadcast rights to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil netted FIFA somewhere in the range of $4 billion. Fox Sports handed over $425 million for just the American broadcast rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which is a far cry from when I first started watching the World Cup back in 1982 on a 1-hour highlight show produced by Soccer Made in Germany. The sums we are talking about here are absolutely staggering. FIFA reaped a profit of more than $200 million on the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, and is thought to be sitting on a reserve of over $5 billion, an amount which should be enough for FIFA to fuel the game’s further development for generations.
But, of course, that isn’t going to happen. We know very well where that money is going to go.
Well, actually, we don’t really know, and that’s part of the problem. The Football Federation of Australia, for example, would like to know where their $500,000 ‘contribution’ to the development of a new football stadium in Trinidad and Tobago went, having made this ‘contribution’ at the behest of then CONCACAF president Jack Warner in the hopes of persuading him to support their 2022 World Cup bid on the FIFA Executive Committee – money which mysteriously disappeared, of course, and along with it disappeared whatever support Warner claimed to have had for the Australian bid. The FFA has come under some scrutiny in Australia for this, and their best defense is, well, a lame one, but one which you’ve heard many times in relation to crooked or criminal activities: this was simply the cost of doing business. If you wanted the World Cup to come to your country, you had to pay up. Indeed, the Aussies didn’t even want to report this possible theft, for fear that making a racket about this racket would potentially jeopardize their bid.
But now we have a better idea of where the Aussie’s money may have gone, given that Warner was one of 14 people indicted on Wednesday morning by the U.S. Dept. of Justice – the bulk of them high ranking present or former FIFA officials. Among those nabbed include the past and present presidents of CONCACAF, two former presidents of CONMEBOL, and two sitting members of FIFA’s Executive Committee. The investigation looked into more than 20 years’ worth of activities, and the Justice Dept. alleges that more that more than $150 million in bribes, kickbacks and laundered funds were involved. Racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud – the indictment reads as if the G-Men are going after some mafia crime syndicate or cartel. Four persons have already pleaded guilty, two of them being Warner’s sons, proving that dirty business is also a family business as well. The star witness, Chuck Blazer, was the secretary general of CONCACAF, served on the FIFA Executive Committee, was the highest-ranking official in American soccer, and lived a lifestyle so lavish that he kept a Manhattan apartment just for his cats. Blazer copped to charges related to tax evasion and then flipped, dishing the dirt left and right on FIFA’s illicit activities which took place within the United States, using American companies and American banks.
Easily the most damning allegation, but far from the only one, is that of Warner demanding $10 million from the South African government in exchange for supporting their 2010 World Cup bid, which Warner eventually did. When the South African government reneged, Warner got his $10 million transferred from a FIFA-controlled account in Switzerland, with some $750,000 of which eventually winding up going to Blazer. Australian authorities now think it’s likely Warner simply pocketed their half-mil, a sunk cost from a failed bid for soccer’s greatest showpiece. But what seems clear here is that, when it came to awarding the World Cup, votes were definitely for sale, and the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups may ultimately turn out to be quite expensive for everyone involved.
The U.S. was able to nab all of these fat cats when they gathered this week for FIFA’s 65th Congress in Zürich, at which point Swiss police raided the 5-star hotel where many of the delegates were staying and arrested seven people. While the U.S. is going after the money laundering set who have run roughshod along FIFA’s western flank, the Swiss are, at the same time, opening criminal probes into the allegations of bribery and corruption which have surrounded FIFA ever since 2010, when the awarding of the World Cup to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 was announced. The veritable souk surrounding the selection process has already been documented by the Times of London, who sent two reporters posing as representatives of America’s 2022 bid committee to meet with FIFA executives and nabbed several of them, on camera, saying their votes could be had for sizable sums. (The reporters have written extensively about this and also written a book which is definitely high on my reading list.) The England 2018 organizers have testified before parliament of having had FIFA execs demanding bribes in exchange for votes, with one of them – Nicolás Leoz – being audacious enough to also demand to be knighted by the Queen. That’s the same Nicolás Leoz listed in that U.S. indictment, by the way:
“Thereafter, in a private meeting, LEOZ told Co-Conspirator #2, in sum and substance, that Co-Conspirator #2 would make a lot of money from the rights he was acquiring and that LEOZ did not think it was fair that he (LEOZ) did not also make money.” (U.S. v. Webb et. al, pp. 49-50)
There was an assortment of droll FIFA business on the agenda for the Zürich congress, but the most important item was the presidential election, pitting 4-time incumbent Sepp Blatter against Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Hussein. Amid this backdrop of scandal and corruption, the vote went ahead as planned, with Blatter getting 133 of the 206 votes cast – but lacking a 2/3 vote necessary for election on the first ballot, a second round was required. It was, at this point, that Prince Ali withdrew, handing Blatter a fifth term – one which he had said previously that he wouldn’t seek. In the run-up to the election, Prince Ali’s camp had been thinking they would have about 95 votes, enough to make a 2nd round of balloting quite intriguing given the current state of FIFA affairs. But with only 73, there was no point in continuing. In essence, amid all of Prince Ali’s campaigning and his many meetings with FIFA delegates, about 20 of them had lied to his face. Welcome to the way that FIFA does business.
