Two more of FIFA’s headline World Cup sponsors have warned that corruption allegations engulfing the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar are damaging the global reputation of the game.
Visa and Adidas on Sunday joined Sony in demanding that the bribery claims be taken seriously by world soccer’s governing body.
Adidas, which recently renewed its sponsorship until 2030 and is FIFA’s longest-serving partner, said: “The negative tenor of the public debate around FIFA at the moment is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners.”
Visa, which insists that only its cards can be used at World Cup venues as part of its sponsorship deal, said it expected FIFA to “take the appropriate actions” to respond to the current investigation and its recommendations.
Sony said on Saturday it expected FIFA to ensure the disclosures are “investigated appropriately.”
The sponsors spoke out following new revelations in the Sunday Times regarding the activities of Mohamed bin Hammam, the Qatari former FIFA executive committee member — who was also formerly the Asian Football Confederation president — and his alleged links to the successful Qatar 2022 bid.
Collectively, FIFA’s sponsors contribute US$1.5 billion over a four-year World Cup cycle.
The commercial pressure will cause a new wave of concern among FIFA executives already dealing with the implications of a troubled buildup to this year’s tournament in Brazil and a new wave of corruption allegations over the improbable award of the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
The Sunday Times reports, based on a cache of millions of documents detailing the activities of Bin Hammam in the run-up to the vote in December 2010, outlined allegations that he used a US$5 million slush fund and his influence to pay bribes and coordinate global trade deals for the bid.
The Qatar 2022 organizing committee insists that Bin Hammam, who quit soccer after an attempt to unseat Sepp Blatter as FIFA president was derailed by bribery allegations in 2011, had no “official or unofficial” role in winning the bid.
The World Cup in Brazil — which has had a troubled buildup in the light of public anger over the US$11 billion spent on hosting it at a time of underinvestment in public services — has added another dimension to the bribery storm.
Meanwhile, amid continuing concern over the treatment of migrant workers building stadiums in Qatar, FIFA is also understood to be considering a plan to make a nation’s human rights record a factor in awarding World Cups. It is understood those responsible are considering the plan in response to the outcry that met reports from human rights groups and the Guardian about the conditions faced by migrant workers.
FIFA delegates gathering in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before this week’s organizational congress insisted the current investigation by former New York attorney Michael Garcia would deal with the bribery claims.
Following a year-long investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were won by Russia and Qatar, Garcia promised to finish his work by yesterday and hand the report to the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee by the middle of next month.
It emerged last week that Garcia had declined to examine the evidence obtained by the Sunday Times. FIFA sources said he had already seen the same material, but the newspaper believes he has only received a selection of the documents it has in its possession.
Blatter took to Twitter to declare that the governing body needed more time.
“Never ignoring media reports on ethics allegations in football. But let the Ethics Committee work!” he tweeted.
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