Bulgaria's Corruption Ranking Hits a New Low in 2024
Bulgaria continues to struggle with high levels of corruption
VISA has issued a statement Wednesday regarding the FIFA corruption allegations and subsequent Zurich arrests of high officials. The company is one of the major sponsors of the football organization and a possible withdrawal of its resources will have a severe negative impact upon all sports events and championships.
''As a sponsor, we expect FIFA to take swift and immediate steps to address these issues within its organization,'' the statement said, as quoted by USA Today. ''This starts with rebuilding a culture with strong ethical practices in order to restore the reputation of the games for fans everywhere.''
A more severe warning followed:
''Our sponsorship has always focused on supporting the teams, enabling a great fan experience, and inspiring communities to come together and celebrate the spirit of competition and personal achievement – and it is important that FIFA makes changes now, so that the focus remain on these going forward. Should FIFA fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship.”
Similar statements were released by Adidas, MacDonald's, and Coca Cola.
Meanwhile, FIFA is still under investigation on a ccount of two separate criminal charges. The first one is administered by the Swiss Attorney General and concerns the voting process on th upcoming 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.
Additionally, the US Department of Justice charged fourteen FIFA officials with large-scale corruption.
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