Investigator: “Fifa a ‘mafia’ family”

Andrew Jennings. Photo: www.transparencyinsport.org

Fifa was once called a ‘football family’ by former president Jules Rimet, but one prominent journalist describes football’s world governing body as an ‘organised crime family’.

British reporter Andrew Jennings in an exclusive interview claimed Fifa is a criminal organisation, designed to exploit millions of fans for the benefit of a handful of officials. 

Jennings, who has spent over a decade investigating corruption in Fifa, says world football is ruled by gangsters:

 ”I classify Fifa as a mafia family. If you look at the definitions of a mafia, you’ll see it’s all there, including protection from politicians.”

A ’mafia’ is also characterised by a ‘ruthless leader, a hierarchy and the goal of power and profit’ which, according to Jennings (see p92), are applicable to Fifa. 

Author Jennings has published several works on alleged wrong-doings in Fifa. These include his book ‘Foul!‘, exposés for The Mail and BBC documentaries ‘The Beautiful Bung‘ and ‘FIFA and Coe‘.

The former Granada film-maker also gives talks at international conferences on the need for greater transparency among sports organisations.

Despite being the only reporter banned from all Fifa events, Jennings has kept a close eye on this year’s World Cup and says he has evidence of some dodgy goings-on:

“There’s one story on two big deals; one with MATCH and the other getting a share in the construction contract from one of the venues. All we add on to that is the disclosure about Danny Jordaan’s brother Andrew getting two sweet-heart contracts.”

The major scandal in modern football is match-fixing and there were early warning signs for the World Cup.

BBC Newsnight learned a Uefa investigator warned Fifa before the tournament that Nigeria could be open to manipulation – a rumour strengthened by the Super Eagles‘ poor performance at the finals.

Jennings, however, says he saw nothing at the finals to get ‘excited’ about:

Front cover of Foul! Photo: HarperCollins

“There’s nothing to be said in my view about the football. I haven’t seen anything on the pitch which suggests match-fixing.”

Off the pitch, the organising of the 2010 World Cup was ‘in ruins’ according to Jennings.

Local authorities, for instance, failed to control a stampede at a warm-up match between Nigeria and North Korea.

But the biggest disaster was the thousands of empty seats at stadiums.

Tickets were not selling and despite Fifa’s claims they had sold 95% of all tickets, spare seating was a regular occurrence at games.

Critic Jennings blasted Fifa’s management strategy for the event and says officials ignored how the spectacle ’diverted‘ vital resources away from some of South Africa’s more immediate problems:

“On the eve of the World Cup, the ticket and hospitality policy was in ruins. But you also had growing concerns over the diversion of money from desperate housing needs to building white elephants and not a word of it at the annual congress. Not a word!”

However, accusations of bribery from FA chairman Lord Triesman caused a major stir in the works.

Just two days after presenting England’s 2018 World Cup bid book, Triesman accused fellow bidders Spain and Russia of conspiring to bribe referees as part of their efforts to win the right to host the tournament.

He was later forced to resign after his comments were published in The Mail On Sunday.

The FA has remained silent on the matter. When asked for a statement on Triesman’s remarks, Lincolnshire FA secretary John Griffin declined to comment.

Then during the competition, one of England’s 2018 ambassadors Robbie Earle was sacked by ITV for violating Fifa rules after tickets allocated to his friends and family were passed on to some of the women involved in the ambush marketing stunt.

Jennings though feels these incidents will not harm England’s chances of hosting the World Cup:

“I don’t think its affected England’s bid at all. What Triesman was talking about was what people in the ‘loop’ have been talking about for months – who is going to pay.”

But whilst Jennings says it is too early to prove these allegations, he insists there may be truth in what Triesman was implying:  

“Triesman was right to have his concerns; Russia is constantly talking about us [England] being a source of bribes. Putin says he wants it, so there we go. When the vote comes, the people with the big money will come out.”

Andrew Jennings giving a talk at Play the Game conference 2007. Photo: Niels Nyholm

Fifa will decide who hosts the 2018 World Cup in December of this year and have said the refereeing system will change in time for 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Pressure to introduce technology into football increased following several poor refereeing decisions at this summer’s competition, for example, Frank Lampard’s disallowed effort and Carlos Tevez’s offside goal.

After the ties, under-fire Fifa president Sepp Blatter apologised and admitted ‘something had to change’.

Fifa announced after the tournament that extra officials would be used in this season’s Uefa Champions’ League, Europa League and Super Cup.

An unconvinced Jennings claims Blatter has deliberately failed to bring in technology because it would limit the Swiss’ ability to manipulate officials and hence the outcome of a game:

“I think Blatter has avoided it. If you’ve got a camera on the goal-line, then you don’t need a linesman’s flag to say whether it crossed the line or not.”

Jennings adds that Fifa has a closed view of technology and believes they will never use it for football:

“They [Fifa] say ‘oh well, there’s human error in everything’. They can have a camera there and it could be radioed to the referee within a second, but he [Blatter] says ‘what did you see lads?’ and they [officials] say ‘it crossed the line’. ‘Right, goal, end of story’.”