British media Bull Shit

[Messinterista]

Yeh saw that link. lol!

[juventino_italiano]

discuss controversy and conpsiracy in the World game

[Italiamia]

By GRAHAM DUNBAR, AP Sports Writer



GENEVA (AP)—Facing a deepening corruption scandal, FIFA demanded evidence Wednesday to back up English claims that six executive committee members were involved in bribery during bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter, meanwhile, promised to resolve the crisis before he comes up for re-election on June 1.

“We have to do it now immediately. We have exactly three weeks to do so,” Blatter said in an interview with Qatar-based network Al-Jazeera.

Blatter is seeking a fourth and final four-year term against Qatari challenger Mohamed bin Hammam, who was a central figure in his country’s victorious—and controversial—bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Following Tuesday’s allegations made during a British Parliamentary inquiry, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke wrote to England’s Football Association asking for a complete report plus “all documentary evidence” from David Triesman, the former leader of England’s 2018 bid.

Triesman told British lawmakers that four long-standing FIFA officials— Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi—requested bribes in the 2018 bidding.

Lawmakers were also told in a submission from The Sunday Times that Qatar paid $1.5 million to two more FIFA officials, Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma, in the 2022 contest. Qatar won the vote, beating the United States in the final round.

FIFA said it has asked the newspaper for more evidence of information it received from a whistleblower within Qatar’s bid.

Valcke requested detailed evidence in order to “examine the situation thoroughly and with clear-sightedness,” FIFA said.

As FIFA’s top administrator, responsibility falls on Valcke to ask FIFA’s ethics court to open official investigations against any of the six under suspicion.

A previous FIFA ethics probe based on a Sunday Times investigation threw the 2018 and 2022 bid races into chaos during the final weeks of campaigning before the December vote.

Two members of FIFA’s executive committee, Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii, were barred from voting for their part in the corruption allegations.

Blatter said Wednesday that the past experience would help FIFA deal with the latest scandal, which means that one third of the 24-man executive committee has been implicated in World Cup bid corruption claims.

“It is not the first time and we know how to react now,” Blatter said. “Once we have the evidence then we can decide where we go, if we go, in the investigation—an administrative investigation or directly to the ethics committee.”

FIFA said Valcke has asked English football officials to provide Parliamentary records of Triesman’s testimony.

It also questioned why the newspaper’s latest allegations were not provided with other material submitted last October for the previous ethics probe.

“In particular, reference is made in the letter to the allegations regarding a ‘whistleblower who had worked with the Qatar bid,’ who allegedly made some declarations,” FIFA said.

The Qatar football federation has denied paying Hayatou, from Cameroon, and Ivory Coast’s Anouma, calling the allegations “wholly unreliable.”

Hayatou, the president of the Confederation of African Football, “categorically denies” the claims, the African body said Wednesday. He threatened legal action to defend his name.

Bin Hammam played a key role in delivering the 2022 World Cup to his homeland.

“FIFA is not corrupted,” the Asian Football Confederation President said. “We are victims of the popularity of the game.”

The conduct of Warner, Leoz, Teixeira and Makudi in the 2018 contest won by Russia was described as “improper and unethical” by Triesman.

Warner, a FIFA vice president from Trinidad and Tobago, dismissed Triesman’s allegations, saying he “laughed like hell” when he heard them on Tuesday.

“I never asked anybody for anything,” Warner told Trinidad newspaper Newsday. “When these guys (England) came here, we promised to help. I showed them a place where they can put a playground. They promised to come back but they never did.”

Warner said he thinks English officials are bitter after gaining just two votes in the 2018 contest—one from its own representative on the executive committee.

“How come not even one person from Europe voted for them?” Warner told Newsday. “And they’re looking for all different reasons. Why don’t they, in a dispassionate way, sit down and ask why not one European voted for them?”

Valcke has questioned why the claims—which included incidents said to have occurred in 2009—were not reported earlier.

“If it was known, why has it not come to our attention? We have called and asked people to let us know whatever you have in this process,” Valcke said.

