FIFA reforms criticised 10 years on from corruption raid in statement from academics and human rights groups
A decade after a police raid at a Swiss hotel plunged FIFA into crisis, a joint statement signed by academics, campaigners and fans groups has accused football's global governing body of being 'more poorly governed' now than it was then.
Seven senior officials were arrested at Zurich's Baur au Lac on the eve of a FIFA Congress on May 27, 2015, as part of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into widespread corruption in the game.
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Within a week of the arrests, Sepp Blatter quit as FIFA president after 17 years in the job, sparking a chain of events that led to current president Gianni Infantino's election in February 2016 and promises of sweeping changes to the organisation's governance.
But the joint statement, which was coordinated by London-based human rights group FairSquare, argues that these reforms 'failed to usher in a new era of responsible government at FIFA', citing eight examples of its 'failures'. These include Infantino's close relationships with controversial global leaders, a lack of diversity in senior roles and the award of the 2034 men's World Cup to Saudi Arabia.
The statement has 35 signatories, most of whom are academics, but it has also been signed by Fair Game, the campaign group that represents more than 30 British clubs, Norwegian supporters' group Norsk Supporterallianse and Abdullah Ibhais, the former Qatar 2022 official who blew the whistle on labour-rights abuses in the build-up to that World Cup.
'This statement demonstrates not only the rank failure of the reforms enacted under the presidency of Gianni Infantino but also the breadth of expert opposition to and frustration with FIFA's dysfunctional governance model,' said Nick McGeehan, the co-director of FairSquare, the UK-based human rights group which coordinated the joint statement.
Portuguese academic and politician Miguel Poiares Maduro, who was ousted as chair of FIFA's governance committee in 2017 after just eight months in the role for blocking the re-election of Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko to FIFA's governing council, did not sign the statement but has posted his support on X.
'An important statement by @fairsquareprojects and many credible experts,' wrote Maduro. 'I'm sad to say, it is quite right in its assessment of FIFA reforms. The time has long passed for a genuine reform of sports governance. When will it finally happen?'
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FIFA has not yet responded to the signatories' specific criticisms but it has issued a statement to highlight how far it believes it has come since the ignominy of the Baur au Lac raid.
Describing the scandals of 2015 as 'a turning point for the organisation', FIFA says it has 'been able to change from a toxic organisation to a respected and trusted global sports governing body focusing on its mandate to develop football all around the world'.
As evidence of this transformation, it notes that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, 'the very same authorities that had to intervene in FIFA in 2015', have recently visited the organisation's new offices in Miami and are working closely with FIFA ahead of this summer's Club World Cup and next year's men's World Cup.
The statement adds that FIFA has introduced a raft of reforms, which have been recognised by other sporting bodies and enabled the Department of Justice to hand back $201million in seized assets to the FIFA Foundation following its investigations into football-related corruption.
It concludes by saying 'FIFA is a completely new organisation, with more than 800 staff, the immense majority of whom were hired after 2016'.
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