Fifa Corruption

[Englander]

Good to see the Sunday Times do their bit for Englands WC bid, but with Russia being so corrupt and all these banana republics having a vote for the upcoming staging of WC 2018, i cant help being cynical and thinking England havent got a chance. I wonder if the votes of African, Caribbean and Asian nations have been bought already.

After the SA World Cup which was the worst in history and enough to make me not overly interested in the next one, a WC in totalitarian Russia doesnt appeal at all.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11559801

Fifa is investigating allegations that two of its officials offered to sell their votes in the contest to host the 2018 World Cup.

Reporters from The Sunday Times posed as lobbyists for a consortium of American companies who wanted to bring the tournament to the United States.

They approached Amos Adamu, a Nigerian who serves as a Fifa executive committee member.

He allegedly told reporters he wanted cash to build pitches in Nigeria.

Mr Adamu, who is president of the West African Football Union, is said to have told the undercover journalists that he wanted $800,000 (£500,000) to build four artificial football pitches.

This would be completely against Fifa's rules.

The Sunday Times footage shows Mr Adamu wanting money to be paid to him directly for endorsing the US bid.

In the video, he was asked whether the money for a "private project" would have an effect on the way he voted.

Closely monitored

He replied: "Obviously, it will have an effect. Of course it will. Because certainly if you are to invest in that, that means you also want the vote."

Reynald Temarii, president of the Oceania Football Confederation, is also alleged to have asked for a payment, in his case to finance a sports academy.

A statement from Fifa read: "Fifa and the Fifa Ethics Committee have closely monitored the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 Fifa World Cups and will continue to do so.

"Fifa has already requested to receive all of the information and documents related to this matter, and is awaiting to receive this material.

"In any case, Fifa will immediately analyse the material available and only once this analysis has concluded will Fifa be able to decide on any potential next steps.

"In the meantime, Fifa is not in a position to provide any further comments on this matter."

A European nation will definitely host the 2018 World Cup after the United States - the last remaining non-European bidder - pulled out of the race on Friday. Australia withdrew its candidature in June. Both will refocus their efforts on 2022.

England will now battle it out with bids from Russia, Belgium/Netherlands and Spain/Portugal.

A 24-strong committee will decide by secret ballot on 2 December who should host the tournaments.

[MSingh]

When i read this on the BBC this morning, i thought of " West Africa " then i thought of " Nigeria " before i read it..

Now either i'm psychic or when you are allowing an " equal playing field " like FIFA are trying to do when you're asking for votes, you're asking for trouble as people from Countries like this are simply gonna do this kind of thing over & over & over & over..

But of course, i could just be psychic like i said & the above is complete b*llocks..

[Englander]

When i read this on the BBC this morning, i thought of " West Africa " then i thought of " Nigeria " before i read it..

Now either i'm psychic or when you are allowing an " equal playing field " like FIFA are trying to do when you're asking for votes, you're asking for trouble as people from Countries like this are simply gonna do this kind of thing over & over & over & over..

But of course, i could just be psychic like i said & the above is complete b*llocks..

There has to be a better way for voting, this must have been going on for years for SA to win the tournament is testament to this.

IMHO UEFA should withdraw its teams and go it alone FIFA isn't fit for purpose.

[MSingh]

When i read this on the BBC this morning, i thought of " West Africa " then i thought of " Nigeria " before i read it..

Now either i'm psychic or when you are allowing an " equal playing field " like FIFA are trying to do when you're asking for votes, you're asking for trouble as people from Countries like this are simply gonna do this kind of thing over & over & over & over..

But of course, i could just be psychic like i said & the above is complete b*llocks..

There has to be a better way for voting, this must have been going on for years for SA to win the tournament is testament to this.

IMHO UEFA should withdraw its teams and go it alone FIFA isn't fit for purpose.

I think a " European WC " would be the best thing in the World..

Say, within UEFA, you could have us, the Spanish & the Italians hosting Games, why not ??

Of coure it would need some fine tuning but a WC using the San Siro, Nou Camp, Wembley etc ??

Yes please..

[oldgit]

When i read this on the BBC this morning, i thought of " West Africa " then i thought of " Nigeria " before i read it..

Now either i'm psychic or when you are allowing an " equal playing field " like FIFA are trying to do when you're asking for votes, you're asking for trouble as people from Countries like this are simply gonna do this kind of thing over & over & over & over..

But of course, i could just be psychic like i said & the above is complete b*llocks..

When I read it,I thought that this bloke has been the unlucky one because they,re all at it.

[Englander]

When i read this on the BBC this morning, i thought of " West Africa " then i thought of " Nigeria " before i read it..

Now either i'm psychic or when you are allowing an " equal playing field " like FIFA are trying to do when you're asking for votes, you're asking for trouble as people from Countries like this are simply gonna do this kind of thing over & over & over & over..