That Prince Ali had gotten 73 votes at all was notable. Even with a constant barrage of scandals surrounding FIFA during his 17 years as president, it was widely assumed that Blatter would win the election. I would recommend that all of you watch Jeremy Schaap’s excellent E:60 profile of Blatter, and the organization he heads, to get a better sense of what you’re dealing with here. Blatter is, without question, the most powerful man in sports. He said after his reëlection on Friday, “I am the president of everybody,” and what’s somewhat frightening is that, in some ways, he’s right. While Blatter may fancy himself a head of state, the Justice Dept. would suggest that he’s more like the head of a cartel. Marx had it wrong when he said religion was the opiate of the masses. It’s football. And Sepp Blatter controls the organization responsible for providing the world’s favourite drug.
Blatter’s win in the most recent FIFA election is a triumph of machine politics straight out of Tammany Hall. He has practiced what is essentially ‘honest graft’ for years – and done so under the auspices of what should, in theory, be a good idea, which is the further supposed democratization of the organization. FIFA had been a bastion of European and South American interests for most of its existence before Blatter took over in 1998. He promised at the time to give a voice, and a seat at the table, to all of FIFA’s members, which presently number 209. And intellectually, this makes sense. Why should all of FIFA’s decisions be made simply to benefit the self-interests of a few members? FIFA shares the profits from the World Cups equally with all 209 members, regardless of size or footballing prowess, and every nation has equal say when it comes to elections. One nation, one vote. FIFA has also invested billions, through The Goal Project and the like, in development in the game primarily in the third world. Again, this seems like a good idea. It’s no wonder his bases of power are in Africa, Asia, his “Oceania 11,” and in the many Caribbean islands who have come to dominate the way CONCACAF does business through their sheer numbers of votes. No one in FIFA gave a shit about those places before Blatter. In exchange, they offer him unwavering support.
But what may seem a good idea in theory may, in fact, have entirely different results, and that’s with even the best intentions behind it. The reason I refer to FIFA’s supporting of smaller federations as ‘honest graft’ is that it then turns a blind eye. What happens to that money after it is doled out is another question entirely – and if the behaviors of Jack Warner and Reynald Tamarii are any indication, it likely falls under the guise of ‘dishonest graft.’
We would do well to separate the opinions of the 133 people who voted for Sepp Blatter from the opinions of the rank-and-file members of the football community in the nations those 133 people are supposed to be representing. Ask the football community’s rank-and-file – the players, the fans, the clubs, the football media – in any nation what they think about their federation’s officers, and the answers you’re going to get will likely run somewhere from cynicism to outright disdain. They are assumed to be corrupt, assumed to be swindlers trading favours and engaging in illicit activities. What’s shocking is not that these rumours exist, but that those accused seem to be so brazen about it all, making only the minimal effort to conceal it.
The South Americans, in particular, are loving the fact that the Justice Department has gone after some of the villains they’ve assumed to be corrupt, having put up with this sort of nonsense from manga de viejos hijos de puta for ages. (In his book, Foer uses the wonderful local phrase ‘The Top Hats,’ to describe the assortment of shysters who’ve constantly run amok in the Brazilian game.) I’ve seen the phrase “US 7, FIFA 1” thrown about now in a few places in Brazil (7-1 having apparently come to represent a colossal asskicking in Brazilian lingo in short order). None of what the DOJ has uncovered is a surprise to them. None of it is new. That sort of corruption has always been there, they have known it existed and had to put up with it. (The ESPN FC commentator Shaka Hislop, who played for Trinidad & Tobago in the 2006 World Cup, has an amazing and ludicrous story of having to sue Jack Warner after players’ bonuses seemed skimmed.) The hope worldwide in all of this is that the Dept. of Justice will field an XI which proves to be an opponent that FIFA can’t defeat.