Asked if the World Cup votes should be reopened, Valcke said the process had been conducted cleanly and all known evidence was examined.

Australia, which was badly defeated in the 2022 voting, played down suggestions it could ask for a revote.

“Ultimately this is a question that needs to be directed to FIFA the governing body,” Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Wednesday. “We were very disappointed. We put in a bid which was impressive and we pursued that bid in an ethical and impressive way.”

British Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said he had discussed the possibility of England breaking away from FIFA along with other countries.

“I have taken the temperature from other football associations around the world, particularly we did that in the wake of the 2018 bid,” Robertson told the BBC. “At the moment there is a desire to try to work to change FIFA from the inside. If FIFA is unable to do that then I would say all options are possible.

“But at the moment we very much want to work with them and try to convince them they need to go through exactly the same process that the IOC went through in the post-Salt Lake City process.”

AP Sports Writer Rob Harris in London contributed to this report.


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[Messinterista]

FIFA is fucked. If Blatter loses to bin Hammam it just goes from one corrupt mother fucker to another.

[RomaShield27]

Sepp Blatter: I once handed back a bribe
• President promises to reform Fifa if he is re-elected
• Blatter revealed being targeted when secretary general

Press Association
www.guardian.co.uk - Monday 23 May 2011 12.58 BST

Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, has promised to reform the organisation if he is re-elected and revealed that he too once handed back a bribe when he was given an envelope which turned out to be stuffed with cash.

The 75-year-old said he will present proposals to Fifa's congress next week on dealing with past allegations of corruption and ticket touting by senior Fifa officials. Blatter is keeping the details secret but they include allowing the congress made up of all 208 member countries to elect the chairmen of three key committees.

"Handling the past will be presented to the congress," he said. "We have to make sure that immediately after the election that we rebuild the image of Fifa. We need to reinforce the judicial bodies and we shall find a solution how to handle the past in order that we can stop forever in the future all these damaging things about corruption.

"These bodies should be more independent and this is a question I will bring to the congress, that the congress should elect the members of these committees or at least the chairmen of the three committees – the ethics, disciplinary and appeal committees."

Blatter said he had never been involved in any corrupt practices but revealed that he had been targeted for a bribe when he was Fifa's secretary general – but he refused to name the person involved.

"I received once an envelope, when I was secretary general and in this envelope there was an amount of money," he said. "I couldn't refuse because he put it in my pocket. I came home here to Fifa and gave it to the finance director and he put this money on the account of the Swiss Bank Corporation at that time, and informed the guy 'the money you gave to the secretary general is in that bank' and a few days later he reclaimed it. Then it was specifically known that please don't try to give money to somebody who's in Fifa."

Blatter added that he was "disappointed" to hear that Amadou Diallo, a former employee of Fifa and a close friend of Blatter's presidential challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam, had been named in parliament as the "fixer" of bribes paid by the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid to two Fifa executive committee members. The Qatar bid team denies all claims of corruption.

"Yes, it definitely disappoints me. He was working for Fifa in the development programmes, he was in the Goal project with the candidate [Bin Hammam]. I knew him because he was around before we started with the Goal project, he was brought in by Bin Hammam. This is a question of character, so ask Diallo if he's happy in his position, what he's doing. He's a small, nice, smiling guy, always smiling."

Blatter also confirmed that Uefa's president, Michel Platini, is on the right track to succeed him if he is re-elected – he has promised to step down in 2015. "I'm sure there are a lot of candidates for president but Platini is exactly in this trajectory," he said. "I'm sure that Europe will make everything to maintain the presidency of Fifa, that's why they are also looking very carefully to the election on 1 June in Zurich."

[Messinterista]

Damage is already done you fuck. Go away.

[juventino_italiano]

He also once sucked dick for bus fare and then walked home.

[red]

[Italiamia]

How does a corrupt alcoholic reach such a position in world football. I think it's high time that England, Italy, Germany, Spain and France leave Fifa for good. Then, it will have no power to do a fucking thing.

[red]

Just do away with international football altogether.

It's constantly being devalued anyway.

