The FIFA Disciplinary Committee processed more than 1,000 cases related to different offenses during the last year, in which it registered a substantial increase in those related to match incidents compared to previous periods.
This is reflected in FIFA’s third annual report (2021/2022) on the activities of its independent judicial bodies – the Disciplinary and Ethics Commissions – between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, recently published.
The more than 1,000 files refer to infractions of competition regulations, the protection of minors, the ownership of the economic rights of soccer players by third parties, the manipulation of matches and doping and also the execution of decisions approved by the Court of FIFA Soccer.
Of the total files, 887 were resolved within the same year and more than a third (378) referred to a defendant related to UEFA, followed by the CAF (African Confederation), with 192, and the AFC (Asian Confederation ) with 176.
329 files alluded to party incidents; 37 to a possible violation of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, 4 to doping issues and 86 to forgery and adulteration or violations of the transfer prohibitions.
The report indicates that in cases of non-compliance with a final and binding decision of FIFA or the CAS (non-financial), the most affected federations are Turkey and the United States, with 42 and 39 cases respectively, followed by Saudi Arabia with 36, China with 27 and Portugal with 19.
FIFA considered that the increase in procedures for incidents in matches, on or off the field of play, is mainly due to the postponement and rescheduling of qualifying matches for the Qatar World Cup due to the pandemic.
The vast majority of these had as a defendant a member association (72.3%) or a player (23.7%) and the rest a club, a coach, an official or a referee. The object of the complaint referred mainly to the misconduct of players and officials and the maintenance of order and security.
The report also includes a presentation of the work of the two chambers of the independent Ethics Commission, whose responsibility it is to deal with the possible illegal, immoral or unethical behavior of the parties involved in football and to impose the corresponding sanctions when they are shown. the infractions.
In the last year, the investigation chamber opened a total of 140 investigations, which represents a decrease of 19.5% compared to the previous year, and 119 procedures were completed.
67 were closed because the Ethics Committee was not competent to deal with them, 37 because no violation could be determined, 14 due to lack of sufficient evidence to determine the existence of a violation of the code of ethics and one case was referred to the contentious room.
