By Samindra Kunti in Sydney
August 21 – At the end of a bumper Women’s World Cup and following prolonged consultations, FIFA have still not established a safe sport unit to protect female players from abuse. FIFA’s head of women’s football Sarai Bareman (pictured) however says one will be launched when ready.
In 2021, FIFA promised to set up a global safe sport unit and they launched a child safeguarding programme and toolkit.
Last June, FIFA deputy secretary general Alasdair Bell and FIFA senior advisor to the president’s office Joyce Cook sold the idea of a safe sports body again to the Council of Europe – but the reality on the ground is a simple one – after the final whistle at England vs Spain, the biggest women’s game of the last four years, women’s players will not be a step closer to protection by FIFA against sexual and other forms of abuse.
Abuse was front and centre of these finals as well with allegations of sexual harassment made against Zambia coach Bruce Mwape. In roughly 10% of the 211 FIFA member associations, sexual abuse and related accusations are rampant, all the way up from coaches to even presidents of federations. The Haitian and Afghan associations have shocked the world with the most horrific cases of institutionalised sexual abuse while the women’s game in the US had the highest-profile investigation and overhaul following multiple allegations of abuse with the sport.
The cases of abuse have even reached confederation levels where former CAF president Ahmed had multiple allegations of sexual harassment made to the FIFA Ethics committee which never reported a judgement – Ahmed was removed from office though for other corruption offences.
FIFA’s inertia has left stakeholders frustrated.
“Why should there be another four years to wait?” asks Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch, an organisation involved in the consultation process.
“The Women’s World Cup has highlighted how many sexual abusers there are in charge of women’s football, abusing players and extorting them for sex to even play on the women’s national team. That’s the greatest shame.”
It’s not a question of money either. Around $60 million from the DOJ fund has been allocated as a starting point for the unit. The IOC has set aside around $10 million for its own projects. In the United States, U.S. Center for SafeSport, tasked with addressing the problem of sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports in the United States in the wake of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal, operates on an annual budget of around $20 million.
Speaking at the FIFA Women’s Convention in Sydney, the governing body’s chief of women’s football however indicated that FIFA will go ahead with the unit. “As soon as it’s ready, I’m sure that that entity will be launched,” said Bareman.
She added: “We’ve had some very clear and dedicated planning around safeguarding in this tournament not only for our players and teams but also for all the volunteers, the staff, the fans and the attendees. That’s part of the legacy that this tournament will leave because we’re also working with the member associations in this region on those exact topics.
“I know women’s football is going to explode in these two host countries and also around the world and we have to make sure that every young boy and girl that laces up their boots for the first time are coming into a safe environment.”
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