A survey published Thursday said that FIFA is "still struggling to regain the trust" of football fans, "with more than half those interviewed saying they had no confidence in the sport's governing body," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. Corruption watchdog Transparency Int'l, which conducted the survey jointly with Swedish-based Forza Football, added that FIFA's image "may have been hurt by its attempts to increase revenue." Fifty-three percent of 25,000 fans interviewed from 50 countries said that "they had no confidence in FIFA." Transparency Int'l head Cobus de Swardt said, "For any organization that relies so much on the fans -- without the fans football is dead, it's commercially dead, its passion is dead -- that is a rather serious situation." Only 34% of those interviewed thought FIFA was "actively fighting corruption." Sixty-six percent said that match-fixing was the type of corruption which "most worried them." Meanwhile, 43% said that they "disapproved" of next year's World Cup being staged in Russia (REUTERS, 3/2). SKY SPORTS' Bryan Swanson reported results of the poll "emerged as FIFA's top officials arrive in London for a meeting of the game's lawmakers." De Swardt said, "It takes more than words to win back trust ... Sponsors haven't flocked back to FIFA because of its reputation and the World Cup in Russia (in 2018) will be a test of its principles in action" (SKY SPORTS, 3/2).