“Not sure this is what Havelange, Blatter and all had in mind when crusading for more US interest in football.” – Rodrigo Orihuela, Bloomberg
And in the end, they can’t defeat it. This is not going to end well for FIFA. But one of the problems here is that, if you’re looking for a ‘smoking gun’ which links Sepp Blatter directly to all of this, I’m not sure you’re going to find it. Most everyone in football – indeed, in all of sports – outside of the 133 people who voted for Blatter on Friday would like to see him taken down. No one close to Blatter indicates that he, personally, has any real interest in graft. What he cares about, above all, is being in power. He may have been the one who built the organization into what it is, but he hasn’t needed to be bribed in order to do it. He doesn’t have to practice dishonest graft, when simple honest graft and the greasing of his political machine will suffice.
FIFA has many of the hallmark characteristics of authoritarian regimes. The ruler has total control, and demands absolute and unquestioning loyalty – but in exchange, he provides with underlings with cover, which frees them up to run rampant and do whatever they want free of cares or fears of reprisal. The leader’s only interest, ultimately, is remaining in charge. You’ve seen this very scenario play out constantly in every dictatorship on the planet. But, as it turns, there are, in fact, limits to what you can get away with when you pledge your loyalty to a dictator, because loyalty turns out to be a 1-way street. Cross the line, and you go down – and you don’t get to decide where that line is. The state makes sure that you go down.
And Blatter has never hesitated, when a scandal arises which threatens his regime, to sell out the principal actors – people such as Jack Warner and Mohammed bin Hammam, Blatter’s former lieutenant who is alleged to have helped deliver several of Blatter’s elections, and who has also emerged as the principal actor in the mess that surrounds the 2022 World Cup. Cross Sepp Blatter and threaten his perch and he cuts you off, consolidating his power and casting you aside. He looks the other way while you do your dubious dealings, but only while it’s convenient to do so. But he will sell you out in a heartbeat – a point he made on Friday in a brilliant piece of rhetoric while addressing FIFA’s congress:
“If two other countries had emerged from the envelope, I think we would not have these problems today.” – Sepp Blatter
On the one hand, this plays to the base. The narrative which has emerged among the pro-Blatter set that all of these allegations regarding 2018 and 2022 are simply sour grapes on the part of nations – England and the U.S. – which lost out on the bidding, so you can view this remark as merely some sarcasm intended as a bit of levity. But one of the beauties when you practice the act of spin – and like all good political forces, FIFA are spinmeisters – is that you can, in fact, speak the truth and no one will take you seriously. Take that statement at face value: would FIFA be in this mess today if England and America emerged from the envelope? Probably not. And why not? Because on the merits of the bids themselves, England and America should have come out of those envelopes. That they didn’t speaks to some forces at work which, shall we fall, fell outside the boundaries of fair play. Now, the case for Russia in 2018 was an understandable one – it’s a footballing nation with great resources and a long tradition of the game in its own right. I’ve always thought the Russian bid made some sense. But Qatar?
“Qatar? There’s between one and 50 reasons why that is an awful idea … there are now allegations that some FIFA executives accepted bribes to put the World Cup in Qatar, and I hope that’s true, because otherwise it makes literally no sense.” – John Oliver
And if there is a single defining moment of the Sepp Blatter tenure at FIFA, it has to be the moment that the envelope for the 2022 World Cup opened up in December 2010. All of the graft and sleaze and slime and corruption perpetrated in the name of football was personified in that single moment. In looking the other way for so long, Blatter’s minions had now run amok and taken it to its most absurd conclusion. The inmates were officially running the asylum.
