FIFA (the federation that governs international soccer ) couldn’t have asked for a worse buildup to the largest sporting event in the world – its signature quadrennial World Cup, just underway in Brazil:

• Facility and infrastructure completion problems right up to the start of the games
• Massive, violent local protests against the lack of the promised economic World Cup “trickle-down” to Brazil’s poor
• News coverage of alleged international match “fixing” by a sophisticated syndicate managing crooked referees
• The prospect of the 2022 World Cup being taken away from Qatar after revelations of $5 million in alleged bribes paid to FIFA officials to sway the selection

Question: How does an organization counter this type of spiraling bad publicity happening in real-time around a major event? Read more