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 In Nepal, goats graze on a rutted playing field near decrepit
facilities at the Dharan soccer academy built with FIFA cash in the
Himalayan foothills. The sole member of staff, a watchman, says he
hasn't been paid for a year.
A Reuters review of soccer development projects in these two South
Asian countries shows they are littered with half-built and
under-used facilities, despite receiving more than $2 million from
the sport's world governing body this year alone.
In recent weeks, Reuters reporters visited seven projects in
Pakistan and Nepal that received FIFA money under its ‘Goal’ program
- which funds soccer fields for youth academies, known as technical
centers, and playing surfaces in stadiums. They found that just one
had an active full-time training program. Three had no proper
playing fields.
During embattled outgoing President Sepp Blatter's 17-year reign,
FIFA has poured money into such projects in some of the poorest
corners of the world. Blatter has said the programs aim to make the
world's most popular sport accessible to all, but critics contend
such grants have helped ensure he retained power with support from
the heads of soccer associations in countries not known for their
footballing prowess.
Blatter was re-elected president for a fifth time in late May, just
days after seven FIFA officials were arrested on bribery-related
charges as a result of a wide-ranging U.S. investigation into
corruption in FIFA. In early June he said he would step down once a
successor has been elected in February.
FIFA says it spends $200 million a year on development programs,
partly through its 'Goal' program. It declined to comment about the
specific cases of Nepal and Pakistan for this article, but said the
majority of its 'Goal' projects around the world were successful.
"Over the past few years, FIFA has put in place stringent financial
controls and audit checks to ensure, as far as we can, that the
money we provide is spent on the projects we intend and is managed
carefully," a FIFA spokesman said. "Only in a small minority of
cases do we discover problems that give cause for concern."
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
It isn't certain how many of the more than 700 completed 'Goal'
projects around the world meet FIFA's objectives. But there are
clearly examples where FIFA money has made a difference in
developing soccer in poorer countries.
In Mogadishu, Somalia, for example, a dusty national stadium now
boasts a smooth, bright green playing surface. In Costa Rica, the
soccer association has used successive grants to build up a national
sports center.
"Look at the difference in so many cases of football associations
not having headquarters or fields or technical centers before FIFA
started investing in 1999." said Jerome Champagne, a former FIFA
deputy general secretary. "Governments don't suppress the (British)
NHS (National Health Service) or the French social security because
some people may cheat the system."
Even so, there are places besides Nepal and Pakistan – parts of the
Caribbean, for example - where 'Goal' resources don’t seem to have
reached those they were aimed at or have not been properly managed.
A Swiss investigation into FIFA, running in parallel to the U.S.
probe, is looking at whether FIFA funds for development grants to
regional and local soccer bodies around the world were siphoned off
for personal gain, among other things, according to a source with
knowledge of the probe.
The presidents of the soccer associations in both Pakistan and Nepal
face leadership challenges from opponents who accuse them of
corruption - which they deny.
Both noted that FIFA pays 'Goal' project funds directly to
contractors without passing through the accounts of member
associations - a mechanism designed to avoid corruption.
Ganesh Thapa temporarily stepped aside last year as president of the
All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) during a FIFA investigation
into misconduct. ANFA officials alleged he ran the association in a
self-serving way, and drew attention to a PwC audit and other
evidence that Thapa and his family took large payments from a former
Asian Football Association chief.
Thapa denies any wrongdoing. FIFA's Ethics Committee has not yet
made a judgment in the case, and Thapa resumed his post in July
after his replacement died from an electric shock.
Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) President Faisal SalehHayat is
the focus of an investigation started in June by the country's
Federal Investigation Authority over allegations by a PFF faction
that he embezzled funds and spent $1.4 million on foreign travel. He
denies the accusations.
BEACH SOCCER
The architect's drawings for the Hawksbay Technical Centre show a
lush green soccer field. Approval for the center "for the training
of national and youth teams" came in 2006, and FIFA's website shows
that its contribution of $505,958 was spent.
Hayat told Reuters the project was completed a year ago.
The center, near Pakistan's best known beach resort, consists of a
sprawling building with a giant concrete soccer ball on the roof,
surrounded by an uneven boulder-strewn field. There is no grass. A
guard declined to let Reuters reporters inside.
Rahim Baloch, treasurer of the Sindh Football Association, which
covers Karachi, said the national team the facility was built for
has never trained there, though local clubs train at the site. On
subsequent visits, Reuters reporters found the gate locked and the
desolate premises abandoned.
"It's not playable. It's a shame there's such a big place for
football that's not functional yet," said Yaqoob Baloch, a
club-level soccer coach in Karachi.
Reuters eyewitness reporting and comments from officials show that
of eight 'Goal' projects in Pakistan built with $2.6 million of FIFA
funds, the only one completed and fully functional is a $481,650
office built in Lahore as the PFF's headquarters. Hayat had
previously told Reuters that four of the eight projects were
complete - the office in Lahore, and technical centers in Karachi
(Hawksbay), Quetta and Abbottabad. He did not respond to phone calls
and messages querying the discrepancy between what he said and what
Reuters reporters saw and heard from officials.
