Corruption in Football: Analytical Essay

Corruption in football

Abstract

The subject that I chose to write about is corruption in football. My thesis statement is to know whether corruption is a threat to football or not and how we can fight against it? I chose this problem because, I watch and read a lot about football and as a football fan I have noticed that corruption is becoming more common in football. The word corruption is defined as soliciting, offering, giving or accepting an unlawful commission in exchange for an action that affects the conduct or the function of the beneficiary. Corrupt people´s main goal is to take advantage of the power of their function to serve their personal interests.

Introduction

In sports, corruption is very common. Arranged matches for the benefit of one of the teams, attribution of a competition facilitated by suspicious means, contracts obtained in exchange of favours. The cases are numerous. And the most popular sport in the world, football is one of the most corrupted sports in the world. Today the credibility of professional football is threatened by many individuals who defy sports ethics, including the use of controversial and illicit methods such as corruption. Corruption is defined as soliciting, offering, giving or accepting an unlawful commission in exchange for an action that affects the conduct or the function of the beneficiary. Corrupt people’s main goal is to use the power of their function to serve their personal interests, which in most cases are related to money. But is corruption a threat to football and how can we fight against it?

Background

Today this illicit method is a real threat to professional football. Because the generalisation of corruption in football can have various economic repercussions such as to scare away many spectators and consumers but also many economic partners for example, sponsors not wanting to be associated with cheating. However, this does not appear as a recent practice. Many cases of corruption were already present at the beginning of the twentieth century such as the rigged match between Manchester United and Liverpool in 1915, in favour of Manchester United to avoid relegation to the second division. Method

The method I used for this research is “literature search”. I chose this method because it was the simplest method for me. The advantage of using a literature search is that it’s usually easier to find the information for the subject itself. What can be a disadvantage is to refer the source information that you find, while it would have been much easier much easier to refer if I used another method such as a survey.

Question Studied

Is corruption a threat to football and how can we against it?

Conclusion

It is difficult to say whether corruption in football is more or less present now than in the past. There was maybe less control of football matches in the past than in the present. This means that several arranged matches may have been occurred but with a lack of control from the big football associations such as FIFA and UEFA, these events went through easily. in our society today were the motto is to “get rich” no matter how, the development of online markets and of football as an economy may have also affected the game with more money and gives more possibilities to corrupt. With the important of the financial stakes, the temptation is even bigger for great clubs, players and referees to break the law and sports regulations to affect the outcome of the matches.

In 2014, the NGO came up with some advice to club’s officials and players on how to fight match fixing on international level and that essentially consist of four core “good practice principles”. These four principles consist of:

• The organizations are committing to prohibit through a code of conduct and policy any form of corruption and bribery.
• A high commitment to prevent match fixing through the implementation of procedures.
• The clubs must apply risk assessment procedures. These risks must be applied in a effective and reasonable way.
• To prevent match fixing, procedures must be applied effectively.

Transparency International UK has also published useful guidance on how organizations should fight against bribery:

• When carrying out a bribery risk assessment, involve people who are sufficiently informed and can provide a complete overview of the business and its risk.
• Act in a comprehensive manner when formulating policies.

In conclusion, big European football organizations such as FIFA and UEFA must start to strengthen their surveillance in order to limit or stop the use of this type of method in football, because corruption tarnishes the image of football.