Whether in football or any other sport, and even in international sport associations such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), convictions are often for anything other than accepting bribes in an athletic context.
The parallels to the difficulties in convicting organised crime bosses are striking. Robert Hoyzer, for example, the main offender in the infamous German match-rigging scandal, was actually convicted for fraud. Two Brazilian referees who were proven to have fixed matches are currently facing charges of fraud, conspiracy and financial crime. The case of Bruce Grobbelaar, the former Liverpool goalkeeper, highlights the complexity of the issue. After numerous legal battles, Britain’s highest court decided it could not be shown that he fixed matches even though it had been shown he took bribes. There was no conviction.
Bribery scandals involving members of the International Olympic Committee are follow this disturbing pattern. A number of IOC members, such as Guy Drut or former IOC vice president Kim Un-yong, have been convicted on charges of business corruption or embezzlement. Cases directly involving the IOC like the Salt Lake City vote-buying scandal or the case of Ivan Slavkov (Bulgaria) never culminated in convictions. One of the reasons for this is very simple: There is no law against corruption in sport, making the sector ideal for professional swindlers.
Another complicating factor is a flexible interpretation of the rule of law within international sport associations. The prominent sports journalist Jens Weinreich describes FIFA as an organisation operating “within its strange own system of law”, choosing to resolve problems within the “family”. Until legislation begins to take account of the reality of corruption in sports and sports associations really go on the offensive, there stands to be little change.
See a table of sport scandals and convictions here.
http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2006/corruption_sports/scandals_and_convictions
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