Governance of International Football - Essay Example

Governance of International Football and Section # of With the raising global awareness about the issues of good governance, the world of sports has equally come under discussion. The contemporary writers tend to be more concerned about the concept of governance in the international sports. When talking about sports, football has always remained in limelight primarily because of the effective functioning of the football governing bodies like FIFA and UEFA. The paper builds a basic understanding of governance and studies its basic features in the light of the findings of Beech & Chadwick. The paper also analyzes the implementation of such features by FIFA and UEFA. The paper after discussing the basic strengths and a few weaknesses of these organizations on the basis of governance concludes with a final note acknowledging the overall success of the two football governing entities. Introduction to Governance To logically comprehend the gist of the topic, it is mandatory to understand the concept of governance, a word quite in vogue in the contemporary world. One of the reasons behind the adoption of governance through different fields like international relations, politics and sports is because of the space of authority and need of monitory force in every aspect of human life. Stated differently, no field in the scene of human existence is devoid of the need for controlling and managing forces. According to a report carried out by the United Kingdom's Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, "Governance refers to the way in which something is managed and to the functions involved in ensuring the entity fulfils its objects and goals (UK Sport)." Different Aspects of Governance: The concept of governance has gone through a constant phase of transition through the passage of time. Previously reckoned as the responsibility of a solitary authoritative body, governance today stands for a collaborative work of local authorities, public departments and voluntary organizations. This changing concept of governance is based on the notion of governance as a steering force which means that the responsibilities of governing bodies keep changing and the modern way of governing is by the delegation of responsibilities rather than the concentration of the duties in a single authoritative body. The second approach of governance that focuses governance as networks also opposes the concentration of power to a single entity and favours the positive relationships among organizations (Heacademy: 2007). Governance of Sports: Background: The emergence of governance concept in sports is followed by a number of factors. It was necessarily because of certain flaws witnessed in the governance of sports at different times that led to the attention drawn towards increasing importance of governance of international sports including football. Some of the noticeable flaws of governance in past include the continued confusion is coming up to any decision for the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium. Similarly, the world of football is not devoid of such shortcomings of governing bodies in the recent past as it is clear by the failed bid for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals (Heacademy: 2007, p.2) Introduction to Governance of Sports: Aart Kraay elucidates the concept of governance in different scenarios. If applied to the world of sports, governance means the set up by which the authority in any sport is exercised. The process involves the recruitment and monitoring of governing bodies, ability of the authority to implement the policies made for the concerned sport and the respect of members from different countries participating in the sport (2006, p.1). Since the world of sports is wide ranged, different organizational bodies assigned to different sports are designed to govern a specific sport or group of sports. FIFA and UEFA: Since the topic delves into the workings of FIFA and UEFA in terms of governance, it is essential to build a basic understanding of these two organizations. Fdration Internationale de Football Association is an international sports body that governs the activities pertaining to football (FIFA: 2008). UEFA or Union of European Football Associations is the soccer administrating organization of the European part of the world. Unlike FIFA that covers soccer activities across the globe, UEFA is limited to the football tournaments and policies for the European participating nations only (UEFA: 2008). Governance of football by FIFA: One of the primary roles of any governance is the process of devising laws and then implementing them in order to avoid any preferential treatment towards any organization. The same responsibility is carried out by FIFA and UEFA too. Governance as a dynamic process and its implementation by FIFA and UEFA: As discussed above, the role of the governing body is not static but dynamic and requires a constant upgrading with time, FIFA also practices the policy of not sticking to a limited set of laws devised in past. Rather it keeps ameliorating the laws concerning the games. The last amendment made after a census reached in 122nd FIFA meeting was on 1 July 2008 (FIFA). Just like laws amendment, FIFA and UEFA also holds the rights of suspending, a tool used for maintaining good governance of international soccer. For instance in the year 2006, FIFA suspended Greece from the competitions due to the governmental interference by the country (BBC: 2006). Governance as a concept of state and its implementation by FIFA and UEFA: The concept of governance is usually studied in the context of governing forces in the states that are the governments of different states. Since the concept of governance in sports has evolved from the political and state oriented concept of governance, many of the features of governance in sports are built on the traditional patterns. For instance, just like national anthems, sport organizations like FIFA also have adopted their anthems. Governance in terms of Organizational Business and its implementation by FIFA and UEFA: In the contemporary world that has witnessed the advancement in every walk of life, the scenario for sports has also altered to a great deal. According to many researchers and writers like Beech & Chadwick, the sport activities conducted by such organizations have excelled the concept of mere sports activity. Today these organizations have enables such sport events to become business events that are not only marketed and do publicity for various sponsor brands but also earn enough revenue from these events to foster the development of the sport from grass root level. Similar is the case with FIFA that has allocated a considerable part of its earnings for the development of football among amateur players. Organizational Behaviour as the essence of Governance and the organizational behaviour of FIFA and UEFA: Ironically, many organizations working in different areas are devoid of the organizational behaviour, an approach which