It is no news to football fans that FIFA is having major image problems. Allegations of corruption on the part of senior officials and the large question of how Qatar landed the 2022 World Cup are only a few of the scandals afflicting the organization these days.
FIFA’s large corporate sponsors, including Adidas, Visa and Coca-Cola have been expressing concern over the perceived corruption, and recently McDonald’s joined in the voices calling for reform and ethical behaviour by FIFA officials. However, according to marketing experts, the sponsors are unlikely to renege on any lucrative deals unless a really massive scandal erupts.
Chris Welton, a well-known sports marketing consultant, said that the average football fan is not really interested in whether FIFA is behaving badly or not. They just want to watch and enjoy their football, and they don’t want to see the governing body in football embarrassed more than it already is.
Sepp Blatter, who just won his fourth four-year term as FIFA’s head honcho in an uncontested election, has finally acknowledged that the organization is having a crisis, and has promised that reforms will be made. He said it would take some time, but he intends to “ . . . put FIFA’s ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters.”
As part of the reforms, he said that in future all the 208 member federations would vote on the World Cup host, instead of FIFA’s 24-member executive committee. David Bernstein, the English FA chairman who tried and failed to get the election postponed, said that it least his attempt had pressured Blatter into proposing reforms.