Sunday 24 January 2016

Adidas, the IAAF and Fifa

Day -871. WorldCup2018‬.


Maybe we can call it the draw of football. Or more truthfully it could be the power of Fifa.
The BBC reported today that Adidas has terminated it's sponsorship with the IAAF, the Athletic Federation, after the reports of "state sponsored doping" in Russia and a second report of "embedded corruption" within the IAAF. Adidas have pulled out 4 years before their deal was to end, meaning quite the loss in revenue for the IAAF.


In October it was announced that a payment of 10.3m Swiss Francs made by the CEO of Adidas to the Germany World Cup bid team was being investigated. The money was alleged to have been used to buy 4 Asian votes in what was a very close race with the South African bid. The money was paid back to Adidas' CEO by Fifa.


Also last October, Fifa's major sponsors called on Sepp Blatter to resign immediately in the wake of the US investigations into corruption, racketeering and fraud at Fifa. Adidas did not join with the other sponsors in this plea to Blatter. Instead they issued a statement with talk about the need for reform, change and and the such for the good of football.


Adidas' relationship with Fifa goes back to 1970 and their sponsorship deals runs until 2030. One feels this a a bit of bigger relationship, both ways, than that of Adidas and the IAAF.

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