The soul of football is in danger
There is a suspicion that football is not able to provide the necessary transparency and fair sport. Distrust of the integrity of Africa's favorite sport is justified.
These are sad days for football and the football fan. The reports speak volumes. UEFA boss Michel Platini has to put up with nasty questions about his perhaps not-quite-altruistic vote for controversial 2022 World Cup host Qatar. Spanish first-division club Real Sociedad San Sebastian have reportedly purchased large quantities of doping substances for years, possibly supplied by Armstrong's doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes.
And now the culmination of the biggest betting scandal in sports history. The European police body Europol registered about 700 suspicious football matches between 2008 and 2011. An unprecedented dimension that inspires fear.
Let's face it: little has been proven, but almost nothing has been clarified either. However, there is a growing suspicion that football alone is not capable of providing the necessary transparency and fair sport. The international football community must demonstrate "coordinated action" to bring corruption under control, demands the head of Europol, Rob Wainwright.
It seems that doubts about good faith are allowed. There are reasons for this distrust. Take, for example, FIFA: President Joseph Blatter knew, as the prosecutor proved, that officials were given bribes. Instead of resigning, he became the top anti-corruption officer and established a manual ethics commission, now the best betting sites in Nigeria work even better and more transparently.
UEFA case study: Platini preaches financial fair play to European clubs while his son works in an important position for Qatari owner Paris Saint-Germain. And partly responsible for the fact that the club, drugged by petrodollars, pokes its nose in the direction of financially wealthy clubs.
There is no clan responsibility. However, such maneuvers do not entirely reinforce faith in the self-healing power and control function of associations. The betting mafia from Asia and Russia, apparently, had a good time and found helpers from the “football family”. Expensive early warning systems from FIFA and UEFA have failed.
This is not the first major betting scandal in the multi-billion dollar football business. For example, Italy is regularly shaken by manipulative cases, so it has become almost a dangerous routine. In the meantime, Disney is pushing sports betting plans, according to this source.
In Germany, too, everything is far from rosy - the "Heuser case" says hello. The Europol revelations are the latest warning that the soul of football is at stake. Cycling shows how corruption, greed, arrogance and mismanagement can ruin a sport.