[Italiamia]

[red]

Maybe keep a World Cup or something, but so much international football is so tedious.

Lots of top players quite plainly view representing their country as a chore and the whole thing is cheapened with foreign coaches and players representing countries they have no ties to whatsoever.

Maybe take it back to the way things were back in the 1970s - small qualifying groups and less teams getting to the actual tournament.


I know this can't happen due to how much money is involved, just as I know the European Cup will never go back to just being a knock-out tournament, unfortunately.

[Messinterista]

[RomaShield27]

International football still has its pride and place but the problem is there are far too meaningless friendlies and games these days. It is understandable in a sense, in that international teams have become a lot more professional then they used to be and so they want more matches, more friendlies, more training sessions and generally more time with their players, but that doesn't make it any more interesting for the fans, or in some cases even the players themselves who can't be arsed playing for their country.

[Italiamia]

Maybe the noose is tightening around Blatter's neck:









GENEVA (AP)—FIFA placed its own president under investigation Friday in a widening bribery scandal just days before he is scheduled to face re-election.

FIFA said Sepp Blatter, who is accused of turning a blind eye to alleged bribes being paid to Caribbean voters, must submit a statement by Saturday before facing an ethics committee hearing in Zurich on Sunday. With both Blatter and rival candidate Mohamed bin Hammam now under investigation, it is unclear whether next Wednesday’s election will go ahead.

“I cannot comment on the proceedings that have been opened against me. The facts will speak for themselves,” Blatter said in a statement released by his campaign advisers. Bin Hammam and senior FIFA official Jack Warner were summoned Wednesday to face the ethics panel on charges of bribing voters during a Caribbean campaign visit. The allegations were leveled by American FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer. Blatter, who is seeking a fourth term as president, has described suggestions he “masterminded” the scandal to remove his Qatari rival from the race as “ludicrous.”

“In the report submitted by … Chuck Blazer earlier this week, FIFA vice president Jack Warner would have informed the FIFA President in advance about alleged cash payments to delegations attending a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union,” FIFA said in a statement Friday. Up to 25 delegates who have votes in the election were allegedly offered cash bribes at the May 10-11 conference in Warner’s native Trinidad, where he is a government minister. Delegates were allegedly offered $40,000 in cash for “development projects.”

Bin Hammam requested Thursday that FIFA also investigate Blatter in the affair that has thrown soccer’s governing body into chaos and left the scheduled election up in the air. Bin Hammam, who denies the bribery allegations, claims Blatter broke ethics rules by not reporting apparent corruption attempts.

FIFA’s ethics rules require officials to “report any evidence of violations of conduct.”

Bin Hammam, Warner and two CFU officials have been summoned before the ethics panel based on Blazer’s explosive file of evidence. Blatter “had no issue” with the bribes being arranged, according to bin Hammam’s formal complaint. Warner, a senior FIFA official for 28 years, allegedly said that “the FIFA President would have had no issue” with the payments. Support from the Caribbean has long been seen as crucial to bin Hammam’s hopes of unseating former ally Blatter. Blazer, the highest-ranking American in FIFA, has been an executive committee and CONCACAF regional body colleague of the men he accuses for more than 15 years.

Blatter is the eighth current member of FIFA’s 24-man ruling panel under investigation for alleged corruption. Two former members were suspended after a British newspaper investigation into vote-trading ahead of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes. FIFA was sifting through evidence Friday while also preparing for next week’s gathering of 208 soccer nations in Zurich. Blatter has called for allegations made in a British Parliamentary inquiry this month to be resolved before election day. British lawmakers published claims from a Qatari bid whistleblower that African football confederation president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast received $1.5 million bribes to vote for the emirate’s successful 2022 bid.

The former head of England’s failed 2018 bid, David Triesman, told the inquiry that Warner asked for money to build an education center and buy 2010 World Cup broadcast rights for Haiti. Warner denied the allegation. Triesman said three other FIFA voters made improper requests for inducements: Nicolas Leoz, South America’s football president from Paraguay; Ricardo Teixeira, who heads Brazil’s 2014 World Cup preparations; and Worawi Makudi, a bin Hammam loyalist from Thailand. They have all denied the accusations. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke and legal director Marco Villiger will take the lead on making decisions on whether any officials should face separate ethics probes.