But of course, i could just be psychic like i said & the above is complete b*llocks..

There has to be a better way for voting, this must have been going on for years for SA to win the tournament is testament to this.

IMHO UEFA should withdraw its teams and go it alone FIFA isn't fit for purpose.

I think a " European WC " would be the best thing in the World..

Say, within UEFA, you could have us, the Spanish & the Italians hosting Games, why not ??

Of coure it would need some fine tuning but a WC using the San Siro, Nou Camp, Wembley etc ??

Yes please..

Wasnt what i meant but that does sound like a fantastic idea.

Basically most FIFA's money comes from Europe so if they want UEFA have got the by the short and curlys, and shouldnt put up with blatant corruption and people like the Jack Warner and these guys dictating terms of WC's.

FIFA just seems like an organised scam ran by well connected politico types from corrupt countries to line the pockets of a few, i wonder if it actually does anything for the good of football these days.

[MSingh]

The Football world seems more & more to me as a reflection on Society these days, or is it that Society is reflected so much in the Football world ??

I can never work it out..

[smokie36]

The Football world seems more & more to me as a reflection on Society these days, or is it that Society is reflected so much in the Football world ??

I can never work it out..

Sack Brooking and bring in El Tel.......if you can't beat 'em join 'em!

[MSingh]

When i read this on the BBC this morning, i thought of " West Africa " then i thought of " Nigeria " before i read it..

Now either i'm psychic or when you are allowing an " equal playing field " like FIFA are trying to do when you're asking for votes, you're asking for trouble as people from Countries like this are simply gonna do this kind of thing over & over & over & over..

But of course, i could just be psychic like i said & the above is complete b*llocks..

When I read it,I thought that this bloke has been the unlucky one because they,re all at it.

Yeah, & i think all them Emails i get from Nigerians & other West African's asking to put " just a little deposit " into a Bank Account becuase i've won the Euro Lottery, or because their Dad who is the King of Africa has died & they're skint til his Will clears, are all unlucky too...

[MSingh]

The Football world seems more & more to me as a reflection on Society these days, or is it that Society is reflected so much in the Football world ??

I can never work it out..

Sack Brooking and bring in El Tel.......if you can't beat 'em join 'em!

Yeah, or better still, Redknapp...

[smokie36]

When i read this on the BBC this morning, i thought of " West Africa " then i thought of " Nigeria " before i read it..

Now either i'm psychic or when you are allowing an " equal playing field " like FIFA are trying to do when you're asking for votes, you're asking for trouble as people from Countries like this are simply gonna do this kind of thing over & over & over & over..

But of course, i could just be psychic like i said & the above is complete b*llocks..

When I read it,I thought that this bloke has been the unlucky one because they,re all at it.

Yeah, & i think all them Emails i get from Nigerians & other West African's asking to put " just a little deposit " into a Bank Account becuase i've won the Euro Lottery, or because their Dad who is the King of Africa has died & they're skint til his Will clears, are all unlucky too...

Bloody scammers.....you're all in on it.

[smokie36]

The Football world seems more & more to me as a reflection on Society these days, or is it that Society is reflected so much in the Football world ??

I can never work it out..

Sack Brooking and bring in El Tel.......if you can't beat 'em join 'em!

Yeah, or better still, Redknapp...

Good job I aint your editor singhy. Allegedly.

[mrbojangles]

I think they are all honest, upstanding members of the community and you are all being cruel.

P.S. I wasn't paid much to say that

[salty]

I think they are all honest, upstanding members of the community and you are all being cruel.

P.S. I wasn't paid much to say that

I seem to have lost the number of your offshore account. Could you please advise again? I assume you will be purchasing the usual number of tickets for Brazil 2014. Regards Jack.

[salty]

This is hardly a surprise. Most of the top brass at FIFA would have been aware of this for many years but up to now always circled the wagons.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18804464

[MrMuddle]

Blatter's now come out with some drivel about how he knew all about it, but it wasn't illegal at the time !

Personally I think corruption is still rife at FIFA, it's the only possible explanation of why Qatar and Russia got the World Cup Finals.

[StevieH]

textbook FIFA.

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21573977-another-fifa-scandal-bonus-money

Bonus money

Another FIFA scandal

A MINUSCULE British territory in the Caribbean of just 15,000 people, Anguilla is among the smallest of the 209 members of FIFA, football’s governing body. Its national team is ranked 206th in the world, above only Bhutan, San Marino and the Turks & Caicos Islands; its record since its first match in 1997 is played 28, won two. But that is not for want of nurturing by “the FIFA family”, as Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, calls his discredited organisation.

