FIFA’s own goal

Globally known as the beautiful game, football has brought joy to millions of people the world over. Yet it is not without its own mishaps, not least the unfortunate “own goal” which deflates, demoralizes and disunites a team and its supporters.

The 1994 World Cup in the USA is as much remembered for Diana Ross’ opening ceremony “penalty” miss as for the aftermath of the Colombian defender, Andres Escobar’s unfortunate own goal in the match against the host country. For a while, football spectators in Nigeria greeted an own goal with the collective cry, ‘Escobar’.

Formed in 1904 “to develop football everywhere and for all”, FIFA has shown in the last three decades that it is genuinely committed to fulfilling that mission. The game has grown so much in popularity that the world’s most powerful political leaders would take time out of crucial meetings to watch World Cup matches. Recent media reports in the United States suggest that football (soccer) followership is growing at a faster pace than national pastimes like baseball and basketball.

FIFA believes, and truly so, that “football has the power to bring people together and to break down barriers”. In fact, the likeable Sepp Blatter is de facto president of the global community. Sadly, the reputation of the world’s biggest sporting association has been dealt a huge blow after scoring a devastating own goal.

To be clear, FIFA’s latest – and most worrisome – corruption crisis appears to be a consequence of neglecting what is truly its “most competitive asset”, to borrow the phrase of Herb Kelleher, whose famed obsession with doing the right thing by all stakeholders was, according to him, borne out of the fear that “through inattention, through misunderstanding, we lose the culture, the spirit”.

FIFA’s leadership failed to recognize that the association’s most enduring brand assets are not its competitions, marketing deals, statutes, committees and awards – as important as they are. The real brand assets are those values that undergird the administration of the game, be they rules of play or codes of conduct.

While it may be simplistic to adduce FIFA’s cataclysmic fall to a mono-causal analysis, it is apparent that the organization took its eye off the ball, failing scandalously to protect “the integrity of football”, even though it smugly parades itself as the guardian of the game.

Since organizational culture is described basically as “the way things are done around here”, FIFA’s leadership is, at best, complacent in a permissive culture that continues to wave the white flag of “plausible deniability”. At the other end, they could be accused of tacit complicity, seeing, as alleged, that the system is rife with ‘indirect free-kicks’ of illicit and opportunistic favours right at the headquarters in Zurich and countless ‘corner-kicks’ at continental and national football command centres across the globe.

In a candid article on organizational culture and corruption, anti-corruption investigator, Alison Taylor, wrote, “There are real questions about the ability of compliance frameworks and processes to stop corruption if other elements of organizational culture, strategy, leadership, incentives and values are pushing in the opposite direction.”

She maintained that while it is comforting to think that those individuals who err are bad apples operating outside the system, in reality “[t]he influence of your corporate environment is what organizational psychology seeks to understand – it is the study of how human beings behave in groups. You don’t read the employee Code of Conduct to find out what is permitted – you ask the person at the desk next to you”.

As Michael Garcia, the lawyer who resigned his post as FIFA’s independent ethics investigator, affirmed, “No independent governance committee, investigator, or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organization.”

In football FIFA has – and represents – a magnificent asset which has, no doubt, been excellently marketed and positioned by its streetwise and visionary leadership. However, the seemingly universal aversion to values has put a dent on its visage of integrity, built over the course of a century. This brings home the point made by Edward D. Hess, professor of business administration at the University of Virginia, that “While strategic focus and operational excellence are necessary to build a great growth company, they are not sufficient. Growth requires the right kind of leadership, culture, and people.”

FIFA can no longer play the ostrich because the “common, simple language to support the unique, unifying power of football” is the twin concept of truth and trust. Therefore, its efforts “to improve and strengthen governance standards within the global football community” must start from Zurich and cascade through its liaisons – from Abuja to Abu Dhabi, Bangkok to Banjul, Moscow to Montevideo.

Indeed, FIFA will do well to engrave truth and trust beneath its iconic logo to “give football the solid foundation it needs to thrive everywhere”.

Olufemi Adeyemo

Adeyemo, a visiting faculty at the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, teaches, writes and consults on organizational culture and brand experience.