Fifa has confirmed its ethics committee is in the early stages of an investigation into multiple allegations of sexual abuse around the world that are understood to include incidents tied to the Vancouver Whitecaps women’s team and its former coach Hubert Busby Jr.
Busby was suspended from his role as head coach of the Jamaica women’s national team late last year after the Guardian reported allegations by a former player that Busby attempted to solicit sex from her while she was being recruited to join the Whitecaps in 2010. Busby has denied the allegations but the Jamaica Football Federation requested Fifa investigate his time in charge of the Whitecaps women’s program.
“We can confirm that Fifa’s independent Ethics Committee is currently gathering information from different parties concerning historic abuse allegations that have been made, which will be analyzed in accordance with the scope and competence of the Fifa Code of Ethics,” football’s governing body wrote in a statement to the Guardian.
It is understood the broad nature of the statement – while also avoiding specifics – means there are multiple cases of sexual abuse under review. “The size and scale of an investigation is on a case-by-case basis and there is no set timeframe,” a Fifa spokesman said.
In the United States, investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by coaches and the failure of organizations to adequately address such claims have been recently announced by US Soccer as well as the National Women’s Soccer League. Canada Soccer and Major League Soccer have also launched separate investigations into allegations of abuse within Canada’s national women’s youth teams and the Vancouver Whitecaps women’s team.
Abuse of players and the failure of organizations to substantially address allegations is a global issue. Allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by administrators, coaches, and even teammates, have been recently reported in the UK, Australia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Barbados, Gabon, and Venezuela.
While Fifa can issue a ban from football related activity for 10 years if an individual is found guilty of sexual abuse by its ethics committee, it is simultaneously restricted by its own guidelines that state cases cannot be prosecuted more than 10 years after they occurred.
According to American attorney John Manly, who won a $500m settlement case as lead counsel for victims of infamous US Olympic women’s gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, Fifa’s rules demonstrate that sports organizations cannot investigate allegations within their own sport, especially regarding time limits on sexual abuse cases.
“If you talk to any knowledgeable law enforcement officer they will tell you the late reporting of sexual abuse cases is common and usual,” said Manly, who now represents several former Vancouver Whitecaps women’s team players. “What you have is a by-law that is designed to fail. Everybody knows that if you report during your playing years, your career is over.
“USA Gymnastics not only had Larry Nassar but tremendous problems with abusive coaches and a statute of limitations that was a year. They only had to investigate if the victim or the victim’s parents signed a statement under oath in writing. Nobody does that. It’s not how it works. This is not a matter of ignorance. If this was 1965 we could say ‘OK, maybe you are ignorant’. It’s 2022. They know damn well how this works and it is a system designed to give you public relations cover but a policy to fail the athlete as well.”
The Vancouver Whitecaps case is a standout as Busby was the second coach who players reported for inappropriate behavior. After abuse allegations from players in 2009, coach Bob Birarda, who was simultaneously head coach of Canada’s U-20 women’s team, left his roles with the Whitecaps and national team by “mutual agreement” but returned to coaching teenage girls in the Vancouver area within months.
Birada was last year arrested in Vancouver charged with six counts of sexual exploitation, two counts of sexual assault, and one count of child luring over a 20-year period between 1988 and 2008. The charges against Birarda are understood to involve at least four female players. This month he pled guilty to one count of sexual exploitation and three counts of sexual assault and is awaiting sentencing.
Adding to the complexity of any Fifa investigation into Canada Soccer and the Vancouver Whitecaps is that the deputy chair of the Fifa ethics committee investigative chamber is Bruno De Vita, an attorney whose resume boasts his role defending sports and religious organizations from sexual abuse claims.
De Vita is a Canadian who grew up in the strong soccer community of East Vancouver, alongside Concacaf president and Fifa vice-president Victor Montagliani, as well as Whitecaps executives (and brothers) Bob and Dan Lenarduzzi. Fifa could not confirm if De Vita would recuse himself from any investigation into events in Canada.
“This underlines the complications of organizations investigating themselves,” says Kim Shore, a former board member of Gymnastics Canada currently involved in an independent taskforce into the culture of sports organization governance. “There are so many complex relationships, so many vested interests, and people invested in their own rise.
“It is also not up to Fifa to say when a victim finds their voice. Many victims are just finding their voice now, especially if you are talking about someone growing from being a child into an adult. It’s not up to the sports organization to decide that someone should have come forward sooner.”
Manly also questions the use of the term “independent” when referring to organizations investigating misconduct. Vancouver attorney Anne Chopra was hired in 2008 by Canada Soccer and the Vancouver Whitecaps to investigate the allegations against Birarda and his subsequent hire and exit. However, Chopra signed a non-disclosure agreement, and the report disappeared. No copy of Chopra’s investigation exists today. Montagliani, a Canada Soccer board member at the time, has said he and his fellow board members “followed the appropriate steps… with this very serious matter.”
After recent media interest in how Canada Soccer handled the 2008 allegations against Birarda, the organization commissioned a new investigation into the events by McLaren Global Sports Solutions, a Canadian firm that has also investigated doping, bribes, and corruption in a variety of sports.
One report from MGSS is due to be completed in April, focussing on the events of 2008 and the subsequent investigation undertaken by Chopra. A second report from MGSS, due in July will review Canada Soccer’s current policies and programs.
“Attorneys that investigate their clients rarely find them guilty,” Manly said of the multiple investigations into sexual abuse in soccer now underway. “These investigations are always designed to protect the institution and designed to give them public relations cover to get the media and the public to believe they are actually doing something.”
MLS, which is investigating the Vancouver Whitecaps allegations, did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. A spokesperson for Canada Soccer said in an email that MGSS “has complete independence of Canada Soccer and has a demonstrated history of independence. Canada Soccer is paying for the transparent third-party independent review but this does not constitute an attorney-client relationship. MGSS is not our attorney or legal counsel but an independent group that Canada Soccer has engaged to conduct this review with the autonomy to proceed with the investigation as they deem necessary.”
Canada Soccer officials who were aware of the 2008 allegations against Birarda have subsequently risen to powerful global positions within soccer. Montagliani is now president of Concacaf and a Fifa vice-president. A Concacaf spokesperson has said Montagliani’s 2008 role as director of national teams was fiduciary oversight.
Peter Montopoli, Canada Soccer general-secretary at the time of the allegations against Birarda and the Chopra report, was responsible for the day-to-day running of the organization. Last year Montopoli was appointed chief operating officer of the Fifa World Cup 2026 for Canada.
Manly maintains that national sports organizations and clubs hold all the power when it comes to athletes reporting abuse and that the experience of female athletes under multiple coaches at Vancouver Whitecaps is a perfect example of how difficult it is for allegations to be treated appropriately.
“The situation [for the Whitecaps players] is common,” Manly said. “No matter what country you are in there is only one way [to the Olympics or the World Cup] and that is through the federation. There is also only one professional soccer league for women. If you make a claim while you are playing then how is that going to affect your career? Not great. There needs to be a methodology for women to be confident that when they report it is not going to be used against them.
“No woman – or man – should have to subject herself to sexual favors to play. They should be able to play and participate in a sport whether as an amateur or professional based on their ability. We believe this is a much larger problem not only in soccer but in other sports. And it has been going on for a long time. I believe these women [who have come forward] have opened the Pandora’s Box.”
