Lessons FERWAFA should learn from FIFA

It is said that a wise man (and, I suppose a wise woman too) learns from the experience of others and a fool learns from their own experiences. If there is truth in that saying that all of us but especially Fédération Rwandaise de Football Association (Rwanda Football Federation) popularly known by its acronym FERWAFA should be busy taking notes. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) of which FERWAFA is a member, has been in the news. The FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, or Sepp Blatter, as he is better known, was re-elected for a fifth four year term only to resign four days later amid scandal(s), accusation and arrest of his top comrades who are accused, just days before the election, of fraud and racketeering resulting in arrest of top officials. The rest, as they say, is history. So what lessons can we carry from FIFA? Work: Sepp Blatter is known to have put in 18 hour days as Soccer’s power man, beginning at dawn to meet the presidents, princes, dictators and oligarchs who seek reflected glory from the world’s most popular game. Network: Blatter’s troubles began from his own backyard, the 53 member UEFA- Union of European Football Associations. He still won the election, however, because he had built strong networks worldwide. You can bet that even with the resignation, he will have a hand in the election of his successor. It is highly improbable that one of his detractors will succeed him given his considerable influence is the consummate politician. Work the numbers: In Rwanda we are soccer mad. But has FERWAFA done its best to translate this love for football into good business? It is doubtful. How much does local football get from endorsements, sponsorships, TV rights, collections and all? Your guess is as good as mine. Comparatively, FIFA is rich and powerful. It’s worth billions and beats many countries’ budgets. Its revenues are huge; for example FIFA made $5.7 billion (4 trillion RwF) in revenue in the four years leading up to the 2014 World Cup. Last year alone, it made $2 billion (1.4 trillion RwF) in revenue World Cup in Brazil that boosted its books. FIFA says that last year’s World Cup final between Germany and Argentine was watched by 1 billion people, that is one in every seven people on earth watched the game. From the World Cup alone, FIFA made a neat $2.6 billion (1.85 trillion RwF) profit for FIFA. FIFA also makes its money from media rights, that is the sale of television rights which generates a big chunk if its income. Last year it generated $2.4 billion (1.7 trillion RwF) of the revenues produced by the Brazil World Cup. That income, combined with marketing rights, pooled about $4 billion (2.82 trillion RwF) for FIFA. Ticket sales are the most obvious revenue source: Ticketing rights to the most recent World Cup added another $527 million (372 billion RwF). The last major revenue source is sponsorship dollars. FIFA counted six blue-chip companies as major sponsors in the four years to 2014: Adidas (ADDDF), Coca-Cola (KO), Hyundai (HYMTF), Emirates, Sony (SNE), and Visa (V). Emirates and Sony did not renew their contracts at the end of last year. FIFA currently lists the remaining four, plus Russia’s Gazprom, as its official partners. It collected $1.6 billion (1.13 Trillion RwF) in sponsorship in the 2011- 2014 period that included the most recent World Cup, according to IEG, a U.S. research firm which tracks sponsorship spending. Accountability: FIFA has had an almost absolute control over football administration worldwide. It has not been accountable. In fact FIFA rules prevent its members from being taken to local courts to settle disputes. Government interventions in local football administrative issues led to automatic bans of the concerned countries. Their national teams and clubs wouldn’t play in FIFA sanctioned games or against FIFA member countries. Given that practically the whole world has subscribed (209 members currently), this ban has been very powerful. It has also been the cause of FIFA’s current problems. In acting like a ‘state within states’, FIFA ended up being unaccountable whilst making some powerful enemies. FIFA seems not to have a transparent accountability system. Who audits the federation books? When and how are the reports made? As long as these questions still go unanswered, FIFA remains vulnerable. We, in Rwanda, need to learn the good from FIFA and unlearn the bad…that football and indeed, all sport is good business and must be treated so. We must inject more professionalism into sports administration. It is a goldmine, really. Sam Kebongo is a Project Management and Entrepreneurship Development Consultant based in Kigali. sam.kebongo@gmail.com

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Lessons FERWAFA should learn from FIFA