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The center in Quetta, in the southern Baluchistan province, has
lodgings, a canteen and an office, but nowhere to play soccer. "The
construction of a football ground is part of the project and will be
started soon," said Haji Saeed Taku, the General Secretary of the
Baluchistan Football Association.
The Abbottabad center has a playing field, offices and lodgings for
visiting players, but no electricity, gas or water connections.
While the inside looks smart, the contractors violated an agreement
to use imported materials, including doors, instead replacing them
with low-quality local materials, said Adil Khan Jadoon of the
District Football Association Abbottabad, which represents local
teams.
"We raised the issue of sub-standard materials and the poor quality
of work, but nobody listened to us," he said. "We are really
grateful to FIFA for providing funds to promote football, but it's
very painful to admit that it didn’t help promote the game here as
the funds weren't properly utilized," he said.
GOATS AS GREENKEEPERS
It's a similar tale in Nepal.
The Dharan technical center was built in 2002, but was mainly used
by drug addicts and then Maoist rebels for the next six years, said
Deepak Rai, the academy's director.
Local clubs occasionally trained there, but it was never
professionally turfed, nearby residents say, and when the center was
due to be inaugurated in 2008, local people dug clods of grass from
their fields to make the pitch presentable, said Rai.
A plaque at Dharan marks the center's inauguration by FIFA's then
South Asia director of development, Manilal Fernando, and Thapa, the
ANFA president.
FIFA banned Fernando for life in 2013 after an investigation into
bribery and corruption related to a 2009 election within the Asian
Football Confederation. Fernando, a Sri Lankan who had been a member
of FIFA's executive committee, was in charge of distributing 'Goal'
project funds in South Asia.
ANFA was subject to a FIFA Ethics Committee investigation in 2013
over "Tsunami funds and the 'Goal' projects managed by Fernando
between 2005 and 2012 in the South Asia region," FIFA said in a
statement last year. A committee spokesman cited FIFA rules
prohibiting him from saying whether the probe had been concluded and
declined to reveal more details.
Fernando told Reuters both investigations were launched against him
because he supported one of Blatter's rivals. He said FIFA was "an
iceberg of corruption."
Thapa, who has run Nepali soccer for two decades, is under a pending
investigation by FIFA's Ethics Committee after a 2012 KPMG audit
found "unappropriated cash movements".
In interviews with Reuters, Thapa acknowledged that the Dharan
center was not functioning. He blamed uncooperative local officials
and the association's weak finances. "We are facing a very big
financial problem. We do not have the money to run the center at the
minute," he said.
Since 2000, FIFA has given ANFA $6.9 million for soccer development,
including $1,050,000 this year. In 2010, under 'Goal', FIFA donated
$400,000 "for financing of three existing football academies,"
including Dharan.
But that year, ANFA provided just $13,000 for the center's costs. In
2009-12, it granted between $13,000 and $21,370 each year for a
full-time training program for 25 youths - the only time the center
has been used for its intended purpose in 13 years, according to
Thapa and ANFA audits.
Thapa said ANFA had stopped funding the Dharan center because of a
dispute with local officials over treatment of the boys. "I went to
visit them, they were crying and saying 'we're not being treated
well, we're not learning anything'," he said.
Two graduates of the program denied this. Mohan Katwal, now 18 and a
professional player with local club Morang, described his training
at Dharan as good and said he enjoyed his time there. Sushant
Chaudhary, now a commerce student, also said the training had been
good.
Thapa said he had decided to spend the 'Goal' training money on the
running costs of an academy in Kathmandu instead. He declined to
elaborate, saying this was an "internal matter."
His focus on Kathmandu has limits. A second 'Goal' technical center
in the capital, the Chyasal academy, lies semi-abandoned. Rooms are
locked, corridors are filled with trash and a large part of its
grass field is worn down to dirt. It has never hosted a full-time
training program because, Thapa says, it's too dangerous. "It's not
a suitable location. There are drug users around there," he said.
Thapa said ANFA was still deciding how to spend this year's FIFA
grant.
In Dharan, watchman Arjun Budathoki, 45, keeps an eye on the mostly
derelict center. He says he was last paid his ANFA salary in August
2014. For the two tournaments organized locally each year, the
center borrows a lawnmower.
"For the rest of the year we let the goats do it," said Digmar Puri,
who owns the animals and was an assistant manager when the center
was running.
(Reporting by Ross Adkin and Syed Raza Hassan, with additional
reporting by Gul Yousufzai in Quetta, Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Mike
Collett-White in Islamabad, Simon Evans in Miami and Frank Jack
Daniel in New Delhi; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Ian
Geoghegan and Martin Howell)
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