As the FIFA World Cup commands global attention, Integrity Voices looks beyond the pitch — to the values, choices and leadership shaping the future of Sport.
Four leaders. Five questions. Four perspectives from across the global game.
A platform for our Members. A forum for dialogue. A contribution to the global conversation on Sport Integrity — at a moment when Football has the world’s full attention.
Brian Lewis
Secretary-General, CANOC; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
The actions, inactions, and words of FIFA President Gianni Infantino. His leadership has too often failed to uphold the true sporting values of the beautiful game, particularly in the face of situations such as the inequal treatment of the Iranian national team in the United States, the case of Haiti, and the Somali referee controversy. These are not isolated episodes, but warning signs of racism, double standards, and institutional complacency that cannot be tolerated in global sport.
Cecilia Perez Rivas
Former Minister of Justice, Paraguay; Associate Lawyer, Julia Abogados; Master of Laws (LL.M.) wiht Specialisation in Oral Litigation; Lecturer, Metropolitan University of Asunción
During this World Cup, the danger is not the superficial symptom, but the systemic vulnerability: the lack of transparency in financial flows and match-fixing through illegal betting. In an event that generates billions in real time, the absence of proper due diligence on the origin of capital linked to sponsorships and commercial rights opens a direct gateway to money laundering. If the sports industry fails to audit these networks with surgical precision, the tournament ceases to be a sovereign sporting spectacle and becomes a vehicle for economic impunity and large-scale global fraud.
Daniela Bas
Founder & Principal Advisor, DB SustainABLE Advisory Boutique; Social Sustainability, Inclusive Leadership & Human-Centred Systems; Former Senior UN Executive; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
The single most important issue is trust: whether sport remains credible in the eyes of people, not only institutions, partners or organisers. The FIFA World Cup 2026 will bring global visibility, emotion and value, but also scrutiny. Integrity must go beyond corruption, match-fixing and manipulation. It must include how sport is governed, delivered and experienced by athletes, fans, workers, communities and those too often excluded from decisions. From my UN experience, integrity is inseparable from governance, social sustainability, access, fairness, safety, dignity and accountability.
Roberto Fiore
Managing Partner, LP Avvocati (SIGA Member); Member, SIGA Council
The most critical Sport Integrity issue at the FIFA World Cup 2026 will be competition manipulation linked to sports betting and corruption. Global betting markets, combined with increasingly sophisticated criminal networks, create significant risks of match-fixing and illegal betting activity. This is consistent with the UNODC 2024 report “Safeguarding Major Sporting Events from Corruption”, which stresses the need for stronger prevention, reporting mechanisms, and cooperation among authorities, sports organizations, and private stakeholders.
Brian Lewis
Secretary-General, CANOC; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
Unwavering and indomitable dedication , vision and courage to fight to eradicate injustice, inequality and the deepening influence of organised crime in global sport.
Cecilia Perez Rivas
Former Minister of Justice, Paraguay; Associate Lawyer, Julia Abogados; Master of Laws (LL.M.) wiht Specialisation in Oral Litigation; Lecturer, Metropolitan University of Asunción
Integrity is neither an abstract concept nor a statement of good intentions; it is a system of verifiable and enforceable controls. It means moving from rhetoric to mandatory standards: implementing strict compliance policies, ensuring protected whistleblowing channels that safeguard those who come forward, and carrying out independent external audits of every cent that enters the system. Integrity is, above all, the eradication of conflicts of interest and the end of discretionary decision-making. What cannot be audited is simply not integral and has no real value.
Daniela Bas
Founder & Principal Advisor, DB SustainABLE Advisory Boutique; Social Sustainability, Inclusive Leadership & Human-Centred Systems; Former Senior UN Executive; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
Sport Integrity means making values real. It is not enough for sport to call itself inclusive, fair, ethical or transparent. The real test is whether rules, decisions, services, governance and leadership cultures turn those principles into practice. To me, integrity means designing and leading sport so that people can trust both the game and the system around it. This is why inclusive leadership matters: it is not symbolic, but a governance issue. It means knowing who is affected, who is missing from the table, and how risks can be anticipated before they become failures of trust.
