Much of the world is reeling after shocking disclosures that a number of the highest ranking football executives — who govern the sport globally — have not only been arrested, but are facing charges of alleged bribery worth more than $150 million in various dealings involving arrangements for World Cup sites.

In a stunning move by officials including the FBI and other authorities after a lengthy probe spanning several years, much of the top brass of Fifa, the power house of all football activity, found themselves getting the biggest red card of all when they found themselves offside with the law.

Speculation has been rife for several years that beneath the surface of colourful, glowing world-class fixtures with some of the best players in the world, something sinister was taking place within the Fifa management body, which was thought so powerful, that they could be easily called the untouchables.

Rumblings about behind-the-scenes dealings with potential sites for the World Cup is nothing new, and investigating officials knew they would need solid evidence of such activity before even attempting to take action against one of the world’s most powerful sports organisations.

Although the action carried out in Switzerland has been described as a dark day for football, it really goes much further.

Football, one of the world’s most popular games, is enjoyed by millions across the globe. However, most people are familiar with the saying that power corrupts, and out-of-control greed has been known to send many in high positions tumbling in many areas of life, with sports no exception.

The new Attorney-General in the United States did not mince her words when she described actions by leading executives of Fifa as nothing short of unbridled greed for financial gain.

It is really not about football, but about people who felt powerful enough to bypass basic rules of honesty and decency, hoping fans would be so overcome with match excitement, that their actions would never be noticed.

That is almost unbelievable, with much of the world for years growing increasingly suspicious about how Fifa was conducting its business, as major countries sort favour in being chosen as the venue for the prestigious World Cup.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter — re-elected to the top role for a fifth term yesterday after challenger Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan conceded — declared that he could not monitor all of the executives’ actions, which seemed like a weak attempt to exonerate himself from any blame for what has transpired.

However, if the world was aware that something was terribly wrong with the Fifa administration when it came to transparency, then he should have known that when the whistle was blown for a major foul, for the leader not to know what was happening is nothing short of unacceptable.

We all know the outcome of a downplayed warning that lead to the one of the world’s most tragic events at sea. The captain of the Titanic had been informed about dangerous ice in the area in which he was sailing but apparently did not allow that information to alter his course.

With Fifa, it seems that even with shocking revelations, it may be just the tip of the iceberg. Major sporting organisations around the world have never been as squeaky clean as they would like when it comes to sports events.

The recent bombshell in America over alleged cheating at the highest level of the National Football League — through alleged altering of game ball pressure to give certain players an advantage — left much of that world staggering, with thoughts that their golden sport had lost its shine.

Again, it was the case of the powerful with so many millions of dollars at stake feeling immune to rules and laws in seeking victory. Many sponsors of the World Cup are warning that unless Fifa cleans up its administrative act, they might consider withdrawing support. That could be one of the biggest yellow cards ever, and alarm bells should be ringing off the hook in calling for top to bottom cleansing.

No one is expecting what is described in religious terms as a born again experience, but unless change is convincing to the world, greed and power will remain obstacles in trying to make world-class football the event it should be — the world’s best players performing on the field and being mindful of rules and regulations designed to promote the highest standards of sportsmanship.

Administrators of this great game should also be mindful that they too must play by rules to avoid that card we mentioned earlier.

It could be a bumpy road ahead for Fifa until that dark cloud of corruption is replaced by the glowing light of transparency.

I have no intention of being a sports writer but what a situation.