Investigations in Colombian Soccer: Problems with FIFA?

In recent years, Colombian soccer has been going through one of its most critical moments at an administrative level. Sports betting, the little growth in competition and corruption have been some of the factors that have hit this sport the most in the country.

Legal Issues

What happened in the match between Unión Magdalena and Llaneros, in which many players from Villavicencio's team remained practically immobile for their rival to score the necessary goals to move up in category, set off alarm bells. The discovery of the poster for the resale of the Colombian National Team ticket office and the issue of inequality in sports have put all the directors of Dimayor and the Colombian Football Federation in check.

This is why the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) has initiated a preliminary investigation against several Colombian soccer managers. A few days ago, numerous SIC workers took the leaders' computers and cell phones, in order to investigate the allocation of resources, contracts, payments, and the operations carried out in the different leagues.

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The great ones pointed out in all these inconveniences are Ramón Jesurún, president of the Colombian Football Federation, Álvaro González, president of Difútbol, and Fernando Jaramillo, president of Dimayor. In addition to them, teams such as América de Cali, Independiente Santa Fe, Equidad Seguros, Cortuluá, Atlético Huila and Atlético Nacional have entered into this investigation.

Turn Up the Pressure

Despite the fact that this is a serious issue against Colombian soccer, Fernando Jaramillo made it clear that this is not an investigation by the national government. The president of Dimayor mentioned that the SIC has been carrying out a preliminary investigation process, in order to understand what is happening in the country.

“The issue is about the recruitment of players and players. How they are made and explain well what the system is. To explain the resources well, which is something that the SIC creates, it has every right to do so. There are several clubs that have responded to this preliminary inquiry, and we must take it as a matter of collaboration with the authorities. All the clubs took it that way, including the Colombian Football Federation and Dimayor”. These were the words of Jaramillo after the seizure of the electronic elements was made public.

For its part, the SIC stressed that it is not a seizure of electronic instruments, but that the entity has the legal power to investigate whether there are grounds to initiate an investigation against the directors of Colombian soccer. In addition, he mentioned that this kind of process is done with all industries. Despite these statements, it must be remembered that the SIC imposed a sanction of more than 18 billion Colombian pesos on the directors of the Colombian Football Federation. This came from the corruption scandal that arose in the ticket sales for the South American Qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This investigation was forgotten from the moment the Colombian directives paid this fine.

With this background, the issue of corruption in Colombian soccer continues to expand, in which the directives take advantage of the country's legal loopholes to not answer for their actions. That is why this new investigation has as its main objective to reveal all the inconsistencies that soccer competitions have been experiencing in recent years.

What Consequences Does this Research Bring?

It must be remembered that, within its statutes, FIFA prohibits the policies of countries and soccer from coming together, so this investigation by the national government could bring great inconvenience for Colombian soccer. However, if new cases of corruption are confirmed, the body that governs world football would again be in check, since Ramón Jesurún is part of FIFA's most select committee.

In addition to this, Gianni Infantino has been very close to the Colombian leader, so everything would indicate that the FIFA president would remain on the sidelines with this delicate situation in Colombia. The preliminary investigation by the SIC has been advancing little by little, so it remains to be expected what happens with these new cases of corruption in national sports.

The truth is that these negative aspects are the clear example of the inconveniences that Colombian soccer has been having. A sport that has been crying out for great changes in its directives for many years, to the point that its fans have come to consider that its current leaders are a cancer that has been increasing.