Roberto Fiore
Managing Partner, LP Avvocati (SIGA Member); Member, SIGA Council
Sport Integrity means ensuring that every competition is decided solely by athletes’ talent, preparation, and performance, within a framework of respected rules and equal opportunities. It is not only about preventing corruption, match-fixing, or doping; it is also about promoting transparency, accountability, and fair play. Sport Integrity is the foundation of the trust that athletes, fans, sponsors, and institutions place in sport. Without that trust, results lose their meaning. Safeguarding integrity is therefore a shared responsibility across the entire sporting ecosystem.
Brian Lewis
Secretary-General, CANOC; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
By implementing absolute, honest transparency. Good Governance is just performative without absolute transparency. There is also a need for urgency in dealing with racism. It is too prevalent in global sport.
Cecilia Perez Rivas
Former Minister of Justice, Paraguay; Associate Lawyer, Julia Abogados; Master of Laws (LL.M.) wiht Specialisation in Oral Litigation; Lecturer, Metropolitan University of Asunción
The trust of fans, athletes and sponsors is not sustained by promises, but by eliminating closed-door self-regulation. Stakeholders demand accountability before neutral third parties. The only way to preserve that trust is by requiring sports organisations to undergo rigorous external certification, such as SIGA’s Sport Integrity Rating and Verification System (SIRVS). When society sees that governance is safeguarded by an independent international standard, scepticism recedes. Full transparency is the only antidote to suspicion.
Daniela Bas
Founder & Principal Advisor, DB SustainABLE Advisory Boutique; Social Sustainability, Inclusive Leadership & Human-Centred Systems; Former Senior UN Executive; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
Sport can protect trust by becoming more coherent. Fans, athletes, sponsors and society are increasingly attentive to the gap between the language of values and the reality of practice. Trust grows when sport is consistent in what it says, how it behaves and how it treats people. This requires ethical governance and attention to social impact: athlete protection, fan respect, accessible events, community legacy and meaningful inclusion of women, persons with disabilities and young people. Credibility depends on decisions, behaviours and systems people can believe in.
Roberto Fiore
Managing Partner, LP Avvocati (SIGA Member); Member, SIGA Council
Sport can best protect trust by demonstrating accountability and transparency in governance. Trust does not depend on the absence of scandals alone, but on the ability to prevent misconduct, detect it, and respond credibly when it occurs. Strengthening governance, protecting athletes, and ensuring independent oversight should be key priorities. Integrity education must also be promoted from the grassroots level, so that respect for the rules becomes a core value. Ultimately, sport maintains its legitimacy only when fairness and accountability matter more than the result itself.
Brian Lewis
Secretary-General, CANOC; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
The adoption of SIGA Universal Standards of Financial Integrity and Sport Betting Integrity and Good Governance
Cecilia Perez Rivas
Former Minister of Justice, Paraguay; Associate Lawyer, Julia Abogados; Master of Laws (LL.M.) wiht Specialisation in Oral Litigation; Lecturer, Metropolitan University of Asunción
The immediate and non-negotiable measure is the mandatory institutionalisation of independent Audit and Compliance Committees with binding authority within every federation. These committees cannot be made up of allies of the current leadership; they must consist of external experts with no connection to the organisation’s internal political structure. If we want a genuine legacy that extends beyond the ninety minutes of a World Cup match, we must decentralise oversight and dismantle monopolies of decision-making. External scrutiny must become an integral part of the institutional design of global sport.
Daniela Bas
Founder & Principal Advisor, DB SustainABLE Advisory Boutique; Social Sustainability, Inclusive Leadership & Human-Centred Systems; Former Senior UN Executive; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
One practical step is to carry out regular integrity and social sustainability reviews of how a sports organisation actually works. This should go beyond compliance or public relations and examine decision-making, inclusion, risk management, accessibility, protection of athletes and fans, and the experience of communities. Social sustainability makes integrity concrete: it shows whether values are embedded in daily practice and in how people are treated. The World Cup creates the spotlight, but the real test comes afterwards, when commitments must become culture.
