The world is pinning hopes on the new president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, for his new role in reforming soccer’s governing body, which is still reeling from scandals that occurred under Sepp Blatter, the organization’s disgraced former president.
The FIFA World Cup finals are the most-watched sporting event in the world, larger even than the Summer Olympics. Taking place every four years, the soccer event creates billions of dollars in revenue from broadcasting rights, merchandising and corporate sponsors.
The cash cow generated widespread corruption, which was linked to indictment and arrest of some former senior FIFA officials last year. The scandal has cast doubt over the transparency of the administration of World Cup preliminaries on each continent, allocation of the association’s operating funds and other issues.
The most worrisome scenario is a match-fixing scandal in the World Cup that FIFA, which should investigate any symptoms of manipulation, may attempt to gloss over. Some European criminal investigators have already included some World Cup regional qualifiers in the list of matches targeted for further scrutiny regarding alleged match-fixing.
Further, a match-fixing allegation was also raised during the 2014 Brazil World Cup finals. While the issue was spotlighted by a German news provider and some other media, the Zurich-based association dismissed it after conducting a probe.
Infantino has vowed to increase the number of teams advancing to the World Cup finals from the current 32 to 40. His pledge comes after UEFA increased the number of teams in the finals of the Euro tournament from 16 to 24, which is to become effective starting this summer in France, the host of Euro 2016.
Entry expansion is welcome in terms of easing barriers and raising hopes for more teams. However, the new chief should be very cautious in pushing for his pledge. Restoration of credibility should precede any implementation of fresh entry rules.
FIFA regulations dominate soccer tournaments worldwide. The association should work on behalf of global spectators and create fair procedures to allocate continental tickets to finals as the top governing entity.
Starting from FIFA, we hope international sports events and associations will secure a certain level of integrity. Sports should continue to seek to create a level playing field, and not be swayed by shady money.
