'The Enterprise'—10 years since its unveiling

It's been ten years since the world was amazed by the dawn raid orchestrated by the FBI on some unsuspecting, sleeping members of the FIFA Congress at the luxury Baur au Lac Hotel in downtown Zurich. 

At the time, I had an inkling that something was about to happen from my dear friend, the late Andrew Jennings, who had been talking with US authorities—specifically the FBI, IRS and DoJ—for more than five years beforehand. He had mentioned the meetings to me in passing and in confidence in our regular catch-ups. He had also urged me a few weeks before to lodge a formal complaint with US and Swiss authorities about a massive hack of a then-business website, orchestrated impersonation of all my social media accounts, and the establishment of a fake website and Bitcoin account in my name that had occurred earlier that year. "They'll want to know," he told me. 

Several years earlier, Andrew had been delighted when he realised that the way into FIFA corruption was through focusing on the avarice of the then giant of US Soccer, and FIFA Executive Committee member, Chuck Blazer. It was a classic Al Capone-type situation. Blazer and his alleged co-conspirator, CONCACAF President Jack Warner, were careful in almost everything they did, except for one thing. Blazer was way behind on his tax filings. That provided the IRS with the opportunity to investigate Blazer's business dealings further which, in turn, led him to become an informant, leading them to FIFA. (Blazer died in 2017).

Chuck Blazer, who lived in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, was regularly seen on his motorised scooter around the streets of Manhattan with his pet parrot. (Photo: Chuck Blazer Facebook page)

And guess who had the documents? Andrew Jennings, of course.

Andrew and three of his closest colleagues, Jens Weinreich of Germany, James Oliver of the BBC, and Jean-François Tanda of Switzerland, gathered in Zurich, to join many of the world's football journalists who were there for the FIFA Congress. Among others, they had been leading the charge in investigating FIFA corruption for at least a decade, and they were overjoyed to see some action at last.

FIFA HQ, Zurich. From L-R: Jean-François Tanda, Jens Weinreich, Andrew Jennings, James Oliver (Photo: Jens Weinreich)

It was late in the afternoon/early evening in Australia when the text messages and calls started coming in to me. Over the next 48 hours, I did approximately 40 interviews, mostly international, as most football journalists in Australia had been, and were continuing to be, fed a different narrative. In 2015, I was one of the few former insiders willing to stand up and publicly say (to paraphrase Marcellus from Hamlet) that there was something deeply rotten in the state of FIFA—the way it was run and the way it conducted its business. 

I reflected on the day in chapter 34 of my book, Whatever It Takes—the Inside Story of the FIFA Way (2018).

It was a tremendous day. 

It was music to the ears of so many people. Perhaps not in Zurich or football association headquarters around the world.

But to Andrew Jennings, Jens Weinreich, Thomas Kistner, Jean François Tanda, Jamil Chade, Robert Kempe, Jochen Leufgens, Grit Hartmann, Lasana Liburd, Camini Marajh, Nick Harris, and others. Journalists who had gone out on a limb and risked their livelihoods in pursuit of the truth about FIFA and world football.

To people like me, a former insider who was prepared to put their head above the parapet and say ‘There is something deeply rotten in the state of FIFA’. Knowing that the more you talked, the more desperate they became, the more you’d cop retribution. 

Of even greater consequence is how the US authorities described FIFA and its confederations. They saw it as an ‘Enterprise’. 

The Enterprise was involved in RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges. RICO - a racketeering-influenced corrupt organisation - is a term created for the mafia. 

I have met some of the US, Swiss, and French investigators. One of them, I would now consider a friend. To this day, the US authorities claim the FIFA case remains an "ongoing investigation".

There was much that happened after the FIFA arrests in Zurich on 27th May 2015. While the changes introduced in 2016 improved processes and policies on paper, the culture of world football administration has not undergone significant change. And when it comes to a contest between process and culture, culture always wins. 

As sport reflects society, we may well have the FIFA we deserve in 2025. For those who care, we should not fool ourselves that FIFA is either reformed or substantially improved.  

I was on the inside during the Blatter era, when wrongdoing occurred more or less in plain sight; the need for reform was not understood or welcomed. The 2015 raids were a reckoning. True reform demands more than new systems—it requires new values. We’re not there yet.

However, they are matters for another day. 

Today is a day to reflect on the work of investigative journalists, investigators, and the few whistleblowers in world football. I would like to particularly acknowledge and extend my congratulations and thanks to the journalists I named above—Andrew, the first among equals—and others worldwide who have taken up the cause then and since. And to the football fans who, like me, believe that democracy, transparency, and accountability in world sport matter, keep caring, keep fighting. Football can and should do better.

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Read Chapter 34 of Whatever It Takes here.