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The Transparency International football governance league table

Each year FIFA hands out millions of dollars to football associations (FAs). The money is generated from two main sources: sponsors and broadcasters. They pay FIFA money because billions of fans follow football, watch it on TV, and buy football products such as balls and kits. It is the positive association with football that sponsors value and the global reach of the World Cup they pay for. The FAs generate additional revenues from local sponsorship deals, government grants and ticket sales.

To identify potential corruption risks in world football, Transparency International looked at the information that is publicly available on websites about how the 209 FAs and the regional football confederations are run. Do they publish financial accounts and report on their activities? Do they have statutes and codes of conduct? Most do not. We set the bar for transparency at a very low level. Even FAs with a top score still need to reveal much more to the public about their organisation and how they spend the cash that pours in from FIFA headquarters and their own revenue generating activities.