Brand of the Day: FIFA
Welcome to Brand of the Day, where we pick the company making headlines for the day and explain five elements you need to know about what has happened for them to be in the news.
Today we feature the International Federation Association of Football, better known as FIFA. On Wednesday, several arrests were made after US prosecutors accused FIFA officials of corruption and bribery.
1) The association
Founded in the early 1900s, FIFA was created to be a central governing body for soccer across the globe. It is the central organizer of major football events, most notably the World Cup. The association is headquartered in Zurich and follows the laws of Switzerland.
2) The sponsors
The association is sponsored by seven major brands: McDonald’s. Gazprom, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Visa, Budweiser and Hyundai. These brands pay top dollar -$1.4bn in 2014 – to align themselves with the football association. Sony was once on this list, but left last year.
3) The money
There is no shortage of money involved with FIFA. Much of this money goes to the association’s top officials. In 2011, $30m was allocated just for the salaries of the top 35 employees. However, a report in the Sunday Times last year indicated that many ‘secret bonuses’ are paid to the officials, including $4.4m after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
4) The arrests
Early Wednesday, Swiss police stormed Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich during a FIFA meeting. Nine individuals, named by The New York Times as Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz were arrested for accepting bribes and kickbacks. The exact amount is unknown, though it seems that The Sunday Times may have grossly underestimated.
5) Looking forward
A few of the sponsors backing FIFA, namely Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Adidas, have publically stated that they disapproved of the corruption allegations. However, none of the brands have officially dropped the association. US prosecutors are just beginning their investigations into the scandal will use US law to try to rid FIFA of all corruption.
Meanwhile, next week it will hold its presidential elections with Prince Ali bin al-Hussein standing against long-time incumbent Sepp Blatter, although calls have been made for these to be postponed following the arrests.