By FRANCO PANIZO
And then there were 22.
FIFA suspended two of the 24 executive committee members from voting on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts on Tuesday after finishing their corruption investigation.
Nigeria's Amos Adamu was suspended from all soccer activity for three years after admitting to taking bribes from undercover reporters who acted as lobbyisted trying to buy votes. Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, the president of the Oceania confederation, was banned for one year as he was filmed in the undercover sting. Both can appeal their bans.
FIFA also cleared the Qatar and Spain-Portugal bids from alleged vote-trading on Thursday.
Voting for the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup takes place on Dec. 2.
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What do you think of the suspensions handed out by FIFA? How do you feel about the Gerrard injury? Which club do you see Subotic winding up with next? Do you see Zaragoza avoiding relegation now that Aguirre is coach?
Share your thoughts below.
I think Qatar will get the 2022 World Cup. Why? First, the president of the AFC is from Qatar, is very influential and controls a lot of votes. Blatter needs his votes to get re-elected. Second, Chuck Blazer became head of FIFA’s committee for radio and television. Pope Benedict knows more about being a practicing atheist than Blazer knows about radio and TV. But I’m guessing that Jack Warner KNOWS the U.S. won’t get 2022, so he wants Blatter to throw a bone to CONCACAF to get our corrupt confederation’s support.
This is all very disgusting. I hope al-Qaeda blows up FIFA House w/Blatter and crooks inside.
The votes are “supposed” to be secret, so there can be no political advantage in voting for a Muslim country.
Thailand is majority Theravada Buddhist with a small Islamic minority concentrated in the southern provinces, where there’s a really nasty insurgency going on right now in Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala- people die every day in bombings, shoot outs, etc. My point being that I don’t think Thailand will vote for Qatar because out of Islamic sympathy. Maybe they’ll vote that way because of the same confederation, but in my experience there is not much love for the religion of peace amongst average Thai people. My wife is Thai and I spend a few months a year there.
A lot can happen in 12 years time, especially in parts of the world like Qatar.
I’m fascinated by their bid. It’s a self-sufficient “green” approach where they will literally cool down the city during the whole world cup.
I want it here of course but it’d be one heck of a spectacle there…
By federal support they mean our government has not come out in support both from a legislative and financial stand point. Our bid is purely commercial.
FIFA doesn’t like this because it takes everyone to pull it off, especially with a country the size of ours. Last go around in 1994, the government was completely behind the bid.
It does make me wonder why they’re even interested…I guess they just have too much money on their hands.
They’re not gong to bring in lots of tourist dollars. There isn’t much to see in Qatar, and probably even less to do in terms of night life. They might bring in all the best bands in the world and it’ll still be dullsville. Perhaps they’ll be able to sell-out by attracting visitors from other Middle Eastern nations, but there won’t be a lot of soccer tourists from outside the region. Certainly, there will be none of those caravans of English fans that have been ubiquitous at past World Cups.
Plus, they’ll be building and then tearing apart all these stadiums. They’re gong to squander a fortune. I’d rather see them spend to cure poverty and disease in Asia or Africa. Maybe they could build a resort community to take all the Islamic terrorist radical types off of the streets.
It just seems that they’re going to have this World Cup as a billionaire’s entertainment… Kinda like all the ego-building monuments Peter the Great had constructed.
Got it.
Qatar would be the worst world cup in world history. 130 degree heat. Not nearly enough hotel rooms. Only one international airport. Probably not enough restaurants. Definitely not enough bars. Sharia law. No beer. No thank you.
Oh, I just read where Brazil’s former grand pumba LULU has pledged his support to Qatar.
Okay, how come the FIFA reports say that the US has low federal support for the bid?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9199020.stm
Is the fact that we’re the only country sending someone other then our supreme leader to give the speech going to hurt us? I would have thought Clinton would be a safer popularity bet overseas then Obama anyway.
By “federal support” do they really mean “willing to spend cash to line Fifa’s pocket?
read the book “Foul!: The Secret World of FIFA” and you’ll give them a gold medal I promise. Blatter tried slapping the publisher with an injuction because of what he thought was going to be in the book. Great read and great insight into this corrupt organization.
They were both on the executive committee. I left them off the list above because they are now suspended/banned.
Two other thoughts…
Brazil just did the game in Qatar, I wonder if they were paid a little more then Argentina since they have a vote?
Russia could have worked out a swap deal with South Korea or Australia.
OH, also for some reason I thought Thailand was Indonesia so I guess we can wipe out my thinking about them.
Your answer confuses me. Not saying you’re wrong about this — and I haven’t looked it up — but if it’s only the Executive Cmte. that votes, then what’s the deal with the Nigerian and the Tahitian supposedly taking bribes to fix their votes…votes you say they don’t even have?
So here’s my thinking on the votes in the bag.
Host—- countries voting for them
Australia– Egypt (Anyone catch the Australia friendly in Egypt yesterday),
Japan– Japan, Belgium (possible vote trade and all other partners except South Korea are taken)
Qatar– Qatar, Spain (vote trade),
South Korea– South Korea,
US–USA, England (vote trade), Guatemala (makes qualifying easier?), Trinidad and Tobago (surely Jack Warner wants this, right?)
Unknown:
Brazil
Turkey (played US in spring?)
Paraquay
Thailand (tried to bid but didn’t get own gov’t support–geography ties to Australia, Muslim like Qatar?)
Cyprus
Ivory Coast
Germany
Russia
Cameroon
France
France (Gen Sec)
Switz (Blatter)
Any imput gladly accepted
Okay, so the same newspaper that broke the story that got the two guys banned had footage of Spain/Port talking with Qatar about vote trading and claiming that they each have 7 votes. That sounds plausible and would mean Qatar are going to survive the first couple cuts and be a real threat.
(more breakdown to come)
Capello could be in trouble if he broke a playing time contract.
Yes, but they only occupy the bronze and silver medal platforms in the corrupt sporting organizations olympics. The gold medal winner….? The IOC of course!
I just looked up my own question. It is only the Executive Committee, 24 members (now 22).
Very interesting…
I now have reason to believe Qatar will NOT win the 2022 bid. Thier executive Committee member (named Hammam) is the guy who tried to limit the office of Fifa President to two terms, thus pissing off Blatter and his loyal posse. I’m willing to bet Blatter is the revenge type of guy.
The nationalities:
Belgium, Brazil, Qatar, Turkey, USA, Paraquay, Thailand, Japan, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Germany, Guatemala, Egypt Russia, Cameroon, South Korea, Trinadad and Tobego, Spain, France, England, a second guy from France (the general secretary) and Switzerland (Blatter).
Why aren’t they banned for good? It’s a disgrace.
My brother-in-law a college football fan and somewhat new to the soccer world complained how the NCAA was corrupt and money-grubbing. No pun intended but I informed him how “amateurish” the NCAA looks next to FIFA.
NCAA…amateur thieves.
FIFA….professional, organized crime thieves.
“So what are the nationalities of those who are voting? ”
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I’d guess pretty much all of them. All FIFA members.
So what are the nationalities of those who are voting?
At least all the Asian votes are going to be split heavily amongst our competition.
agreed
No matter who gets the world cup, there is no question the organization is corrupt to its core.
3 years and 1 year?! That is it? FIFA doesn’t even make an attempt to look like it isn’t corrupt.
If FIFA awards the 2022 World Cup to Qatar over the United States, there will be no question that the organization is corrupt to it’s core.