What Is Fifa For? - (What Is It For?) by Alan Tomlinson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A wide-ranging look at football's powerful but controversial governing body.

Football is the world's most popular sport and truly a global phenomenon. As a result, it attracts huge sums of money from its advertisers, sponsors and broadcasters, including FIFA, the sport's international governing body. So, given its decidedly chequered history, the question of what FIFA is for is crucial to the game's future.

Examining the organisation's successes such as the explosion of interest in the women's game, alongside its failures and continuing crises over corruption and ethics, Alan Tomlinson asks: what will it take for FIFA to truly live up to its own mission of integrity, fair play and accessibility?

Review Quotes

"FIFA sets the rules of the game but, in today's commercialised environment, it does much more besides. This book asks: should it?" Stephen Weatherill, University of Oxford

"A compelling and timely exploration of football's most influential governing body. Professor Alan Tomlinson brings his unparalleled expertise and investigative acumen to deliver a rigorous, balanced and insightful analysis, to unpack FIFA's political dynamics, commercial strategies, and persistent challenges around corruption and ethics. This book asks the hard questions about integrity, fair play, and accessibility, making it essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of football." Louise Mansfield, Brunel University of London

"I have been reading Alan Tomlinson for over twenty years. This new work is well-researched, insightful and a testimony to the troubles that unfortunately still exist in sport today." Steven Berryman, sports corruption investigator

"FIFA sets the rules of the game but, in today's commercialised environment, it does much more besides. This book asks: should it?" Stephen Weatherill, University of Oxford

About the Author

Alan Tomlinson is Emeritus Professor of Leisure Studies at the University of Brighton UK and a pioneer of critical sport and leisure research, blending cultural studies with investigative and in-the-field research. He has been writing about FIFA since the big money started to flow in the 1980s and has written extensively on sport and leisure themes.