The ethics panel suspended Nigerian Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii from Tahiti last November following an undercover sting by The Sunday Times. Adamu is appealing his three-year ban for bribery to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and Temarii accepted his one-year sanction for breaking FIFA loyalty rules.





http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slu ... ry-blatter

[Messinterista]

All talk. In all seriousness though, looks like shit is starting to stir in the FIFA Camp.

[Giacomo]

Blatter has been cleared by the Ethics Committee, while bin Hammam has been found to have a case to answer and has consequently been suspended pending a hearing when the Ethics Committee's investigation is completed which will probably be in July.

[Messinterista]

Blatter doing wonderful job

Sepp Blatter remains a credible president of FIFA despite allegations of corruption at the governing body, according to Franz Beckenbauer.

Blatter is the only candidate in next week's presidential election following rival Mohamed bin Hammam's withdrawal from the race on Saturday night.

Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian Football Confederation and Blatter, along with FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, will appear before the FIFA ethics committee later on Sunday. Bin Hammam and Warner face bribery allegations while Blatter is charged with knowing about alleged bribery.

But retiring executive committee member Beckenbauer told Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "He (Blatter) did a wonderful job. It's not easy. FIFA is like the United Nations - we have 208 members.

"It's not easy to handle, but I think Blatter and his staff are doing a wonderful job."

The German admitted, though, the allegations were very damaging for the game.

"It's a disaster for football and I hope when June 1 comes and the election will be over, then all the discussion about corruption is finished and FIFA can go back to normal.

"I don't know what's going on in the next days, but in general it's my opinion it's very, very bad."

Beckenbauer, who said he had never been offered a bribe, ruled out the possibility of standing for president.

"Certainly not. I'm leaving the UEFA exco, I'm leaving the FIFA exco - no way."

Former International Olympic Committee vice-president Dick Pound helped clean up the organisation following the Salt Lake City scandal, when officials were allegedly bribed to give the 2002 Winter Olympics to the city.

And the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency feels national associations could leave FIFA and set up their own governing body.

"It may be if FIFA is not going to do the game any good, the game may have to do something to FIFA," he said.

"You could withdraw from FIFA, for example. You could say 'we're not satisfied that the organisation is being properly run and it's not a credit to the sport that we know and love and therefore let's have an alternative to FIFA'.

"That's one possibility - it has been done in other sports. They say 'we're the effective governing body of football now and not FIFA'."

Pound insists FIFA need to conduct a thorough investigation into the corruption claims if their reputation is to recover from the battering it has taken in recent weeks.

"There are so many allegations of corruption and foul play and so forth around the activities of FIFA itself and in some of its recent selections for its events," he said.

"If there's that much smoke there may be some fire and I should have thought that it's not good for FIFA's reputation nor for the reputation of anybody involved for these things to be flying around without somebody saying 'let's take a look at them and see if there is a problem and if there is a problem what do we do about it?'.

"If the perceptions are that the organisation is rife with corruption then it's up to the organisation either to demonstrate that it's not or if it finds that it is to take whatever remedial measures are appropriate.

"Personally my experience was that people like the idea of being in a clean organisation but they don't like the cleaners."

Pound added: "When something like this happened to the IOC 10 or 12 years ago, we took it extremely seriously. In fact we thought the future of the institution itself was at risk unless we were to take a very firm stand against bad behaviour on the part of some of our members so we did that.

"I think the perception of the IOC today is quite different from what it was in 1998 or 1999."

Source: http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/105 ... derful-job

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Beckenbauer I thought was one of the few genuine and honest members in FIFA, but after this article I think other wise. How Blatter got cleared for any wrong doings and is now running to head FIFA again un-opposed is beyond belief.

[Giacomo]

Why? If there was no evidence to puruse enquiries further what else could the committee do?

[RomaShield27]