FIFA

FIFA-

"That one person who is rich and we all know did some sketchy shit to make that money, but gives back to your favorite charity."

              The 2018 FIFA men’s World Cup will be hosted by Russia this summer. The opening game will be on June 14 and run through the final on July 15. FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) is the sports governing body that, along with the host nation, prepares and runs the football tournament. The games won’t begin until June, however, there is plenty of excitement prior towards the commencement of the World Cup. The topic that will be discussed isn’t necessarily as exciting as the beautiful game but does play a dramatic part in the footballing world.

              FIFA.  FIFA controls and manages the organization of tournaments and everything that comes along with it such as negotiating with sponsors, awarding television rights, rules and laws that surround the game, but do not control the actual Laws of the game.  That reponsiblilty falls under the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which is composed of the English FA, the Scottish FA, The Football Association of Wales and Northern Ireland’s FA. However, FIFA has 50% of the votes (4) when it comes to the 8-person panel.

              That is why FIFA is a vital part and will most likely never go away. Not without a fight at least. There is a significant amount of money that is involved in the soccer organizing operation that it’s insane. FIFA has a negative connotation to some in the footballing community mainly due to allegations of corruption, money laundry, and being complicit to human rights violations to host nations that are using foreign labor to complete the construction of stadiums.

              Don’t let that last sentence stray you off course. I am not here to bash FIFA, I’ll leave that to the funnier and more qualified comedians such as John Oliver. I am here to attempt to explain how FIFA is structured so as the World Cup nears and comedians, sports news outlets, and even regular news outlets will make some sort of report on the scandals associated with FIFA, the reader will have a slightly better understanding on the topic.

              The President. The President of FIFA is the normally the most recognizable person in the sport governing body. The current president, Gianni Infantino, was elected after his predecessor, Joseph Blatter, was removed due to corruption allegations. The FIFA president is a representative role where whoever holds the position must advance the Council’s agenda in strategic manner that also represents the policies and values. The president has no vote in congress, but has one ordinary vote on the Council. In short, the president represents FIFA where ever he goes in order to further their agenda.

              The Council. The 37 members (1 President, 8 Vice Presidents, and 28 other members) on the Council have significantly more authority in progressing FIFA’s agenda and authority. A few of the aspects under control of the Council is the awarding of commercial contracts, football development grants, the operational costs of FIFA and other business-finance related matters. The Council appoints a general secretariat to manage and execute the business-finance matters. As one would expect the general secretariat is overseen and answers to the authority of the Council. The Council also approves the budget and assigns committees and holds the elections for the head of those committees to be voted by the congress. Remember the IFAB mentioned earlier? The Council is involved in that as well. They pick three members along with the President to represent FIFA at the IFAB and how representatives will vote in the IFAB. To summarize, the Council runs FIFA, they don’t control all aspects, but if anything is going to be done it will have to go through the Council.

FIFA Congress.  Meets ordinarily every year and/or when summoned by the Council. Each soccer federation is represented in FIFA congress unless it is not present, therefore can’t vote, or suspended due to a violation against FIFA regulation and policy. The FIFA congress gets to vote for the next president, approval of the budget and which nation will host the next world cup. To compare, FIFA congress is like the students in an elementary classroom who raise their hands to vote and the Council is the teacher who provides the students on what they will vote for.

Clearly, I didn’t go as in-depth as most fans of policy making would enjoy, however, my intention wasn’t to explain the influence of the confederations have over the soccer federations in their region that results in block voting. My intentions were to familiarize, mostly Americans, how FIFA is structured not how it works. Full transparency, I don’t know 100% how FIFA works, and I research, follow, and attempt to understand what they do for quite some time now. The real excitement will be on the fields in Russia this summer, but keep an eye and watch for the drama that FIFA brings along with them.