Gulf autocrats and sports corruption: a marriage made in heaven

Abstract

Global soccer and global sports governance have for the past nine years and certainly since a fateful meeting in late 2010 of the executive committee of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world soccer body, witnessed crisis after crisis. Invariably the scandals involved various forms of corruption: financial corruption, political corruption or corruption of sporting performance. Gulf autocracies were often at the centre of the financial and political corruption scandals and have in unacknowledged ways served as examples of non-transparent, top-down governance designed to mask first and foremost the inextricable intertwining of politics and sports.

Notes

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18. Dorsey, James M. 2016. “AFC Rehires Former Executive Accused of Seeking to Destroy Corruption-related Documents.” The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, March 16. https://mideastsoccer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/afc-rehires-former-executive-accused-of.html.

19. Email to the author, 4 April 2017.

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24. Ibid. Dorsey, Kuwaiti rulers.

25. Olympic Council of Asia, Presidents, http://www.ocasia.org/council/President.aspx.

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27. Magnay, Jacquelin. 2012. “London 2012 Olympics: Syria’s Games Chief General Mowaffak Joumaa is Banned But Athletes Will Compete.” The Telegraph, June 22. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9349019/London-2012-Olympics-Syrias-Games-chief-General-Mowaffak-Joumaa-is-banned-but-athletes-will-compete.html.

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29. Dorsey, James M. 2011. “FIFA Temporarily Bans Bin Hammam But Clears Blatter of Corruption Charges.” The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, May 30. https://mideastsoccer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/fifa-temporarily-bans-bin-hammam-but.html.

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33. Interview with the author, 14 December 2015.

34. Interview with the author, 15 March 2014.

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36. Dorsey, James M. 2013. “Middle East Soccer Associations Campaign for Women’s Right to Play.” The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, January 14, https://mideastsoccer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/middle-east-soccer-associations.html.

37. BBC News. 2012. “London 2012 Olympics: Saudi Arabian Women to Compete,” July 12. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18813543.

38. Human Rights Watch. 2017. “Iran: Women Allowed to Attend Kish Island Open,” February 17. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/17/iran-women-allowed-attend-kish-island-open.

39. Associated Press. 2015. “Iran Allows Female Spectators at Beach Volleyball Tournament,” February 15. https://apnews.com/ba007817d4624c038cf27e299db8ea83/Iran-allows-female-spectators-at-beach-volleyball-tournament?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP_Sports.

40. Ibid. Human Rights Watch.

41. Dorsey, James M. 2017. “Bowing to Pressure: Iran Grants Women Spectators Access to Sporting Event,” The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, February 19. https://mideastsoccer.blogspot.sg/2017/02/bowing-to-pressure-iran-grants-women.html.