Anti-FIFA in Brazil

With over 250 million players in over 200 countries, it is the most popular sport in the world. The highest governing body of soccer is a non-profit organization called FIFA. Notice how I italicize the word “non-profit” because FIFA is actually raking in massive amounts of money due to its corruption.

               This year’s World Cup event held at Brazil, which is home to possibly the most passionate soccer fans in the world. Yet, they are not excited about it. Why not? For one thing, the Brazilian government pilfered over 11 billion dollars from the public by closing down hospitals, school and other infrastructures and funneled it into building a dozen new stadiums for the FIFA World Cup Event. After the event, the stadiums will either be never used again or becomes a burden for the public to maintain. One example is the soccer stadium in Manaus that cost the taxpayers around 300 million dollars to build. Manaus is a city located in the Amazon rainforest, surrounded by the Amazon River. There are no roads to the city from the Amazon, so all the parts must to be shipped through the river. In total, four games will be played at the stadium for the World Cup and it will be abandoned soon after.  The real kicker is: the money made from the World Cup does not go back to the Brazilian population, but instead, to the FIFA organization. FIFA will leave a trail of poverty and despair as it leaves Brazil 2014.

Unlike Robin Hood who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, FIFA steals from the poor and gives it to themselves. So why are we not doing anything to combat this? This leads into my first statement – soccer is the most popular sport in the world. As history suggests, people would rather indulge in the moment, rather than fighting to protect the rights of others. Comparatively, many people just wants to enjoy watching soccer rather than settling a dispute with a massive organization.

"By winning the World Cup, we didn’t change the world, we didn’t bring down the price of bread. It was a lovely thought that football players can solve people’s problems; I wish we could. We’d all be better off." - Diego Maradona

Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2014/04/16/brazils-anti-fifa-protests-not-little-but-definitely-late/
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/06/10/watch-john-oliver-tear-fifa-to-shreds-ahead-of-world-cup/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/18/uk-brazil-worldcup-protests-idUSKBN0ET2X420140618