On top of the annual $250,000 for investment in football that FIFA gives Anguilla, like every other member, in 2003 the local federation received grants of $650,000 to build a training centre in The Valley, the island’s capital. In 2010 Mr Blatter went to Anguilla to inaugurate this. According to FIFA, the centre was to comprise a pitch with a security fence, artificial lighting and a grandstand with offices and changing rooms. Visitors today find a small grandstand with rusty, broken-down fencing, chickens pecking at the weed-strewn, bumpy pitch and offices that are empty and apparently unused, with computer terminals still wrapped in plastic. There is no sign of the dormitories, gym, cafeteria and classrooms supposed to have been built with an extra $500,000 granted in February 2011.

Raymond Guishard, head of the Anguilla Football Association, failed to respond to questions from The Economist about how the money was spent. A FIFA spokesman said that “construction works have been delayed due to the limited labour force on the island” and insisted that “we constantly monitor” the activities of its member federations.

Yet this monitoring seems particularly cursory in the Caribbean. Guyana’s football association, run by Colin Klass for 22 years, was given $800,000 in grants for a training centre between 2002 and 2006, but has yet to start any building work. The football federation in Montserrat, an even smaller British Caribbean territory than Anguilla, with just 5,800 people, got $788,139 from FIFA in the early 2000s for what it said would be a “complex” with floodlights and fences, but what Google Earth suggests is just a forest clearing.

Vincent Cassell, who runs Montserrat’s football association, attended a meeting in Trinidad & Tobago in 2011 with Mr Guishard and Mr Klass at which Mohamed bin Hammam, Qatar’s former football supremo, is alleged by FIFA to have offered $40,000 to each of them if they would vote for him to replace Mr Blatter in that year’s FIFA presidential election. These and other allegations resulted in FIFA banning Mr bin Hammam from football for life last year. Six Caribbean officials received much shorter bans; in the case of Messrs Guishard, Klass and Cassell, these ranged up to 26 months, with fines of up to 5,000 Swiss francs ($5,450).

Mr Guishard and Mr Cassell are now back in charge of their local associations. FIFA continues to send comparatively large amounts of money to the Caribbean associations, not all of which seems to be invested in football development. In 2010 and 2011 in Anguilla and Guyana, a combined total of more than $1m was booked as unspecified “bonuses”. Once again, it seems that FIFA has scored an own goal.

[Travel2003]

Blatter's now come out with some drivel about how he knew all about it, but it wasn't illegal at the time !

Personally I think corruption is still rife at FIFA, it's the only possible explanation of why Qatar and Russia got the World Cup Finals.

Agree.

Including Brazil where they are far from finished due to corruption, and the failed WC in South Africa (pity hosts).

[salty]

Blatter cleared of any "criminal or ethical misconduct" by FIFA's ethics committee. He was just clumsy. The 3 wise monkeys come to mind.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/10027107/Sepp-Blatter-under-fire-for-bribery-culture-after-Fifa-honorary-president-Joao-Havelange-resigns.html

[StevieH]

can somebody please explain this? feel like i've woken up in a parallel universe today.

Tim Roth to play Sepp Blatter in film about Fifa
http://www.theguardi...erard-depardieu
President of football's governing body hails casting of English actor, who will star with Gérard Depardieu in French production

Behind-the-scenes international intrigue, cronyism and allegations of vast corruption schemes: the story of Fifa, football's governing body, is surely ripe for a dramatic Hollywood retelling.

But a film in the works, starring Tim Roth and Gérard Depardieu, looks likely instead to be a sanitised version of its history and a hagiography of Sepp Blatter, its controversial president.

The film project is provisionally titled F2014 and will be released next year, to coincide with the 110th anniversary of Fifa and the World Cup in Brazil. It will be shot in Azerbaijan, France and Brazil, according to the Azerbaijani ministry of culture. Roth will play Blatter, while Depardieu will play Jules Rimet, the longest-serving president in Fifa history, whose name adorns the World Cup trophy.

The film is being made by Leuviah Films, a French production company that does not appear to have any previous movie credits, and Thelma Films. It is unclear who is funding the project, but it appears to have the full approval of Fifa. Roth is 25 years younger than the 77-year-old Blatter, but the Fifa president said he felt "the casting was well done".

A video on Fifa's website shows a meeting between Blatter and Roth, with Blatter emerging from the back seat of a limousine to embrace the actor. "It was a very interesting get-together," said Blatter after the meeting. "I had read a lot of the CV and all the realisations [films] that this Tim Roth has made. I was very eager to meet him, and I have just realised that really we have something in common."

Blatter said Roth agreed that the pair had "some common, let's say, qualities".

Depardieu became a Russian citizen this year, and was handed his new passport by President Vladimir Putin. Since then, he has been travelling across Russia and the former Soviet republics in what at times appears to be a concerted effort to consort with the region's least savoury politicians. He has been an enthusiastic guest of Ramzan Kadyrov, the autocratic leader of Chechnya, and has also sung a love duet with Gulnara Karimova, socialite daughter of Uzbekistan's dictator, Islam Karimov.

