African Sports Monthly International Women's Day Special Edition | Page 76

Will reforms and a new Executive cure
FIFA's ills?

Now that the elections have come and gone and there is a new man; Gianni
Infantino at the helm we would like to take a look back at how FIFA got to this
stage, sort of like a post-mortem of the rottenness that once prevailed in the
halls of Zurich.

The world football’s governing body faced its biggest challenge in its history
and an unprecedented upheaval last year, characterised by arrests,
suspensions and ongoing investigations, which many hope was the clean up the
organisation needed with a new set of officials at the helm to take control
beyond whatever resulted from the investigations.
In May 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) busted a luxury hotel in
Zurich and arrested seven FIFA executives, which was followed by the
indictment of 14 former and present officials and associates of the football
body by the US Department of Justice on charges of ‘rampant, systematic and
deep-rooted corruption.’