Posts Tagged ‘FIFA’

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FIFA goes from corruption to idiocy

November 3, 2016

FIFA now goes from the heights of corruption to the depths of idiocy. Why is a Senegalese with little common sense now the Secretary General of FIFA? Of course she is a woman and a Muslim and supremely correct politically. But not very sensible. Clearly – with her UN experience – she is very well trained in “world government” idiocy.

She wants to ban the poppy. If she thinks the poppy is a religious or political statement then she is an idiot.

BBC: The Football Associations of England and Scotland say they will defy a ban on players wearing poppies when the teams meet on Armistice Day. The FAs will let players wear black armbands with poppy emblems and are willing to accept any punishment.

Fifa general secretary Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura told BBC Sport “any kind of sanction” could follow. World football’s governing body prohibits political, religious or commercial messages on shirts.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has called the rule “outrageous”.

What the new FIFA Secretary General has not the intelligence to understand is that she is herself a political statement of the worst kind.

Samoura - the politically correct face of FIFA

Samoura – the politically correct face of FIFA

FIFA:The FIFA Council today appointed Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura of Senegal as FIFA Secretary General (SG). Ms Samoura is a 21-year veteran of United Nations programmes who is currently the UN’s Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria. The announcement was made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the 66th FIFA Congress in Mexico City.

“Fatma is a woman with international experience and vision who has worked on some of the most challenging issues of our time,” President Infantino said. “She has a proven ability to build and lead teams, and improve the way organisations perform. Importantly for FIFA, she also understands that transparency and accountability are at the heart of any well-run and responsible organisation.”

As required under FIFA statutes, Ms Samoura will undergo an eligibility check administered by the independent Review Committee, per Article 37 of the FIFA Statutes. Ms Samoura will assume the role of FIFA Secretary General before mid-June.

The FIFA eligibility check does not check for stupidity.

 

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FIFA’s World Cup of Fraud

March 18, 2016

Infographic reblogged from

http://www.sportsmanagementdegreehub.com/fifa/

 

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As expected, Blatter follows Valcke and cancels Canada trip for fear of arrest

July 1, 2015

On June 2nd the FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valcke, cancelled his trip to Canada for the opening of the Women’s World Cup and I observed then,

The FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valcke, was due to travel to Canada to participate in the opening of the Women’s World Cup on June 6th. But yesterday there were reports that he had been named in one of the FBI’s indictments as the “high ranking FIFA official who had transferred monies to Jack Warner. He was not named as a defendant, but nevertheless he cancelled his trip to Canada “because he had important work to do in Zurich”. …..

Sepp Blatter has just resigned from the FIFA presidency. …….  If it turns out that he does not go to Canada for the final of the Women’s World Cup, then I would believe that he has resigned now because the FBI has found some evidence tying him to the shady deals. The reports tonight are that the FBI may well have provided the final straw.

And the news today is that Sepp Blatter has cancelled his trip to Canada to attend the final of the Women’s World Cup for “personal reasons”.

BBC: Fifa president Sepp Blatter will not travel to Canada for the final of the Women’s World Cup on Sunday for “personal reasons”. The 79-year-old Swiss had planned to attend the match in Vancouver, despite Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke pulling out of the opening ceremony.

……. Blatter’s lawyer, Richard Cullen, said Fifa senior vice-president Issa Hayatou would attend the match instead.

Well, I suppose the risk of being arrested is about as “personal” as it is possible to be.

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Documents confirm that FIFA sent $10 million from South Africa to Jack Warner

June 7, 2015

Even though South Africa tried to hide their payment, it seems irrefutable that the South African government arranged matters such that FIFA’s accounts grew by $10 million as they were awarded the 2010 World Cup. Earlier revelations showed that the South African government (and apparently approved by President Mbeki) saw to it that the National Lottery payed the government $10 million less than they should have and payed it instead to the South African Football Association. They in turn payed the $10 million to the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee who then received $10 million less from what was due from FIFA, thus effectively completing a transfer of $10 million. A payment which was eventually debited from the government’s account and eventually credited to FIFA.

From South Africa to jack Warner via FIFA

Now the BCC reports that the payments of the $10 million from FIFA to accounts personally controlled by Jack Warner have also been confirmed. How Jack Warner delivered the votes he may have committed to South Africa is not clear.