Blatter has run Fifa since 1998, and has hinted that he may try to stand for re-election when his term expires in 2015, despite previously saying he would not do so. His reign has been characterised by allegations of corruption around Fifa, and he has become known for his controversial statements on issues such as women's football and racism in the game.

[jellydog]

Hilarious as well as disgusting. You have to think that FIFA might be bankrolling a good piece of this farce. What a bunch of corrupt old farts they are. And, being corrupt is bad enough, but these <deleted> seem to actually glory in it. Humongous egos. You would hope that the way they flaunt the corruption and the transparent window dressing to address it would eventually lead to some outrage and changes. But the bastards are so institutionalized now that they seem immune.

"parallel universe" indeed. Surrealistic.

[carmine]

Hilarious as well as disgusting. You have to think that FIFA might be bankrolling a good piece of this farce. What a bunch of corrupt old farts they are. And, being corrupt is bad enough, but these <deleted> seem to actually glory in it. Humongous egos. You would hope that the way they flaunt the corruption and the transparent window dressing to address it would eventually lead to some outrage and changes. But the bastards are so institutionalized now that they seem immune.

"parallel universe" indeed. Surrealistic.

They glory in it, take the piss out of everyone by investigating themselves over corruption charges, amongst so many other misdemeanors, they bankroll millions and yet everyone just keeps bowing down to Blatter and his cronies. Its the most ludicrous situation in sport. How on earth does this bunch of crooks control the biggest sport in the world and behave in such a corrupt shambolic manner?!!!

[StevieH]

Hilarious as well as disgusting. You have to think that FIFA might be bankrolling a good piece of this farce. What a bunch of corrupt old farts they are. And, being corrupt is bad enough, but these <deleted> seem to actually glory in it. Humongous egos. You would hope that the way they flaunt the corruption and the transparent window dressing to address it would eventually lead to some outrage and changes. But the bastards are so institutionalized now that they seem immune.

"parallel universe" indeed. Surrealistic.

yes, the bit about who is financing it jumped out at me too. wouldn't suprise me to find that FIFA is bankrolling some of it itself but i'd wager there's some qatar money involved too.

weirdest bit for me though is tim roth agreeing to play sepp. tim roth is meant to be a really nice bloke. and you get the feeling that this isn't going to be a particularly warts-and-all biopic of blatter, corruption, his personal fiefdom, tax evasion, one man on the ballot votes etc.

[jellydog]

Hilarious as well as disgusting. You have to think that FIFA might be bankrolling a good piece of this farce. What a bunch of corrupt old farts they are. And, being corrupt is bad enough, but these <deleted> seem to actually glory in it. Humongous egos. You would hope that the way they flaunt the corruption and the transparent window dressing to address it would eventually lead to some outrage and changes. But the bastards are so institutionalized now that they seem immune.

"parallel universe" indeed. Surrealistic.

yes, the bit about who is financing it jumped out at me too. wouldn't suprise me to find that FIFA is bankrolling some of it itself but i'd wager there's some qatar money involved too.

weirdest bit for me though is tim roth agreeing to play sepp. tim roth is meant to be a really nice bloke. and you get the feeling that this isn't going to be a particularly warts-and-all biopic of blatter, corruption, his personal fiefdom, tax evasion, one man on the ballot votes etc.

Maybe Tim is hard up for cash or something, strange indeed. Possibly Blatter's first choice, Brad Pitt, was unavailable. Depardieu on the other hand would be perfect type casting.

[Chicog]

FIFA have started proceedings against the FA because some Poland supporters set off flares at and around the Wembley match.

What a bunch of jokers, honestly.

[StevieH]

Were they making monkey noises while doing it? If so it'll be grand and FIFA won't do anything.

[MrRed]

You know it stevie

[jellydog]

What are these incredibly bent FIFA whores up to by extending the Ballon d'Or voting by two weeks ? The most beautiful game in the world run by some of the most corrupt bunch of influence peddling and money grubbing slime imaginable.

[salty]

It has ensured Ronaldo is a red hot favourite after last night. In all fairness I think he would have won it anyway but it has raised suspicions given FIFA's track record.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1858326-cristiano-ronaldo-ahead-of-lionel-messi-amid-fifa-ballon-dor-voting-controversy?utm_source=newsletter&

[salty]

After the bribes sorry I mean votes had been taken Qatar were awarded the 2022 World Cup by FIFA. Since then FIFA have become "fully aware" that it will be too hot in summer and are now set to change to a Winter World Cup. Now more problems for Blatter with reports of human rights violations in building the stadiums.I would love to be a fly in the wall at the meetings between him and the organizing committee.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1854355-qatar-accused-of-human-rights-violations-in-preparation-for-2022-world-cup?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=world-football