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Brazil will lead soccer anti-corruption efforts with a new body to regulate national soccer clubs to ensure transparency, efficiency and repayment of debt to the state.
The Public Authority for the Good Governance of Soccer will involve athletes, managers and coaches from 11 clubs, and will work to refinance nearly US$1 billion in debt.
“These changes will give momentum to the process of modernization of the soccer industry, causing this production chain to create more jobs, income and, above all, more victories for the country,” President Dilma Rousseff told reporters on Tuesday. “Most importantly, we want to value our history and our identity, because we are without a doubt the country of cleats.”
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If a club fails to make three payments, it will stop receiving state funds. Besides promoting fiscal responsibility, the body will enforce a four-year limit on the terms of elected soccer officials.
Rousseff also said that she will draft legislation to ensure that clubs protect athletes’ rights, punish managers that mismanage finances and combat violence among fans. She will also promote studies in sports management in Brazilian universities.
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“That’s exactly what the Federal Savings Bank is doing today,” said Rousseff. “Scoring a goal to help Brazil return to exporting the spectacle and the art of their soccer, not just our soccer players.”
Rousseff’s announcement came the same day as FIFA committed to more “modern, credible and transparent” governance with a new executive committee, term limits and the appointment of independent officials to its committees.
Multiple Brazilian soccer figures were implicated in the massive exposure of corruption in the international soccer federation, which led to U.S. federal investigations in 2014.
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