Fans show little trust in FIFA
In an online poll, Transparency International and football app Forza Football have asked 25.000 football fans about a few key questions regarding their trust in FIFA, the FIFA presidential candidates and the sport itself and the result is leaves a lot to wish for.
Of the 25.000 fans who took the poll, 69 percent said that they did not trust FIFA, and when asked who, if any of the five candidates running for FIFA president, 60 percent of the polled fans stated that they did not support any of them.
The remaining votes place UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino on the top with 19 percent of the votes, Prince Ali gets 9 percent, Jérôme Champagne 6 percent while Sheikh Salman and Tokyo Sexwale come in on a shared fifth place with 3 percent of the votes each.
“FIFA should take this message to heart. Unless it acts more fans will turn away from football. The trust levels are low but the fans will give FIFA a chance if it acts now,” said Gareth Sweeney, editor of Transparency International’s newly published ‘Global Corruption Report: Sport’.
Apart from contributions about corruption in sport from more than 60 researchers, journalists and other stakeholders in sport, the report holds a list of recommendations for sports organisations to use in their work with restoring public trust after the recent scandals in FIFA and the IAAF. Read more about the recommendations
Half of the fans who took the poll believe that FIFA is actually able to restore trust and more than half say that the recent scandals have not affected their joy for the sport itself.
“As fans we have a love affair with football. When our teams win we are ecstatic, when they lose we are devastated. But when results – whether of games, or rights for hosting events, elections, etc. - are driven not by fair competition, but by corruption, we feel betrayed,” Cobus de Swardt, managing director of Transparency International explains the results from the poll.
“Sport should be a force for good in the world but the latest scandals not only in football, but in athletics and tennis, have exposed just how vulnerable it is to corruption. This must stop now,” de Swardt says, according to the press release.