A BBC investigation has seen evidence that details what happened to the $10m sent from Fifa to accounts controlled by former vice-president Jack Warner.

The money, sent on behalf of South Africa, was meant to be used for its Caribbean diaspora legacy programme. But documents suggest Mr Warner used the payment for cash withdrawals, personal loans and to launder money. The papers seen by the BBC detail three wire transfers by Fifa.

In the three transactions – on 4 January, 1 February and 10 March 2008 – funds totalling $10m (£6.5m) from Fifa accounts were received into Concacaf accounts controlled by Jack Warner.

…… The documents reveal how the money was spent and moved around.

JTA Supermarkets, a large chain in Trinidad, received $4,860,000 from the accounts. The money was paid in instalments from January 2008 to March 2009. The largest payment was $1,350,000 paid in February 2008. US prosecutors say the money was mostly paid back to Mr Warner in local currency. ……. The documents also show $360,000 of the Fifa money was withdrawn by people connected to Mr Warner. …… Nearly $1.6m was used to pay the former Fifa vice-president’s credit cards and personal loans. The documents show the largest personal loan Mr Warner provided for himself was $410,000. The largest credit card payment was $87,000.

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The South Africa – FIFA- Warner payment web

June 5, 2015

With Danny Jordaan’s letter and the one from Oliphant it is almost certain that the award of the 2010 World Cup involved the purchase of some votes. There is no other reasonable explanation. It is difficult to see why such a convoluted trail would be necessary if the South African government just wanted to provide $10 million to help the African diaspora in the Caribbean.

Certainly it seems that the government of South Africa made some commitment to provide $10 million to be under the direct control of Jack Warner. Then, by a very tortuous route the money was provided. The main ” achievement” of the convoluted path used was that no direct payments needed to be made by the South African government. Instead they “paid” by receiving $10 million less than they should have received from the National Lotteries Board. The Lotteries Board provided R88 million over 3 years (amounting to $10 million at the then exchange rates) to the South African Football Association (SAFA). SAFA provided $10 million to the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC). LOC then “paid” this money to FIFA by receiving $10 million less than they should have from FIFA for holding the 2010 World Cup. They received $413 million instead of the budgeted $423 million. FIFA then paid $10 million to CONCACAF who in turn put it into the Diaspora Legacy Program which was personally administered by Jack Warner.

Where the money went to after that is not certain.

From the two letters and as shown in the Mail & Guardian article, the South African web looks like this:

From S Africa to Warner via FIFA

From S Africa to Warner via FIFA

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FIFA Gen, Secy. cancels trip to Canada (for fear of arrest?). Will Blatter also cancel?

June 2, 2015

UPDATE!

Sepp Blatter has just resigned from the FIFA presidency. The next president will be chosen at a special congress to be held between December 2015 and March 2016. He continues till then. 

If it turns out that he does not go to Canada for the final of the Women’s World Cup, then I would believe that he has resigned now because the FBI has found some evidence tying him to the shady deals. The reports tonight are that the FBI may well have provided the final straw.

 

The FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valcke, was due to travel to Canada to participate in the opening of the Women’s World Cup on June 6th. But yesterday there were reports that he had been named in one of the FBI’s indictments as the “high ranking FIFA official who had transferred monies to Jack Warner. He was not named as a defendant, but nevertheless he cancelled his trip to Canada “because he had important work to do in Zurich”.

The Guardian: Jérôme Valcke, Fifa’s secretary general, emerged in reports as the person described in an indictment filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, as a “high-ranking Fifa official” who in 2008 transferred the sum to another Fifa official, Jack Warner.

Valcke is not named as a defendant and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He was not immediately available for comment. Valcke and Blatter are the top two officials within Fifa.

A spokeswoman for Fifa said the $10m in bank transactions were authorised by the then-chairman of Fifa’s finance committee. That was Julio Grondona, who died in 2014.

BBC: Fifa president Sepp Blatter still intends to travel to Canada for the final of the Women’s World Cup this month despite the crisis engulfing world football’s governing body.

General secretary Jerome Valcke announced on Monday that he will not be making the trip. He was due to attend the opening of the tournament, which begins on 6 June. “It is important that he attends to matters at Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich,” read a statement.