As so that cute little sarcastic jab I just mentioned takes on a much more ominous tone: “yes, we are in this mess now because of that vote, and some of you in this audience are responsible for that.” And don’t think for a minute Sepp won’t hesitate to throw them under the bus. When FIFA’s spokesman responded to Wednesday’s arrests by saying FIFA was “the aggrieved party,” it was met with derision and denounced as mere spin – but again, there is truth in that statement. Indeed, it’s been pointed out that the case now being brought forth by the Justice Department is going to particularly effective because it portrays FIFA as the victim and not the culprit. The Swiss case regarding the votes in 2018 and 2022 stems from FIFA’s own internal investigation (albeit a somewhat bogus one) and the Swiss prosecutors intend to call 10 FIFA Executive Committee members at the time in to explain themselves. Blatter had but only one vote, after all. It’s believed he voted for the U.S., and has admitted that it was probably a mistake awarding the World Cup to Qatar. FIFA would never have been so quick to turn over information to the Swiss government if Blatter himself stood to fall because of it. He may be a narcist and demagogue, but he didn’t get to where he is by being dumb. Those other 10 ExCo guys, however? Well, you all might want to hire yourselves some lawyers that are well-versed in Swiss law right about now.
I believe that Sepp Blatter has come to view all of this stuff related to 2018 and 2022 as a colossal mistake. But the problem is that now that it’s happened, he can’t get out of it. He can throw a bunch of ExCo cronies under the bus, because he can always find more ExCo cronies to take their places. But it’s all too far gone, at this point, to make any drastic changes. The political ramifications of yanking the World Cup away – and all of the dirt which would come out because of it – would far more likely lead to his losing his position of authority than the present Dept. of Justice investigation will. He’s caught himself in his own web, more concerned about keeping his position than anything else, and he’s willing to let what is building up to be the greatest sham in sporting history go forth seven years from now in order to save his own ass.
And in the meantime, people are dying because of this.
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| graphic by Christopher Ingraham/Washington Post |
That’s what’s absolutely sickening about it all. That’s the human cost of the rush to create the necessary infrastructure to host such an event, one which is only going to get worse. That’s an awful lot of blood on FIFA’s collective hands. If Blatter was truly interested in reforming the organization he has created over the past four decades, and not just paying lip service to the idea, he would start by putting a stop to this. And he could do that, of course. He could yank the World Cup out of there tomorrow if he wanted. He has that power and authority. That anyone can just sit by and do nothing, knowing that is going on under their watch, is truly revolting.
And I always caution my non-sports loving friends who attach disdainful dismissives to speaking about this sort of thing. “All that just for a game?” If you haven’t figured it out by now, it’s more than a game. Football is not simply a pastime, and as Campomar points out in Golazo, with his example from the days of the Aztecs, it never really was just a game. Just like rum runners and bookmakers and gaming parlors, those associated in the syndicate of football have always thrived on the ability to control that which people want to have.
The game of football should, in theory, be about what takes place on the pitch. It shouldn’t have anything to do with these hucksters. Unfortunately, the business of football is rarely that simple. Witness the recent battle over reforming laws regarding TV broadcast rights in Spain, a pointless spat between La Liga, the Spanish FA, and some politicians with delusions of grandeur which the Spanish players union finally put a stop to by threatening a strike, reminding everyone involved in the process who the game was really about. For every multimillionaire on the wage bill of Real and Barça, there are far more professional footballers toiling away in the game’s lower ranks, or even among the first divisions of the game in other nations, who aren’t being paid on time, if at all. It is those people for whom the Spanish players took a stand. It is those people, who love and dedicate themselves to football, whom the game should be about, and not these opportunists who hijack the love of the game as an excuse to fill their pockets.
But how to get rid of the bad seeds? Rooting out the graft and sleaze within the game is a mammoth undertaking, one which would require a massive overhaul of the entire organization behind the game – and would also require far more political will than anyone involved seems to have. And it has to start at the top, because the entire governance of the game, at this point, is based upon what goes on at the top. If you want to root out corruption, root out racism, root out scandal, the best way to start is to root out those who’ve allowed it to persist for so long, beginning with the overlord himself.
I would suggest that rarely has the U.S. ever looked so good to so many people as it does after Wednesday’s indictments. (Questions aside like, “do they even like football in America?) As I said before, it seems hard for me to believe that they’re going to be able to get to Blatter through all of these investigations – but then again, these FIFA guys are all masters of self-preservation, and I certainly expect all of those indicted to start singing much the way Blazer did in an effort to save themselves. The Attorney General stated on Wednesday that this was only the beginning of the investigation, suggesting the indictments were just the tip of the iceberg. If it were ever possible to get to the source, it’s probably through these two investigations currently being undertaken by the Feds and the Swiss. That snippet from the indictment about $10 million moving from Switzerland into the account of Jack Warner certainly raises some eyebrows, and the Feds are certainly good at following the money trail.
