Fifa sponsors including Visa, Coca-Cola and Adidas “cannot afford to be bystanders” while another crisis grips football’s governing body, says a leading sports integrity advisor.
Commercial partners have been conspicuous by their silence since Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in its World Cup business plunged the organisation into civil war more than two months ago.
Infantino has since withdrawn the proposal and pledged to review governance but concerns persist over transparency and the system of patronage that entrenches power in his office.
“I think that they [sponsors] can certainly not afford to be bystanders. Silence is not neutrality,” Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, CEO of the Sport Integrity Global Alliance, told City AM.
“And have you heard anybody saying anything? No, we haven’t. That is tremendously important, and we have been encouraging sponsors to be part of this united front, this coalition of the willing that Siga represents.”
The current crisis of confidence in Fifa comes little more than a decade after the corruption scandal that tore through the governing body and ousted then-president Sepp Blatter in 2014.
Back then, Visa, Coca-Cola and Adidas all publicly urged Fifa to reform, while Sony and Castrol chose not to renew their commercial deals.
‘Fifa needs an antidote not an aspirin’
“Twelve years ago football was hit by the biggest tsunami that has shaken up not just the image and perception and credibility of institutions but the whole cluster,” he said.
“We all remember the investigations and the front pages, with criminal investigations and trials involving marketing executives, sponsors – not just Fifa, not just football.
“We see this as a systemic problem, and unless sport acts by putting in place robust regulations, effective accountability and oversight, we will be repeating the same recipe over and over again.”
The Fifa Council last week voted to establish a working group to review Fifa’s governance framework.
Infantino also apologised for sidelining the council in drawing up plans for the World Cup sell-off but European chiefs Uefa have said that they are still waiting for questions to be answered.
Siga’s recommendation is that any Fifa governance review must be truly independent, wide-ranging, transparent and with provisions for action baked in from the outset.
“We all remember football and sport’s reputation being dragged through the mud,” Medeiros said of the 2014 Fifa scandal, which led to the FBI carry out dawn raids.
“We had to stop at that, not just with an aspirin but with an antidote that could shield all institutions and individuals for the future, based on a set of universal standards.”