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Fifa has long operated with a sense of impunity, airily dismissing the persistent allegations of bribes and kickbacks that have dogged its leading executives. But in the early hours of Wednesday, its sense of entitlement was finally punctured as US prosecutors unveiled charges of “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted corruption” at world football’s governing body.
国际足联(Fifa)长期以来都在拥有“免责权”的优越感中运行，能够轻而易举地摆脱对其主要高管反复出现的、涉嫌收受贿赂和回扣的指控。但周三清晨，随着美国检方公开指控该世界足球管理机构存在“猖獗、系统性和根深蒂固腐败问题”后，这种特权感终于被打破。
After years in which governments looked on passively at Fifa’s untransparent dealmaking, the US Justice department has acted. At its urging, the Zurich police have arrested seven Fifa officials, including two vice-presidents, in a dawn raid. Even the hitherto docile Swiss authorities have opened criminal proceedings into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 world cup tournaments — a process that has long begged for closer scrutiny.
在各国政府冷眼旁观国际足联的不透明交易多年后，美国司法部(DoJ)终于行动起来。在其敦促下，瑞士苏黎世警方在一次拂晓时分展开的突袭中，逮捕了7名国际足联官员，包括两名副主席。甚至此前一直态度温和的瑞士当局，都对2018年和2022年世界杯足球赛的申办过程启动了刑事诉讼程序。一直以来都有呼声，要求对世界杯申办过程展开更细致的审查。
True to form, Fifa’s long-standing president Sepp Blatter seems determined to sail on, submitting himself for re-election on Friday. But it cannot be business as usual at Fifa. This week’s events should be the catalyst for a revolution in the way global football is run.
果不出所料，长期担任国际足联主席的塞普•布拉特(Sepp Blatter)似乎决心继续干下去，期望能在周五获得连任。但国际足联不可能继续维持老样子。本周的事件应当推动世界足坛掀起一场管理方式的革命。
That Fifa should be humiliated in this way on the eve of its annual congress is a fate richly deserved. For decades, it has been unaccountable and impervious to change. At every World Cup tournament, including last year’s in Brazil, it has generated billions of dollars in revenue which are shared out by Fifa’s top executives among more than 200 national football associations worldwide. These associations collectively appoint the top Fifa executives who are unsupervised by any external board. It is a system perfectly designed for abuse.
国际足联在自己年会前夕受到此般羞辱完全是活该。几十年来，它一直缺乏问责，也拒绝改变。每届世界杯足球赛（包括去年巴西世界杯），它都能获得数十亿美元的收入，这些收入被国际足联的高管在全球200多个地区足协之间瓜分。这些足协集体任命国际足联顶级高管，这些高管不受任何外部委员会的监督。这种制度设计太容易导致滥用职权了。
Faced with mounting evidence of bribery, Mr Blatter and Fifa could have chosen the path of reform. But they resisted at every turn, refusing to investigate bribery scandals against top executives and last year suppressing a report by an American lawyer, Michael Garcia, into the World Cup bidding process. Self-regulation having comprehensively failed, it is to be celebrated that the US justice department has now taken up the cudgels.
在越来越多有关贿赂的证据面前，布拉特与国际足联本可以选择走改革这条路。但他们在每个路口都抵制走这条路，拒绝调查顶级高管的受贿丑闻，而且在去年压下了美国律师迈克尔•加西亚(Michael Garcia)就世界杯申办过程撰写的调查报告。由于自我监管已全面失效，美国司法部现在举起了大棒，值得庆祝。
Mr Blatter should have resigned from the presidency long ago. Even before the arrests, the notion that he should be awarded a fifth term at Fifa’s helm was objectionable. But after the police’s swoop the central question is not whether he survives but whether Fifa’s stakeholders will now press for a thorough overhaul of its governance.
布拉特早就该辞去主席一职。甚至在此次逮捕行动前，那种认为他应该连续第五届掌舵国际足联的观点已招致了异议。但是，警方突袭之后的核心问题不在于布拉特能否安然脱身，而在于国际足联的利益相关方能否力促一场彻底的治理改革。
One group that ought to demand change is Fifa’s corporate sponsors — names like Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa- who bankroll the organisation to the tune of billions of dollars. Some sponsors have expressed concerns in the past about the vortex of allegations surrounding Fifa but they rarely act decisively at times of crisis.
理应要求国际足联改变的一个群体是它的企业赞助商——如阿迪达斯(Adidas)、可口可乐(Coca-Cola)以及Visa，它们为该组织提供了数十亿美元的收入。部分赞助商过去曾对国际足联受到的指控表示过担忧，但在危机时刻很少能果断采取行动。
This puts all the more pressure on the national football federations to respond, notably the European body — Uefa — led by Michel Platini who has talked about the need for reform. They should not expect the DoJ investigation itself to deliver change. Instead they should demand an overhaul of Fifa, aligning its governance more closely to the economics of the game and converting it perhaps to a public company where it can be subject to national corporate and criminal laws. If there is resistance to such a move, Uefa should consider walking out of Fifa altogether.
这加大了地区足联做出回应的压力，尤其是米歇尔•普拉蒂尼(Michel Platini)领导的欧足联(Uefa)。普拉蒂尼曾谈到过改革的必要性。他们不应指望美国司法部调查本身能带来变革。相反，他们应该要求国际足联彻底改革，使其治理更加贴近这项运动的经济特性，或许将其转变成一家上市公司，以便能受到各国企业法和刑法的制约。如果这样的改革遭到抵制，欧足联应该考虑彻底退出国际足联。
The governance of world football matters. Soccer is a global phenomenon, a multibillion-dollar game that affects politics and business. The scandal at Fifa has gone on for too long. If it cannot be overhauled into something that is transparent and works for the good of the game, it should be kicked out of play.
治理世界足球事业是一件大事。全世界都在踢足球，这是一项可以影响政治和商业、价值数十亿美元的运动。国际足联的丑闻已经发酵太久。如果它不能彻底变革，成为一个透明的、能行之有效地促进足球事业发展的组织，它就应当被踢出这项运动。
