Fifa should become a listed company to ensure transparency

EXECUTIVES arrested amid allegations of corruption and bribery; a chief executive who appears tone deaf to the damage being done to one of the world's most lucrative brands; and the looming threat that the biggest contributors to revenue will take their business elsewhere. If Fifa was a public company, its shareholders would be in revolt by now.

It isn't, of course. But perhaps it should be. The disinfectant of corporate transparency - glaringly absent from Fifa in its current incarnation as a non-profit (albeit one that generated more than US$5 billion of revenue in the last four-year World Cup cycle) - might be the solution soccer's global overseer needs.

Fifa's alleged bribery and corruption in soccer isn't a victimless crime. Every dollar siphoned from the organisation, whether into someone's pocket via suitcases full of cash or onto someone's wrist courtesy of a US$20,000 watch, is a dollar that's not available to foster the development of the world's most-watched sport.