Sport, Corruption and Human Rights: the Case of FIFA

This master thesis dissertation analyzes what kind of humanitarian issues can arise when international sporting events, such as the World Cup, are connected with powerful, global sporting organizations such as FIFA. It asks whether or not FIFA takes into consideration the positive and negative consequences that such an event might have on human rights? Or if FIFA chooses to ignore these rights in preference of organizational gain? For my investigation I decided to choose FIFA because it is one of the most important sports organizations in the world and wields a great deal of power thanks to its corporate partners and football's worldwide appeal. My hypothesis is simple: Decisions made by FIFA are heavily influenced by endemic corruption throughout the organization that does not prioritize citizen rights or human rights development more generally.