The House of Atreus is one of the best examples of internecine family conflict, even moreso than probably better known King Lear. It now appears, however, that FIFA may join these distinguished works of literature. The biggest difference is that in the world of fiction, the story line must make since. In the real world of modern-day soccer, reality is not often a part of the equation. The Man From FCPA was reminded of all these factors in a recent report bringing up even more salacious allegations of corruption at FIFA.

A new report has indicated that a Jordanian Princess, Haya bint al-Hussein, who is married to the billionaire ruler of Dubai, has been working to discover evidence of corruption in global soccer. The internecine family nature of this effort is that her brother, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has twice been the losing candidate for the presidency of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body. The report noted that “The investigation also raises the possibility that there may be more accusations of wrongdoing for a sport brought low by the series of indictments and arrests against top officials led by United States prosecutors in 2015.”

Her investigation is not into allegations of corruption surrounding the awards of the 2018 World Cup to Russia or the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, but rather the two elections her brother lost. The Princess has hired a professional investigation firm to assist her efforts and has shared its findings with U.S. authorities. Prince Ali himself has reported several “unethical approaches” related to his two abortive runs for the FIFA presidency.

With the first trial against alleged corrupt FIFA officials from the 2015 indictments and arrests upcoming in November, FIFA will certainly continue to be in the news. Given FIFA’s sanctuary in Switzerland, criminal charges against individuals involved with the organization may be the only way to garner its attention. Now with the intra-family fight going on, there may be additional revelations of corruption. 

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