Presumably Jérôme Valcke is concerned that the history of cooperation between the FBI and the RCMP under the US/Canada extradition arrangements is too much of a risk. If the FBI have a warrant out and have passed it onto the RCMP then they would have no choice but to arrest Valcke as soon as he showed up. He could not be transferred to the US without extradition proceedings. I understand the warrant itself could be taken out under some grounds for suspicion even if the FBI only wanted to talk to him.

Now the Women’s World Cup final is due on 5th July and I would not be at all surprised if Sepp Blatter’s lawyers do not permit him to travel to Canada. I am quite sure that the FBI would now like to question him and attending the final, I suspect, will be too much of a risk.

I can imagine the discussions between Blatter’s lawyers and his PR advisors as to when they should announce that he will not be attending the Women’s World Cup Final. My guess is that he will only cancel publicly with less than a week’s notice – but the decision to cancel has probably already been made.

UPDATE: New York Times:

Bribery Inquiry Drawing Closer to FIFA’s President, Sepp Blatter

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FIFA blattered, bothered and bewildered

May 29, 2015

to blatter, v, to maintain power by institutionalised corruption

So Blatter is going to be reelected.

FIFA’s wild again
Beguiled again
Simpering, whimpering children again
Blattered, bothered and bewildered, are they

Couldn’t play fair
And wouldn’t play fair
Could only cheat where they shouldn’t cheat
Blattered, bothered and bewildered, are they

with apologies to Lorenz Hart

I heard some football federation representatives describe on radio that they supported Blatter because their federations received so much “honest” money from FIFA!!

Sounded like the federations of most African and Asian nations had been “institutionally bribed” to continue with the status quo.

Hail Blatter.

Emperor Blatter and his Praetorian Guards

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Deeply corrupt Asian Football Confederation backs Blatter as FIFA sponsors are silent

May 28, 2015

Qatar has the World Cup in 2022 partly because the former President of the Asian Football Confederation (and Vice President of FIFA) orchestrated the efforts to make it so. The AFC is entirely in the hands of oil money and is perhaps the most opaque of all the World’s football federations. That the corrupt football federations around the world now support Blatter is only to be expected.

FIFA sponsors

But why are the FIFA sponsors so silent? Adidas, Coca Cola, Gazprom, Hyundai/Kia, Visa, Budweiser and McDonalds. Sony had the sense to withdraw in 2014. FIFA received some $1.6 billion from these sponsors in 2014. That they don’t know about FIFA’s practices is virtually impossible. That they are directly complicit in these practices may not be so clear but some of their money is certainly flowing into some administrators’ pockets.

Yesterday the AFC put out a statement supporting Sepp Blatter for President of FIFA and resisting any suggestion that the Presidential election scheduled for Friday should be postponed.

The Asian Football Confederation expresses its disappointment and sadness at Wednesday’s events in Zurich whilst opposing any delay in the FIFA Presidential elections to take place on Friday May 29 in Zurich.

The AFC is against any form of corruption in football …….. blah …… blah ……. whilst recognising that there is still much work to do.

Furthermore, the AFC reiterates its decision taken at the AFC Congress in Sao Paulo in 2014, endorsed at subsequent Congresses in Melbourne and Manama in 2015, to support FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

But the AFC is itself a hotbed of corruption and so perhaps their support of Sepp Blatter and the status quo is only to be expected. The former President of the AFC is heavily implicated in improprieties with the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. He could not finally be protected by even his friends in FIFA and was removed from office in 2012.

HuffPo: Media reports of questionable payments by a company owned by banned former world soccer body FIFA vice president and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed Bin Hammam to another disgraced former FIFA executive committee member, Jack Warner, raise renewed questions about Qatar’s controversial winning of the right to host the 2022 World Cup as well the integrity of FIFA and the AFC’s efforts to root out corruption.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the Doha-based Kemco Group wholly owned by Mr. Bin Hammam, a Qatari national who was banned by FIFA in 2012 because of “conflicts of interest” during his AFC presidency and FIFA vice presidency, had paid some $2 million to former FIFA vice president Jack Warner and others related to him shortly after Qatar was awarded the World Cup.

Three weeks ago the President of the AFC, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, who is a Vice President of FIFA was re-elected in Bahrain amid corruption allegations. Sepp Blatter spoke in Bahrain but his opponents for the FIFA presidency were not allowed to speak.

Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has been elected president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for a second term and vice president of world soccer body FIFA amid unanswered questions about the AFC’s handling of corruption investigations and his apparent failure to enforce good governance in his own organization as well as among its members.

In an indication of the AFC’s apparent weak adherence to standards of propriety, the group decided to move the congress at which Sheikh Salman was re-elected from Kuala Lumpur to Bahrain, the candidate’s home country, even before it became clear that he would not be challenged in the election. …… 

The AFC’s non-transparent, manipulative politics were on display at the Bahrain congress, reaffirming former AFC general secretary Peter Velappan’s assessment in 2011 that “there is no democracy in AFC.” Sheikh Salman prevented Korean football association president Chong Mong-gyu from expressing criticism of gerrymandering of elections for Asian representatives in FIFA’s executive committee that ensured that Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, one of the most powerful figures in international sports, won the seat that could position him for a candidacy for president of the world soccer body in 2019. Sheikh Salman argued that such criticism would assault the AFC’s integrity and respect.

Similarly, FIFA president Sepp Blatter was allowed to address the congress as well as a gala dinner but his challengers in next month’s FIFA presidential elections were not.

And just 2 weeks ago the Secretary General of the AFC was suspended for allegations that he tried to hide evidence about the former President’s corruption:

ESPN: The Asian Football Confederation says that deputy general secretary Windsor John has replaced suspended general secretary Alex Soosay while the governing body investigates corruption allegations.

Soosay is accused of asking another official to hide documents during a review of AFC practices under disgraced former president Mohamed bin Hammam three years ago.

The claims were made last week by a Malaysian newspaper, the Malay Mail.

“Asian Football Confederation General Secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay was today suspended by the AFC following media allegations which have recently surfaced concerning a case in 2012,” said a statement released on Wednesday.

“A video statement conducted as part of a FIFA investigation was passed to media recently and the AFC has now been able to verify its authenticity.”

The Malay Mail reported that the video showed a conversation between AFC financial director Bryan Kuan Wee Hoong and FIFA investigator Michael John Pride in which Kuan refers to a discussion he had with Soosay in 2012.

When will the sponsors wake up? In this morass, silence is acquiescence.

 

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Football gang-raped by its officials, but Blatter still won’t go

May 27, 2015

There are a lot of headlines, but is anybody really surprised?

A dozen corrupt schemes have been found by the US justice authorities, including the award of the 2010 World Cup.. But that is only those schemes which have a clear US connection. What about all the others? There is absolutely no probability that the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were not also awarded according to the existing practices. That Qatar have bought their World Cup is an open secret. That money has changed hands to reschedule the championship to the winter is not so surprising either. The Qatar World Cup will have the highest number of deaths per goal than any previous championship. That the sponsorships and TV rights will generate more money than any previous games is also certain. Every sponsor has paid millions in kick-backs or in bribes to get the exposure that they have wanted. There is probably not a single FIFA contract which has not also had a side-stream of monies channelled through the sticky fingers of the administrators.

But Sepp Blatter denies any involvement and the FIFA spokesman has the nerve to say that “this is good for football and for FIFA”. FIFA is quickly distancing itself and blaming the “rogues” who have abused their trust, but there is little credibility left in FIFA. So we shall probably see Blatter re-elected on Friday. Even if Blatter loses the election, the institutionalised practices will continue. Nothing will be done to withdraw the championships in 2018 and 2022 from Russia or from Qatar.

And the existing practices will continue. The gang-rape of football by its administrators will not end anytime soon.

Graphic

BBC graphic

And the abuse is not limited to administrators.

We heard also today that David Lagercrantz, the ghostwriter of the Zlatan Ibrahimovic autobiography, I am Zlatan , admitted that the book was just all a big lie. All the quotations were just made up by the ghost-writer. The whole book was just fiction, a novel – not an autobiography.

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No surprise – FIFA whitewashes itself and Qatar but their investigator dissents

November 13, 2014

UPDATE!!

It seems FIFA’s conclusions are not even shared by their own investigaor:

BBC: The findings of Fifa’s inquiry into allegations of corruption during bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups have been questioned – by the man who conducted the two-year investigation into the claims.

In an unexpected twist, lawyer Michael Garcia says the report “contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions”.

 

(more…)

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