The South American football federation CONMEBOL had pledged to donate US$10,000 to the Vatican charity Scholas Occurrentes for every goal scored during the Copa America, which began in Chile on June 11.

The federation had signed the agreement in the presence of Pope Francis at the Vatican on April 21.

Venezuelan Rafael Esquivel, who was among the seven FIFA officials arrested on May 27 to face corruption charges in the US, was among those signing the Vatican agreement

A June 15 statement from the charity, signed by Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, stated it "will refrain from receiving any funds until the ongoing judicial investigation is clarified".

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To everyone's great shock and surprise, a number of FIFA officials have been arrested on corruption charges at the behest of US law enforcement agencies.

Whatever the outcome of these investigations, it is no secret that FIFA is beset by corruption, which most blatantly manifested itself in the decision to hand the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

(I think that the decision-making process and the poor safety conditions for workers building the stadiums are enough justification for boycotting the tournament, let alone the country's appalling apostasy laws.)

But the interesting wider question is why international organisations inevitably become corrupt.

Paul Collier's book Exodus looks at howgame theory applies in different societies and suggests that international institutions tend to become corrupt because of the influence of a corrupt political culture.

Nigeria, for example, is so riddled with corruption because enough people are corrupt (and it doesn't have to be that many) that it makes no sense to be an honest person.

For societies to avert this situation, free-riders need to be punished by other individuals acting with the support of the rest of society.

Almost as importantly, those punishers must not be punished in turn, as happens in clannish cultures where people care more about their own family than the well-being of the wider society.

Collier used a study of diplomats in New York to show that, when a group of people from a more honest society and a group from a corrupt one join together, the honest begin behaving like the corrupt.

After a while the Danish and Swedish diplomats, who had assiduously paid all their parking tickets, as one would back home, began ignoring them. After all, everyone else does.

This could be called Steyn's Axiom, after Mark Steyn's comments aboutice cream, dog faeces and the UN. It fits perfectly into evolutionary game theory: why would you be honest if everyone around you is on the fiddle? Continue reading

• Ed West is the deputy editor of the Catholic Herald.

The boss of soccer's governing body told Swiss paper Sonntags Zeitung that FIFA's influence is because of "the positive emotions it releases".

He said his organisation reaches 1.6 billion people.

"FIFA is more influential than any country in the world or any religion through the positive emotions football triggers," Mr Blatter said.

"We move masses. We want to use this to create more peace, justice and health in the world," he said.

According to the Washington Post, Mr Blatter, 79, added: "I believe in God and I believe in myself. That's why I can fulfil my duties independently of age."

But Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne, himself an ardent soccer fan, issued a yellow card to Mr Blatter, according to The Tablet.

Speaking to Cologne church radio, Cardinal Woelki said that more than two billion Christians worldwide would soon be celebrating Easter and would, if necessary, lay down their lives for their faith.

"With all enthusiasm for football, I think Mr Blatter has vastly overestimated himself and his association.

"He's scored pretty much of an own goal and so belongs on the bench so that he can reorient himself and have another think," Cardinal Woelki said.

The cardinal acknowledged FIFA's social engagement, but also pointed to the link between big money and corruption in sport.

He cited the controversial FIFA choice of Qatar as the venue for the 2022 World Cup.

Cardinal Woelki highlighted worker exploitation and dangerous work practices leading to deaths on "world championship building sites" in Qatar.

He suggested this is where Mr Blatter and FIFA "should be putting the values for which they allegedly want to stand into practice".

The post of FIFA president is up for election in May.

Sources

• Washington Post
• The Tablet
• Daily Mail
• Image: The Guardian