Beech & Chadwick consider unavoidably significant for any successful sport organization. Organizational behaviour includes various responsibilities like the management of different teams involved as well as the coordination of working units. In short it is the effective management of entities from eclectic ethnicities speaking different languages. Today FIFA has more number of members than that of associations than even the International Olympic Committee. Although much lesser as compared to FIFA, UEFA also stands out in terms of teaming up all the relevant nations of Europe thereby showing good organizational behaviour it their governing make up. Effective Marketing of Sports as the responsibility of Governance of Sport and its implementation by FIFA and UEFA: Sports have customers too. A good governing body of any sports organization would strive to capture all the potential customers available in the market. These customers range from companies who wish to sponsor certain events, fans who are the buyers of tournaments' tickets, organizations that buy bulk tickets for promotional purposes and every individual connected to the event through media. According to Beech & Chadwick, a significant feature for good sports governance is associated with good sports marketing which primarily stands for the publicity of the sport and the non sport entities accompanying the sport (usually in the for of sponsors and partners). In case of FIFA, that had organized all its first fourteen world cups either is the North America or United Kingdom, the bold move taken by the governing sport body in 2002 took the event to Asia thereby marketing it in new geographic locations and increasing the viewer body. Such a move not only captured greater audience but also increased sponsorship scope from multinational companies that wanted their product or service to cover a greater area. It was the positive corollary of the move that later made the organization take another marketing opportunity by taking a decision of launching the next world cup in the African continent (Eyecube: 2002). Governance involving profitability through sponsorships and its implementation by FIFA and UEFA: Since the concept of government is directly related to the element of profitability of the organization, sponsorship then emerges as another important feature of effective governance in sports. Therefore, it is the ability of the sports governing organizations to get sponsors and endorsements. Beech and Chadwick in the fourteenth chapter of their book 'The Business of Sport Management' believe that through a mutual interest for both the parties, the sponsorships come out to be business relationships (2004). By marketing the sponsor, the sports organizations are assisted in affording the costs required for the arrangement of events and development of sports. FIFA world cup, being one of the biggest sport shows on earth capture millions of viewers from all over the world and hence serve as a good marketing agent for the sponsors who are consistently involved and advertised throughout the month long activity. For the very reason, Multinational companies like McDonalds and Castrol along with four other companies are the sponsors of FIFA world cup that is to take place in the year 2010 (FIFA). Professional Training as an essential of Sports governance and its implementation by UEFA and FIFA: With an award titled as FIFA World Player of the Year, what the federation aims is to encourage the players for the performance throughout the year. This motivating act complements the process of professional trainings of the players. Just like any business organization assists the professional development of its worker, the sport organizations also fosters the process of making professional players through training. Just like a code of ethics in any business organization, FIFA and UEFA also practices a code of ethics for the players the violation of which can lead to the dismissal of the player from the sport. The training process is not confined to the players but it also covers the staff of the organization is efficiently dealing with different situations. Strengths of FIFA and UEFA in terms of sports governance: International sports bodies of soccer like FIFA and UEFA are reckoned as the strongest governing bodies in the world of sports for the number of strengths possessed in their governing constitution. According to Daniel Thomas, it is the feature of mobility that has served as a vital force of success in case of FIFA. Through a strong communication network in 2006, FIFA celebrated millions of fans across the globe. This success feature of FIFA was profoundly linked with the aspect of strategic planning, another essential for the organizational governance. For the same world cup organized in Australia, three years of continual preparation was required that shows the strong and unified governing body of the concerned organization (Thomas: 2006). Weaknesses of FIFA and UEFA in terms of sports governance: Just like any other phenomenon or entity, the sport organizations are also never perfect. Therefore, football organizations like FIFA and UEFA also show a space for improvement in terms of its governing functions. The lack of management or control at any sports event is directly coalesced with the lack of good governance on the part of the organization carrying out the tournament. One such shortcoming on the part of UEFA came into notice last year in Liverpool when a considerable amount of people managed to make an entry into the stadium without having the entry tickets or with forged tickets. The situation further exacerbated when the legitimate ticket holders were denied the entry into the stadium which resulted in violence (BBC, 2007). Such was the weakness on the part of UEFA that was reckoned as a direct corollary of poor governance (that included strategic planning, better organizational behaviour, management and few of the above mentioned features of governance) on the part of the concerned organization. Conclusion: Keeping in mind the implementation of various aspects of governance by the sports organization like FIFA and UEFA, it is evident that although the area covered by the two organizations is different, their governing capacity is powerful for the management of the issues pertaining to the world of football. Their success lies in a number of factors starting from the strategic planning, organizational behaviour, dynamic approach, professional training, mobility and emphasis on the issue of marketing, profitability and business oriented approach towards the sport. With the implementation of modern and dynamic approach of governance, there are very little if any weaknesses in the governance set up of these two organizations. References: A UK Sport Good Governance Guide for National Governing Bodies. UK Sport [Internet]. Available from [Accessed 14 August 2008]. Beech, John & Chadwick, Simon (2004). United Kingdom. Financial Times Press. Caborn and Parry hit back at UEFA (2007). 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