GENEVA: Impunity is the single greatest threat to sporting integrity today, driven by a systemic failure to hold powerful figures accountable when they breach the rules, leading voices in sport have warned.
The warning comes from a panel of industry figures who were quoted by the Geneva-based Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) to mark its Sport Integrity Action Month.
Haresh Deol, editor of Malaysian news outlet Twentytwo13, told SIGA that “selective enforcement destroys trust” and called for tackling impunity to become a global priority.
“When athletes, officials of governing bodies, or powerful nations break rules without real consequences, we normalise wrongdoing and breed public cynicism,” he said.
“This will destroy the fundamentals of sport: fair play, equality, and respect for the rules.”
Asked whether sport can maintain the confidence of fans, sponsors and society without independent scrutiny, Haresh said trust must be built on “verification, not blind faith”.
“For too long, sponsors, governments, and broadcasters have treated integrity as someone else’s problem while pumping billions into organisations with weak governance,” he added.
“When financial partners and state actors turn a blind eye to governance and integrity issues, they are only fuelling a lost cause.”
Other contributors to the SIGA consultation included European Aquatics treasurer Andida Bouma, SIGA youth ambassador Augusto Cesar Piaskoski, and freelance sports journalist Cecilia Lagos.
Bouma warned that the concentration of power without sufficient checks and balances poses a major risk to governance.
“When individuals or groups become more concerned with retaining their positions than serving their sport, transparency, independent oversight and democratic principles can gradually be undermined,” she said.
“Sport organisations have a particular responsibility because they exist to serve athletes, member federations and the wider sporting community, not individual interests.”
She noted that European Aquatics had made transparency and good governance one of the four pillars of its 2024-2030 strategic plan.
Piaskoski argued that while the autonomy of sports bodies is important, it “cannot be interpreted as freedom from accountability”.
He called for greater cooperation between public authorities and governing bodies so that oversight “does not depend exclusively on the initiative of the organisations being scrutinised”.
Lagos highlighted what she described as a “trust crisis” in global football, citing world governing body Fifa.
“Rules and statutes need to change – who holds power and how, how decisions are made and who can make them,” she said, referring to the controversy surrounding Fifa Forward Enterprise, a confidential proposal to commercialise major football tournaments using private equity.
“Fans, athletes, and the whole sports ecosystem must be considered in these changes.”
Click here to read the full interviews.
