FIFA: The Beautiful Game and Global Scandal

At dawn on May 29, 2015, Swiss authorities acting on behalf of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation entered a plush hotel in Zurich, Switzerland to arrest nine senior executives of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), soccer’s global governing body, as delegates from across the world convened to elect a president to lead them for the next four years. The incumbent president, who had been in office since 1998, at first refused to step down, but pressure from the media, sponsors and fans as the investigation escalated forced him to resign a few days later. The organization’s signature event, the World Cup, had grown into a quadrennial cash cow through the shrewd sale of broadcast and marketing rights. Now, charges of corruption were forcing its governance and practices into the limelight. How could the executive forge a path ahead and what steps were needed to repair the organization’s reputation and survival?