Ce qui tue le football: Des journalistes africains enquêtent

Eburnews - Un rapport sur l`état du football au Cameroun, au Nigeria et en Côte d`Ivoire révèle des irrégularités financières alarmantes

Trois pays africains ont des représentants dans le comité exécutif de la FIFA. Voici certaines des conclusions du rapport d`enquête du Forum de Reporters africains sur l`état du football dans ces pays.

CÔTE D`IVOIRE

Le plus grand scandale de ces dernières années a été la tragédie du stade en 2009, lorsque 20 personnes sont mortes et 35 autres ont été blessées à la faveur d`un match de qualification pour la Coupe du Monde, à Abidjan. 2.000 billets supplémentaires ont été vendus par rapport au nombre de places que pouvait contenir le vieux stade - et de nombreux autres spectateurs ont payé pour entrer, sans tickets. Des amendes ont été distribuées, mais Eric Mwamba rapporte que la corruption se perpétue, puisque les gros poissons de la Fédération Ivoirienne de Football (FIF) ont échappé à la sanction:

■ La FIF recevait 1,6 million de dollars par an de la Société ivoirienne de raffinage (SIR) mais les clubs locaux n`ont jamais rien perçu de tout cet argent. L`existence du fonds n`est devenue publique lorsque le SIR arrêté les dons en 2007, après avoir découvert que l`argent n`était pas redistribué.

■ Les dons des entreprises au secteur sportif sont désormais systématiquement versés directement au ministère des Sports, pour «éviter que l`argent ne tombe entre les mains de Jacques Anouma (président de la FIF et membre du bureau exécutif de la FIFA)«. Le problème est exacerbé par le fait qu`il en est désormais aussi le directeur financier.

■ En 2008, la FIF a annoncé un excédent de 2,2 M $. Anouma avait alors déclaré: «Arrêtez de nous accuser d`utiliser l`argent des contribuables, la Fifa nous donne de l`argent.« Cependant, leur propre rapport interne 2007 sur les dons mentionne plus de 4 millions de dollars de l`industrie du café-cacao, et d`autres sources qui suggèrent un montant supplémentaire de 6 millions provenant directement des caisses de l`état.

■ Les clubs locaux se plaignent de ce que des joueurs et des officiels se font loger dans des hôtels de luxe où on livre des prostituées aux internationaux, le tout payé avec l`argent de cette même subvention.

■ Même la Fifa avait reconnu qu`il y a problème à la FIF, en décidant de gérer la dotation en tickets Coupe du monde 2010 de la Côte d`Ivoire afin de «minimiser les risques de fraude".

Source: The Guardian UK
Making a killing out of football: African reporters investigate
Report into the state of the game in Cameroon, Nigeria and Ivory Coast reveals alarming financial irregularities


Three African countries have representatives on the Fifa executive committee. Here are some of the findings of the Forum for African Investigative Reporters` report into the state of football in those countries

CAMEROON

Some of the world`s biggest companies like to be associated with Cameroon, who have played in more World Cups than any other African nation. Players such as Roger Milla and Samuel Eto`o are good for marketing. The sponsorship money appears to have done little good for football, though. Chief Bisong Etahoben and Franklin Sone Bayen report that:

■ The most powerful man in Cameroon football is Issa Hayatou, a Fifa executive member. Two of his brothers are ministers, and there has been a Hayatou in every Cameroonian government for 50 years. A reporter who tried to investigate Hayatou`s wealth earlier this year is in hiding after being beaten and threatened.

■ Mobile phone company MTN pumped in $600,000 of an $800,000 project to renovate a number of stadiums. The other $200,000 was to come from Fecafoot, the Cameroonian FA, but instead, $146,000 ended up in the pockets of the then sports minister, Thierry Augustin Edzoa, so that he could "breathe easier", he said after the payment. The work never happened. The $600,000 is unaccounted for.

■ Parliament appropriated more than $24m for another stadium renovation project. No work took place, the country`s two main stadiums are more dilapidated than ever and there is nothing to show for the money.

■ Fecafoot office staff threatened to go on strike after being unpaid for 44 months. Fifa sent money for the wages to be paid: officials stumped up 16 months` back pay and pocketed the rest.

■ A Fecafoot official took $16,000 expenses for an air ticket after saying his original ticket had been lost. He boarded the plane using the first ticket, and kept the $16,000.

NIGERIA

Football in Nigeria has reached a tipping point: it is mired in allegations about officials enriching themselves at the expense of the game. Olukayode Thomas, a journalist involved in an epic court case with Amos Adamu this year, who now works for the sports minister, reports how:

■ Under Adamu, Nigerian football has reached a position whereby only 10% of the $7m received from the sponsor Globalcom reaches the clubs.

■ Television rights for the Nigerian league are worth around $5m, but since this deal was signed no Premier League club has received a share of the money.

■ For last summer`s World Cup, the Nigeria Football Federation hired a $100-a-night hotel in the South Africa coastal town of Ballito for their team. The federation were receiving $400 per person per night from Fifa for this purpose.

■ Before the tournament, Glenn Hoddle was offered a deal worth $1m to coach the team, but claimed an official had told him it would be announced as $1.5m, with the difference shared. Hoddle rejected the offer and made it public.

■ Most recently, $250 000 in cash is understood to have disappeared from the accounts of the NFF. So far, it has proved untraceable.

IVORY COAST

The biggest scandal of recent years was the stadium tragedy of 2009, when 20 died and 35 were injured after a World Cup qualifier in Abidjan. The number of tickets sold was 2,000 more than the 74-year‑old stadium could hold – and many more bought their way in without tickets. Fines were handed out, but Eric Mwamba reports on the continued corruption as the big fish in the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) escaped sanction:

■ FIF received $1.6m a year from the Ivorian Petrol Refinery Company, SIR, but local clubs never got any of the money. The fund`s existence only became public when SIR stopped the donations in 2007 on discovering the money was not being distributed.

■ Sports donations from the corporate sector are now routinely paid directly to the sports minister, to "avoid the money falling into the hands of [FIF president and Fifa executive member Jacques] Anouma". The problem is exacerbated by the fact he is now also the chief financial officer.

■ In 2008 FIF announced a $2.2m surplus, with Anouma saying: "Stop accusing us of using taxpayers` money, Fifa gives us money." However, their own 2007 internal report detailed donations from the state run coffee-cocoa industry of more than $4m, and sources suggest a further $6m comes direct from the state.

■ Local clubs are angry about claims that players and officials are put up in plush hotels and provided with prostitutes for internationals, paid for by these state funds.

■ Even Fifa recognise the problems at FIF, announcing that they would market the Ivory Coast`s 2010 World Cup ticket allocation to "minimise the risk of fraud".