German sportnetzwerk publishes first book on corruption in sport
08.06.2006
What did the Germans offer to be granted the FIFA World Cup 2006? Who are soccer`s secret global players? Why have all parliamentary investigations into Brazilian football ended in nothing? Why do international sports federations flock into a small country like Switzerland? And who is the real winner when the betting business plays foul? The answers to these and lots of other questions can be found in a new book ’Korruption im Sport’.
Published by the German “sportnetzwerk”, the book features texts in German as well as English and is the first book to focus on the global phenomenon of corruption in sports.
Never before has corruption in sport been described at such length or in such detail. 24 journalists, scientists, lawyers and sports officials from ten countries have worked together to analyse the different forms of corruption, its excesses, dangers, origins and consequences. They also offer solutions to detect corruption and combat it.
Nine of the book’s 24 chapters are dedicated to football alone – as might be expected in the year of the FIFA World Cup. But the authors have collected ample evidence to show that the system of bribery, deception and deceit works in other sports as well.
Jens Weinreich, editor of the book, has gathered contributions from an impressive range of authors and experts including Andrew Jennings (England), an award-winning investigative journalist and expert on international corruption in sports, and his most eminent German colleague, Hans Leyendecker.
In other chapters, Mario Goijman (Argentina) describes his solitary fight against corruption in the international volleyball federation FIVB, and journalist Lasana Liburd (Trinidad) uncovers the dealings of FIFA vice president Jack Warner.
The emphasis of the book is not primarily to disclose new cases of corruption, but also to explain to the reader why corruption is so widespread in sports, why it is harder to detect and more difficult to suppress than in other areas of social life. Therefore experts on law and law enforcement round off the picture by analysing the various problems in the penal systems.
“Korruption in Sport” is the first volume of planned publications from the German “sportnetzwerk”.
“sportnetzwerk” is an official partner of Play The Game. Its aim is to involve journalists, scientists, students and sports officials in debate on the role of sports in society and raise the quality of journalism.