QATAR: In the early 1990s, several European FIFA members were unhappy with how João Havelange and Sepp Blatter ran FIFA. The football associations in Europe chose Lennart Johansson to run for the FIFA presidency in 1998.
CONCACAF was the federation of football in North America. It was one of FIFA’s most crucial vote banks, with 30 votes due to the number of Caribbean nations.
Jack Warner was the president of CONCACAF, backed by Chuck Blazer. Sepp Blatter won the support of CONCACAF by filling Jack Warner’s pockets.
Sepp Blatter focused on CAF, the Association of Football Federations in Africa. Molefi Oliphant headed it. Blatter again swayed the vote bank by winning over Oliphant, allegedly through bribes.
Mohamed Bin Hammam, who had a close relationship with Blatter, led the Asian Football Confederation. There were allegations of monetary transactions between members in Paris hotel rooms to turn votes in favour of Blatter.
On June 8, 1998, the day of the election for the FIFA presidency, Sepp Blatter delivered a persuasive speech in which he said he would bring the World Cup to Africa if elected president.
With three prominent vote banks in his favour, Blatter won the elections easily, stunning his opponent, Lennart Johansson, who claimed that he did not get the votes as promised by the members who had nominated him in the first place.
Early days of Sepp Blatter at the helm of FIFA
Soon after the 1996 FIFA World Cup in France, Sepp Blatter began several development programs for football on a global scale. FIFA directed each country to form its own national football headquarters.
The mission, christened “Project Goal,” headed by French football star Michel Platini, allotted a budget of $400,000 to each country. The money FIFA gave was to build and repair stadiums, procure artificial pitches, and provide educational programs to nurture talented youngsters in football.
There were widespread reports of corruption related to Project Goal. The football associations reportedly received the funds, but these funds should have been used more.
In Kenya, the buildings erected for football activities bore a worn look, and hordes of chickens inhabited the area.
Challenge to Sepp Blatter
In 2001, the International Sports & Leisure Company (ISL) collapsed, triggering massive economic and political consequences for FIFA. ISL was FIFA’s primary source of money, which financed its multiple projects.
In 2002, Michel Zen Ruffinen, a Swiss lawyer who was appointed as the Secretary General of FIFA by Blatter after the 1998 elections, began questioning FIFA. He compiled a document pointing out the blatant mismanagement of funds on a massive scale by FIFA under Sepp Blatter.
Accusations of Sepp Blatter overstepping his authority arose. However, he denied all allegations, including criminal complaints levied against him. Several FIFA executive committee members, led by Chuck Blazer, backed Blatter.
After the fallout between FIFA and its Secretary General, Blatter again faced a serious challenge ahead of the 2002 FIFA presidential elections. Issa Hayatou, the Cameroonian football executive and President of the Confederation of African Football, was backed by European associations in the polls.
However, Blatter managed to hold on to his position at the top of FIFA. He registered a resounding victory, winning 139 of the 195 votes.
Soon after retaining the top spot, Sepp Blatter immediately dismissed the services of Ruffini. He solidified his position as the leader of FIFA by battling the fallout from the collapse of ISL and fending off challenges from the Secretary-General and Issa Hayatou in the elections.
Scams that overshadowed 2006 brilliance
An election in which representatives from 24 football federations participate decides the host of the FIFA World Cup.
Jack Warner, the president of CONCACAF, had moved up to senior positions within FIFA. His efforts to uplift Caribbean nations in the international football arena bore fruits when Trinidad & Tobago qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
However, corruption overshadowed the country’s historic achievements. Trinidad & Tobago footballers agreed with Warner regarding the finances of the team and the players. They decided upon a 70-30 split of revenue from commercial activities, with 30% of the income going to the players and the qualification bonus from the World Cup.
After the World Cup concluded, each player received a meagre sum of $800, setting off a massive controversy. CONCACAF deducted vast sums of money from the 30% allotted to the players. These included charges for accommodation in Austria and Germany, along with airplane fares.
The Trinidad & Tobago Football Association lost trust in Jack Warner, and multiple players called him out for his corruption. As a result, a dispute arose due to discrepancies in bonuses for the players, which resulted in several Trinidad & Tobago players ending up barred from playing for the national team again.
Eight years later, Trinidad & Tobago acknowledged the corruption and paid the footballers USD 1.3 million. As per reports, the whereabouts of $15 million of the revenue from commercial profits still need to be discovered.
The corruption behind the scenes of the 2010 World Cup
Morocco, South Africa, and Egypt were the forerunners to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. A delegation of FIFA executive committee members toured the contenders before the elections. South Africa emerged victorious in the end thanks to publicity stunts by Jack Warner, who used an ageing and sick Nelson Mandela to profit from his public image.
FIFA held the election to finalize the host for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in 2004. There were rumours of an agreement of payment to a few CONCACAF members. Jack Warner was one of the beneficiaries of the deal. In 2007-2008, South Africa negotiated for the payment in three parts; one for Jack Warner, one for Chuck Blazer, and the final part for an unknown CONCACAF committee member.
The money paid to CONCACAF was supposed to be used to support the minority African community in the Caribbean. Jack Warner had put immense pressure on FIFA to proceed with the payments. Chuck Blazer received 10 per cent of the $10 million paid to Warner.
The payments sparked allegations that South Africa bribed FIFA officials to win the hosting rights for the World Cup, which the South African government vehemently denied. There were rumours that Morocco had won the hosting rights before FIFA rigged the election in South Africa’s favour.
Beginning of the end for Sepp Blatter at FIFA
During the FIFA Congress of 2009 in Australia, Sepp Blatter proposed electing hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in the same bidding process. He said the move would give FIFA executives the “possibility to make the best choice.”
In October 2010, 2 months before the voting took place. Two of the 24 representatives in charge of voting in the elections were found guilty and subsequently suspended for trying to sell their votes during the bidding process. The executives were representatives from Nigeria and Tahiti.
In a press conference that followed the scandal, Sepp Blatter admitted that deciding to elect two hosts in the same bidding process was wrong. However, he added that FIFA had no choice but to proceed.
FIFA set the meeting for the bidding process in Zurich, Switzerland, in December. Great Britain seemed the clear favourites to bag the hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup, with the USA poised to become the 2022 World Cup hosts.
The expectations were ripped apart by the shocking series of events that followed. Russia was declared the winner to host the 2018 World Cup. The entourage from other nations met the result with cynicism.
A few moments later, Blatter announced Qatar as the host of the 2022 World Cup. There was an evident atmosphere of shock and disbelief among the US delegates as the Qatari entourage celebrated the result.
Several executives weren’t shy about expressing their disappointment. Jerome Valcke was appointed as the Director of Marketing of FIFA in 2002 to restructure the marketing department of FIFA, admitting later that there was nothing in favour of them (Qatar).
Qatar managed to fend off the USA, South Korea, Australia, and Japan’s challenges to bag the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosting rights. Then US President, Barack Obama, said, “It was the best decision by the organizing body to pick Qatar over the USA.”
According to reports, the USA had by far the best bid of all nations to host the World Cup. Qatar faced heavy backlash from the media after winning the bidding process. FIFA and Qatar were under immense global scrutiny and scathing attack campaigns.
Sepp Blatter had the backing of Jack Warner in the vote for Qatar. Warner’s move surprised Chuck Blazer since he considered Warner a close ally. Ironically, Warner was the president of CONCACAF, the football federation for North America.
Also Read: FIFA Controversy Part 1: The Powerhouse Football Federation Built on Decades of Corruption
