Want to know what makes FIFA so awful? I’ll let John explain.
Here’s his rant from before the World Cup in 2014 about how truly corrupt they are.
Why is it a bad idea to let FIFA come to your country?
They use slave labor, they take all the money from the host country, they are shielded from taxes and laws, and they are basically horrible. Here are reasons why you shouldn’t let them come to your country.
1. FIFA doesn’t pay taxes.
You’d think bringing a major sporting event to your city would bring in lots of money. But that’s not the case when FIFA is involved. FIFA strong-arms cities into exempting them from all taxes. All of them. In 2014, Brazil missed out on $250 million in tax revenue.
2. FIFA can force law changes in countries to appease sponsors — laws that save lives.
Brazil passed a law 13 years ago banning alcohol sales at soccer games. Why?Because they lead the world in deaths at soccer games. Between 1988 and 2013, there were 234 soccer fan-related deaths. 30 in 2013 alone. Seriously. That’s without alcohol in the stadiums.
FIFA has a sponsor you may have heard of: Budweiser. When the World Cup came to Brazil, Budweiser wanted to make money. They forced Brazil to repeal the law during the World Cup. So…
3. FIFA forces countries to let it create its own court system.
When South Africa hosted the World Cup, they had to cede jurisdiction to FIFA.
That court system then did this:
“Unsettlingly fast” is an unsettling understatement.
4. FIFA chose Qatar for the 2022 World Cup — where temperatures can reach 122° F.
Not only does FIFA not particularly care about the fans or the people working to build the stadium (more on that in a second), but FIFA apparently doesn’t care about the players either. Playing soccer in 122° temperatures is basically asking the teams to be cooked alive in front of an international audience of millions.
To give you perspective on how hot that is, here’s what it’s doing in India’s heat wave right now.
After months of unsurprising horribly negative reaction to that idea, FIFA agreed to move the World Cup to wintertime in Qatar, when temperatures only reach 84° F. So classy of them.
5. Qatar’s human rights record is atrocious. Workers are basically enslaved, and many die.
The Washington Post’s WonkBlog reports that the slave labor conditions in Qatar’s construction force are so appalling that over 1,200 people have already died working to build the World Cup venues in Qatar. They estimate that the total could reach over 4,000 worker deaths. Said workers have to get permission from their bosses to leave the country.
By WonkBlog, used with permission.
WonkBlog also would like to make clear that these are only deaths of workers from three countries — Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. So the count is probably higher.
6. BONUS: FIFA has a cartoonishly evil headquarters conference room.
You can’t make this up. They really did this. This is an actual thing. It’s TOTALLY REAL.
It’s too ridiculous to be true. But it is. Which is why, obviously, the head of FIFA is refusing to step down as more and more corruption and bribery comes to light.
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