SIGA
SIGA Global CEO calls for urgent reforms to football industry to ensure integrity
Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros warned of many threats facing football, from a lack of financial transparency to corruption and demanded solutions.
The football industry must take urgent action to fight for integrity, push forward with reform and focus on concrete actions rather than more talk, said Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, SIGA Global CEO, at the Thinking Football Summit hosted by Liga Portugal in Porto.
SIGA, the Sport Integrity Global Alliance, fights for transparency, democracy and integrity in sport, bringing together all key stakeholder groups Sport, Government, International Organisations, Global Business and Civil Society in the battle for the sport fans love. This newspaper is a proud media partner of SIGA.
Urgent need for reform in football
In his keynote speech Macedo de Medeiros portrayed the threats facing the industry, from lack of financial transparency to corruption, but said that there were solutions for all the problems.
“Integrity is king and it must be placed on the top of the agenda. Without integrity there is no trust, and without trust there is no passion from the fans, there is no confidence from the investors to continue to invest not only their money but also their reputation.
“Everyday, despite the marketing, the propaganda, and the positive campaigns, we see incidents that tarnish the reputation of the Sport we love.
“SIGA exists to restore the trust that had been broken, to reignite the confidence in the industry. To tackle these problems, even if Sports organisations had the best intentions, we need governments to assume responsibility. We cannot continue to postpone urgent reforms, as we have seen year after year. We need international organisations to become agents of change, to have real leadership and make things happen.
“Without a genuine culture of integrity, we will not succeed. I encourage you to be the leader that exists in you, to promote integrity and good governance in Sport. SIGA exists to usher Sport into a new era, an era of enhanced governance and integrity, an era when Sport can be trusted. That is why SIGA designed a set of Universal Standards that provide the silver bullet to ensure that we have meaningful real, tangible, integrity and transparency. This is a moment for action, because actions speak louder than words”.