Hmm … I’ve already heard some whimsical speculation as to whether Blatter will ultimately attend the Women’s World Cup taking place in Canada. Canadians and Americans are good neighbours, after all. They do get along really well. Reading up on Canadian extradition laws, anyone?
But all of those investigations take time to unfurl, and in the short term, we’re stuck with this mess. UEFA members have been the greatest critics of Sepp Blatter and FIFA, and are now rattling sabres and saying they’ll ponder the idea of possibly breaking away from FIFA entirely. In truth, this might be the only effective way to deal with this, particularly if the Europeans can also bring into the fold a motivated Brazil and Argentina – two countries where calls to clean up the game are getting louder – and also the U.S. and Mexico – two countries frustrated by their dysfunctional confederation and often left to foot CONCACAF’s bills. It’s a pretty powerful alliance, were it to come to pass. It would have all the nations that fans want to see, it would have all the clubs that fans want to see, and most importantly, would have all the players that fans would want to see within its domain. But I don’t see there being any political will to do that. For one thing, UEFA would likely splinter over the question of 2018. Russia being a member of UEFA firmly in Blatter’s camp throws a monkey wrench into all these pipe dreams. And it’s not as if UEFA have always been a bastion of virtue. Everyone’s hands are dirty. Lest anyone forget that Michel Platini, the head of UEFA, voted for Qatar. He’s gotten something of a pass on this fact, having stated that he did so at the behest of the French government. Half the ExCo members expected to be called to testify in Switzerland are from UEFA nations. Just because you can generate a whole lot of revenue on the pitch, it doesn’t mean that matters off the pitch aren’t a mess. In the end, a good number of UEFA members voted from Prince Ali –but not all of them. Amid all of this posturing, UEFA would up looking like sore losers threatening to take their ball and go home. I suspect UEFA couldn’t deliver nearly as many votes to Prince Ali as they were promising. So far, UEFA has been all bark and no bite.
The Top Hats manning FIFA’s assortment of committees and positions do so because it’s in their best personal interests. It’s a collection of some of the most selfish people on the earth. What I found most curious about this recent FIFA congress was seeing just how many of them, in the aftermath of the Justice Department indictments, would still be willing to tether their futures entirely to Blatter. Sure, they’re entirely indebted to Blatter for having enriched them so (and, to be fair, for occasionally doing some good things for football in their respective countries in the process). But do you really want to keep tying your fortunes to a this organization when the biggest and baddest law enforcement agency on the planet has started digging around into its affairs – especially knowing that, were you found to be afoul of American law, FIFA’s likely to do nothing to protect you? All along, these guys have thought they can hide when need be, figuring that Blatter’s patronage would also amount to protection.
The Justice Department got involved because the misdoings of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL fell under its jurisdiction – there were American citizens, American banks and American companies involved in this mess. But the business of FIFA long ago became American business. Many of FIFA’s largest sponsors are American companies. As such, vast amounts of FIFA business runs through this country – which means, in one way or another, everyone involved in FIFA business (Blatter included) is accountable to U.S. law. Seeing seven fellow cronies hauled out of the hotel by the police undoubtedly made a few of them not sleep particularly well. (Apparently, the Brazilian rep hastily fled Zürich as quickly as possible, although the Brazilian government is apparently going to get into the spirit of things and planning on opening some criminal probes of its own.) As those delegates from the Western Hemisphere are finding out, Sepp can no longer protect you. And his history should make it clear that, when push comes to shove, he will not protect you at all.
But then again, a vote for an avowed reformer like Ali was likely going to result in you being tossed out on your ass even sooner. For the 133 who cast their votes for Sepp Blatter on Friday, it was ultimately better to keep dancing with the devil that you know.
So the votes have been cast and the “president of everybody” wins. But no one wins. Football lost. Honesty lost. Morality lost. Everyone lost. For now. Blatter speaks of the “FIFA family,” and it is hard not to hear the mafioso overtones in his voice when he does so. He wants to avoid transparency and keep everything in-house, and thanks to 133 voters, he’ll continue to be able to do so. For now. Strange, it is, for so many people to want to keep living in a house when the building is on fire.
