Euronomics 1 | Page 3

Getting to grips with FIFA Corruption O f course trying to understand the corruption of FIFA is difficult because the investigations are still ongoing, however a lot has been uncovered and there is a lot to talk about. On May 27th seven FIFA officials were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes adding up to more than $100 million. As well as this two other former officials are also being charged for similar allegations. No wonder they were ‘former officials’ when they were arrested. The man some people believe is behind all of this is Sepp Blatter. Having just resigned before taking his fifth term as president of FIFA, after Euronomics 17 years in this position he has constantly failed to reform FIFA. What would the motive be for this corruption? Money. Countries such as Qatar are believed to have bribed FIFA so they can host the 2022 football world cup. Of course willingly the staff at FIFA will have accepted these bribes. Football is the sport with the most money in the world. Alone in Europe, the Barclays Premier League brought in 4.4 billion euros in the 2013-14 season. This is in the same country where the Aviva Premiership (rugby union league) only brought in 149 million pounds. So clearly there are motives for the corruption in FIFA. Mr Blatter just better hope that all of the bribes he has received will work on the police. 3