Despite scandal, perks shower on Fifa officials
MOSCOW: France’s players had barely finished celebrating their victory over Uruguay in the World Cup’s first quarter-final when a convoy of black minivans and sedans screeched out of the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. The passengers were in a hurry. They had about two hours to make the 200-mile journey to Kazan for the day’s second game.
The vehicles whisked them to the airport, where they boarded a private charter flight. When that jet arrived in Kazan, its passengers were met by another fleet of black vehicles, which drove them at high speed directly into the Kazan Arena. They had made it, but only just. Glasses of champagne were available upstairs in a suite for anyone who wanted them. After all, it had been a stressful journey.
Two hours later, after Belgium had stunned Brazil, another private flight -- the group’s third of the day -- returned the passengers to their temporary quarters in Moscow, the opulent Lotte Hotel, where a buffet breakfast for two will set you back more than $100 (approximately ~6847).
The travellers were Fifa Council members. Three years after a corruption scandal brought down Fifa’s leaders and shined a bright light on the gilded lives they enjoyed, the idea that world soccer’s top officials, including its 36-member leadership council, still enjoy such privileges might be surprising given their promises to live more austerely.
LITTLE HAS CHANGED
In Russia, though, it seems that the names may have changed but the fringe benefits have not. And that goes for the individuals hired to police and maintain good governance standards inside the organisation too.
In the marble-floored lobby of the Lotte one day early in the tournament, for example, a Fifa official valiantly tried to assuage any concerns Mukul Mudgal, the independent head of Fifa’s governance committee, might have had that plans to house him in the deluxe suite had changed.
Joining him at the hotel was Maria Claudia Rojas, the Colombian judge who, as Fifa’s top ethics investigator, is tasked with policing the behaviour of the organisation’s officials. Rojas joined Fifa Council members at several tournament games, even donning a yellow Colombia shirt when her home country played.
QUESTIONS RAISED
Critics of Fifa, and even some of its senior officials, have privately questioned whether Rojas’ presence at the tournament is appropriate.
“Excessive proximity to members and hanging around for a month is not good,” said Miguel Maduro, Fifa’s former governance head.
Reforming the Fifa Council has been a tough task for Gianni Infantino, the organisation’s president. The group is drawn from officials representing football’s six regional confederations, and many have strongly resisted efforts to curb the privileged lifestyles they and their predecessors enjoyed as members of Fifa’s executive committee, now disbanded.
Evelina Christillin, one of only six women on the council, has acknowledged the problem. The biggest concern, she said, has been money. The council, expanded to 36 members from the executive committee’s 24, will meet only three times officially in 2018 (some officials sit on other committees too) yet each member will receive $250,000 (approximately ~1.72 crore).
“It’s difficult to be an example if you earn too much for what you do. But not everyone is so convinced that we need to reduce….,” said Christillin.
“The council is very big, too big,” said Sylvia Schenk, chairwoman of the Working Group on Sport at Transparency International Germany, and a former adviser to Fifa. A majority of officials who attend the meetings rarely speak up, several members of the council said. Yet they enjoy the benefits just the same.