FIFA, the perfect Mafia

On Wednesday, FIFA ethics investigator Michael Garcia quit the world football governing body in protest against the way his report into allegations of corruption in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments to Russia and Qatar, respectively, was handled.

Garcia was tasked with carrying out an internal inquiry into the allegations as countries which had lost the bid complained of how discrepancies had occurred during the bidding process.

Not to mention, the logic of picking Qatar, a country which has no domestic football league and never qualified for the World Cup finals, was obviously lost on some people at the higher echelons of FIFA, with their bid even being considered. Oh, and that other thing about playing under 40°C-plus heat in the summer of 2022 would also be a bummer.

The report produced by Garcia, when he completed it and presented to the FIFA ethics committee, was said to contain some damning evidence that could jeopardise both countries' hosting jobs.

FIFA, or should I say, Sepp Blatter, was having none of that of course.

Hence, instead of the full report, the ethics committee's adjudicatory chamber led by judge Hans-Joachim Eckert only released a watered-down 42-page statement last month, based on the report.

Since then, Garcia has been trying in vain to get the real picture out, ultimately giving up and now has left the organisation.

I think Garcia didn't realise what he was getting into back in July 2012 when he left his job as a US district attorney (public prosecutor) in New York to join FIFA.

They are a law unto themselves, and Blatter is the closest thing to a Bond super-villain anyone can possibly imagine. Hence, they are truly the "perfect Mafia".

This is a term I picked up from a Uruguayan movie I watched last month at the Latin American Film Festival, which was screened in the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre.

"El Ingeniero" (The Engineer) was a fictional tale about a Uruguayan national football coach who had abruptly quit his job on the eve of his country's match in the Copa America final. 

For 15 years, he was a recluse and never spoke to anyone about his reasons for leaving football altogether.

The plot follows that a young football reporter looks him up and starts slowly in getting "the engineer" to talk about the abrupt ending to his illustrious football coaching career.

Eventually, the veteran coach speaks about the corruption, bribery and match-fixing that was taking place at all levels of the game, and not just in his home country.

He claimed that all this happens under the nose of the world football governing body. That is when he makes the reference to FIFA as the "perfect Mafia".

Giving the example of the real crime syndicates in various countries, he said if their crimes were investigated and the authorities acted, such criminals would end up in jail and/or face fines.

However, FIFA are their own law, as they make the rules and they enforce it any way they wish to or not. No one can touch them.

Because of the reach of their authority – FIFA rules the game at all levels anywhere in the world – hence, if any country or agency within a country tries to interfere in the national football organisation or even take FIFA to task, the country is banned from all competitions, and their football is not sanctioned, referees are not allowed to officiate, not to mention, players and coaches run the risk of being banned as well.

So, there you have it, the "perfect Mafia", getting away with anything while remaining untouchable.

As some form of damage control in the fallout following Garcia's exit, FIFA now claim they will release the report. However, even Garcia doubts there is any sincerity in such a claim as it was stated that FIFA will still leave out some parts of the report.

It is no surprise then that a seat on the FIFA executive board as well as in the executive committee of national football organisations is one of the most lucrative roles any football administrator or politician, or VIP, would crave for.

Blatter has ruled world football with an iron fist since 1998, taking over from the Brazilian Joao Havelange. The Swiss-German has since been re-elected three times since – in 2002, 2007 and 2011.

All he has to do is keep a select group of people in the organisation happy and well taken care of. Sounds familiar?

The last time Blatter defended his presidency was also when he faced the toughest challenge, that is, from the then Asian Football Confederation president, Mohamed Hammam, who happens to be from Qatar.

Not long before the vote, Mohamed was found guilty by FIFA on some corruption charges, and he was forced to withdraw from the presidential race. So, Blatter got the votes to be president for a fifth term.

Whether it is a coincidence or a conspiracy, it does not matter, as there is no one or no authority to which Mohamed can complain.

The referee's word is final on the pitch. However, off the pitch, FIFA has the final say on whether they themselves have done anything wrong or not. Go figure. – December 21, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.