By Andrew Dampf / The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis implored sports leaders on Wednesday to do a better job of keeping corruption off the playing field.
Speaking at the first global conference on faith and sport, Francis said sports must be protected from manipulations and commercial abuse.
“It would be sad for sport and for humanity if people were unable to trust in the truth of sporting results, or if cynicism and disenchantment were to drown out enthusiasm or joyful and disinterested participation,” Francis said.
The pope’s challenge comes during a period of widespread corruption in sports, from various scandals at Fifa to Olympic ticket abuses to match-fixing in numerous leagues and games.
Members of the International Olympic Committee (ioc), soccer executives and athletes were attending the three-day conference in the Vatican.
“In sport, as in life, competing for the result is important, but playing well and fairly is even more important,” Francis said. “I trust that these days of meeting and reflection will allow you to explore further the good that sportand faith can bring to our societies.”
Francis has denounced doping in sport, saying drug-fueled victories are “sterile”. He has urged athletes to be clean and to use sport for personal development and solidarity.
Francis has also spoken out strongly about corruption in all aspects of society and urged young people to resist its addictive lure.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and IOC President Thomas Bach were special guests for the opening ceremony of the convention, called Sport at the Service of Humanity.
“It was very inspiring,” Bach told The Associated Press (AP) of the pope’s speech. “That’s what we all have in common. We are joining forces in the fight against corruption, for instance.”
“We know that he’s a great friend of sports and he’s appreciating the values of sport very much,” Bach added. “We could feel that in this speech today and also in the private audience.”
Former Juventus great and Italy World Cup winner Alessandro del Piero took part in a ceremonial kickoff for the event with a soccer ball onstage.
“Sport is passion for me,” del Piero said. “I always tried to give my all in full respect of the rules and with the great passion that always made me stand out, together with desire and humility, in pursuit of my dreams.”
Fifa, meanwhile, is no longer hosting its executives at Zurich’s Baur au Lac, the waterside superluxurious, lake-side hotel that became synonymous with the sport’s corruption scandal last year when Swiss police launched dawn raids on previously untouchable leaders.
By moving its ruling-council members from the 172-year-old Baur au Lac to the more modest five-star Park Hyatt in Zurich, Fifa will be saving money during next week’s meetings.
Fifa provided no details of the rooms where council members will be staying, but the cheapest double room for October 13 at the Baur au Lac is 870 Swiss francs ($900) which can be booked at the Hyatt for 527 Swiss francs.
The decision to switch hotels was made by new Fifa Secretary-General Fatma Samoura.
“We’re on business so a good solid business hotel, I think, is more appropriate,” Fifa Vice President Victor Montagliani, who is also head of the Concacaf confederation, told the AP. “It’s not just only cost-cutting. As we have done at Concacaf, it’s about sending a message we are here to work and I think those are some changes that have to happen.”
Moving hotels ends a troubled association with the Baur au Lac, which became world renowned—for the wrong reasons—when several soccer officials were arrested in their bedrooms at dawn on May 27, 2015. Swiss police were executing arrest warrants on behalf of American authorities, who have charged more than 40 people in a soccer corruption investigation.
In video captured by the AP, then-Costa Rican Football Federation President Eduardo Li was seen being escorted into a police car last year as hotel porters held up white sheets, unsuccessfully trying to shield him.
Despite the unwelcome wake-up call, Fifa didn’t abandon the Baur au Lac after the arrests. And police paid another visit to the hotel when Fifa executives were in Zurich last December to execute a second wave of arrests.
When the Fifa Council meets next week, the Baur au Lac will be a lot quieter.