Roberto Fiore
Managing Partner, LP Avvocati (SIGA Member); Member, SIGA Council
The most important step sports organizations should take after the World Cup is to establish permanent mechanisms for independent integrity oversight. Codes of ethics too often lack effective ways to verify implementation. Sports organizations should involve independent experts, academia, and civil society in assessing their integrity policies. Integrity is not strengthened through declarations alone, but through a willingness to subject decisions to independent scrutiny and demonstrate that governance and ethical standards are being implemented effectively.
Brian Lewis
Secretary-General, CANOC; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
There is a need for independent oversight as a necessary check and balance. Accusations of endemic corruption, endemic impunity, fraud, mismanagement, and misappropriation of funds have plagued global sport for years.
Cecilia Perez Rivas
Former Minister of Justice, Paraguay; Associate Lawyer, Julia Abogados; Master of Laws (LL.M.) wiht Specialisation in Oral Litigation; Lecturer, Metropolitan University of Asunción
SIGA’s mission is urgent because sport is facing an unprecedented crisis of institutional capture. The growth of unregulated virtual betting, the influx of capital from questionable sources, and the use of sport as a vehicle for reputation laundering have outpaced the response capacity of traditional sports federations, many of which remain trapped in institutional inertia. In this context, SIGA is the only multi-stakeholder coalition confronting the problem head-on. In the face of complicity, our Universal Standards represent the only framework capable of restoring the legitimacy of global sport.
Daniela Bas
Founder & Principal Advisor, DB SustainABLE Advisory Boutique; Social Sustainability, Inclusive Leadership & Human-Centred Systems; Former Senior UN Executive; Co-Chair, SIGA Permanent Committee on Gender, Race, Inclusion & Diversity
Sport has enormous influence: it shapes culture, business, diplomacy, youth aspirations and social belonging. For this reason, integrity is not only technical or internal; it is a public trust issue. SIGA’s mission is relevant because sport must be protected and led with integrity. From my perspective on inclusive leadership, social sustainability and human-centred systems, this means more than compliance. It means transparent decisions, people-centred governance, anticipated risks, dignity in practice and institutions coherent with the values they claim to represent.
Roberto Fiore
Managing Partner, LP Avvocati (SIGA Member); Member, SIGA Council
An independent global Sport Integrity movement like SIGA is more relevant than ever. Challenges such as competition manipulation, corruption, illegal betting, and governance shortcomings cannot be addressed by individual organizations alone. SIGA’s value lies in bringing together sports organizations, governments, businesses, and civil society around common standards and shared accountability. At a time when public trust is constantly being tested, SIGA helps ensure that integrity becomes a core governance principle, turning commitments into concrete actions that protect the credibility and social value of sport.
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ABOUT SIGA
SIGA is the world’s leading organisation for Sport Integrity. We are creating a whole new landscape for the sports industry by delivering independent global rating and certification for world Sport to ensure it is governed and operates under the highest integrity standards: The SIGA Universal Standards.
Funded by our Members, SIGA is a non for profit global independent organisation with one aim: To ensure the sport industry is governed under the highest integrity standards so that the values of sport are protected.
SIGA is the only organisation to bring together sport, governments, academia, international organisations, sponsors, business, rights holders, NGOs and professional services companies, from every region in the world, around a common cause of fostering greater integrity throughout sport.
SIGA is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, as a non for-profit association, and comprises of the following continental subsidiaries: SIGA AMERICA, SIGA EUROPE and SIGA LATIN AMERICA.
For more information on SIGA, including its vision, mission and reform agenda, please refer to the website: www.siga-sport.com and FAQs.
To contact SIGA, please email: comms@siga-sport.com.