For most of us in Canada, it’s difficult to understand the immense impact that the World Cup and soccer in general have on the rest of the world. Think of it this way: can you think of any other sport that’s played by over 250 million people, with over 3.5 billion fans, in almost 200 countries? I didn’t think so. Many around the world consider soccer — or football, if we want to be accurate — a sort of religion, with the World Cup as their holy month of worship.
Every four years, millions gather around TVs and in stadiums to watch 32 different countries face off in a series of football matches. For an idea of the crowds these matches attract, look no further than the final World Cup match back in 2006, which garnered a TV audience of over 715 million people.
To make a long story short, to a lot of people, football is a pretty big deal.
But there are enough issues with this year’s World Cup tournament, which began last week in Brazil, to consider reevaluating whether the competition — and the organization behind it — are worth the trouble in the first place.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), established in 1904 as the international governing body of football, has been running World Cup tournaments every four years since 1930. They’re also probably the most corrupt, greedy, and generally detestable sports organization in the world — and that’s saying something.
It’s worth remembering that, in these games, there’s a lot more at stake than just a trophy.
FIFA started out as a small committee with the aim of enforcing regulations, but quickly grew into the corporate juggernaut it is today. Today, FIFA maintains their status as a tax-exempt not for profit organization, a title which saves them about $250 million a year in taxes.
This is despite the fact that they’ve done little to hide their astronomical earnings — most of which have come out of World Cup championships, where FIFA is routinely reported to earn much more than the host countries. The organization currently has over $1 billion in bank, which FIFA president Sepp Blatter described in an Al Jazeera interview as “a reserve.”
At this point, FIFA’s tendency towards bribery, corruption, homophobia, sexism, and financial mismanagement is pretty much an open secret among football fans. Most recently, FIFA has struggled with controversy over their choice to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar — a nation where working conditions have been described by the International Trade Union Confederation as “a system of modern slavery,” and where temperatures during games can reach upwards of 50 degrees Celsius.
Since the Qatar decision was announced back in 2010, FIFA has faced repeated allegations of bribery, notably from The Sunday Times and The New York Times. FIFA president Blatter even openly described the choice to host the Cup in Qatar as “a mistake,” before blaming racism as the main reason for the media’s scrutiny towards the organization and its decision.
Like I said. FIFA — not so great.
Never has this been more clear than in the lead up to the 2014 World Cup, which has been plagued with mismanagement and corruption since the beginning. As of publication date, nine construction workers have died working in construction for the games, and as many as 250,000 impoverished people living in favelas — shanty towns around urban centres — are facing displacement in an attempt to make the Cup safer for tourists, and to free up room for construction.
Over $15 billion has been spent in preparation for the tournament, and projections for the ultimate cost of the games have landed at around $30 billion, more than the last three Cups combined. Roughly $270 million of this budget has been spent on a new stadium in Manaus, a small city on the bed of the Amazon river. The stadium will be used four times over the course of the World Cup, but given its remote location, the difficulty of transporting equipment there, and the lack of a large football team in Manaus, it’s unlikely to be used much afterward.
To top it off, FIFA practically forced Brazil to temporarily repeal its law against drinking in stadiums, a law originally introduced for safety and security reasons, in order to appease one of its key corporate sponsors, Budweiser.
As you might expect, Brazilians aren’t exactly pleased. In fact, the majority of Brazilian citizens (about 61 per cent) oppose the World Cup and FIFA, citing its potential damage to the economy, its negative effect on the country’s international image, and internal corruption as the main reasons. The results of the poll, conducted by Pew Research, came on the heels of widespread protests in May, in which over 10,000 Brazilians marched on the National Stadium in Brasilia, criticizing the games and the complicity of Brazil’s government.
Of course, it isn’t just football that’s the issue here. Brazil’s economy has ground to a halt in the past few years, and issues which have long threatened the nation’s presence on the world stage — rising crime rates, high illiteracy rates, and an 85th-place ranking on the Human Development Index — have largely been set aside in anticipation for football’s biggest celebration.
As much as the game is central to Brazil’s culture (many Brazilians even refer to their country as o País do Futebol, or “the country of football”), it’s easy to see why it isn’t the ideal time for the World Cup to be held in the country. And amidst seemingly endless controversies with FIFA — whose unpopularity has even led some of Europe’s football officials to call for president Blatter’s resignation — it seems as though the Cup, whether played in Brazil or not, will continue to attract negative attention.
I’m not saying that you can’t enjoy the World Cup this year. You certainly won’t be alone in doing so. But whether you’re a casual football watcher or a die hard fan, it’s worth remembering that in these games, there’s a lot more at stake than just a trophy.
