Business Ethics Report: Analysis of FIFA Corruption Scandal

This report delves into the FIFA corruption scandal, examining the ethical breaches and governance failures within the organization. It highlights the initial steps taken by FIFA to address the corruption, including the appointment of a new president and the implementation of reforms. The report investigates the role of the Independent Ethics Committee and the internal investigations conducted to uncover the scandal. Furthermore, it analyzes the involvement of the Football Federation Australia (FFA) in the scandal, particularly the use of public funds for bribery and the subsequent ethical implications. The report also questions the relationships between the bid consultant and the FFA management, providing a comprehensive overview of the ethical challenges and consequences of the FIFA corruption scandal.

Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS
Business Ethics
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Author note

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The ethical dilemma started getting resolved in a way when officially FIFA has
started the procedure responding to the corruption case during a special session of FIFA
Congress in the year 2016. Gianni Infantino has been voted as the new president of FIFA
after he has run a campaign on the basis of removing all dirt from FIFA. The FIFA Congress
has also approved a reform package which aims at triggering the existing deficiencies within
the governance practice of FIFA. Some of the major reforms involve limiting the office
terms, enhancing clarity within the regular day operations, keeping the political and the
management sections of the organization separate etc (Koenigstorfer and Kulczycki 2017).
The Independent Ethics Committee of FIFA has also been given a comprehensive mandate
for investigating the violations within the ethical codes of FIFA related to this corruption
scandal. Internal investigations have been led by the top officials, Cornel Borbely and Hans-
Joachim Eckert, who contributed to uncover the corruption scandal.
Even though FIFA has banned the allegedly corrupted officials from the management
and ran immediate internal investigation, the organization could also employ independent
auditors for the investigation on the fund disbursement and bid of 2022. Even though it is
quite unlikely to get more information regarding 2022 bid, but the former one should be
investigated more independently to find out whether the provided funds have been utilized
for necessary purposes and ensure all the ethical codes are met.
The FIFA scandal implies that the Football Federation Australia has utilized the
public money for paying bribes to FIFA for hosting the 2022 world cup in the country (Crane
and Matten 2016). This clearly indicates the ethical rules have been broken as the bid team
has directed government money to bribery for exchanging votes. The unethical behaviour of
FFA has shed light on the ethical conduct of Australia as the recent report shows that
approximately $45 million has been used by the government of Australia for supporting the
failed bid that was only capable of securing one single vote (Rowe 2017). A derailed report

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has also been released that raises questions on the relationship between the relationship
between the bid consultant and the FFA management. The reports have also raised questions
against Peter Hargitay as it has been revealed that while communicating with the FFA
management, it made the management believe that he is acting unethically and trying to
influence the FIFA bid as he was a former advisor of Sepp Blatter, then president of FIFA.
However Les Murray, one of senior management of FFA, has denied all allegations along
with questioning the integrity of England bid.

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Reference list
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Koenigstorfer, J. and Kulczycki, W., 2017. 10 The legacy of corruption in the context of the
2014 FIFA World Cup. Legacies and Mega Events: Fact or Fairy Tales?.
Rowe, D., 2017. Sports journalism and the FIFA scandal: personalization, co-optation, and
investigation. Communication & Sport, 5(5), pp.515-533.