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Mid-Day Ticker: ‘Qatargate’ slams FIFA with corruption allegations, FA charges Ferguson, and more

By MICHAEL KLINE

As if Sepp Blatter and FIFA did not already have enough yolk on their faces regarding the 2022 World Cup bidding process.

France Football magazine, in a 16-page report, has accused FIFA of awarding Qatar the 2022 World Cup on grounds of corruption. In the report titled ‘Qatargate’, Michel Platini was said to have been present at a secret meeting in the French presidential palace in Paris with Qatari prince Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani and the previous owners of Paris Saint-Germain.

FF magazine claims that Platini pledged his vote to Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid in exchange for a Qatari buy-out of PSG, along with the establishment of a new television sports channel.

Platini has since responded to the accusation, “to believe that my choice went to Qatar 2022 in exchange for deals between the French state and Qatar is just pure speculation.” He also added, “I don’t rule out taking anyone to court who questions my integrity in this vote.”

Qatar Sports Investment completed the buy-out of Paris Saint-Germain late last year.

In addition to the accusations made against Platini, France Football magazine quoted an “internal email” from FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke which states Qatar “bought the 2022 World Cup.” Valcke has cited a “light-hearted” misunderstanding in the email.

Qatar beat out the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia for the World Cup 2022 bid.

Here are some other stories to round out your Tuesday afternoon:

SIR ALEX FERGUSON CHARGED BY FA

The English Football Association has charged Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson over his post-match comments following the Tottenham match on January 20.

In Ferguson’s comments, he alluded to the referee being motivated by bias, a violation of FA rule E3. The legendary Manchester United manager said in reference to a Wayne Rooney penalty kick shout, “There was no way the linesman was going to give that – he gave them everything.”

Ferguson went on to cite an incident against Chelsea in 2010 when Drogba scored the winner against Manchester United from an offside position: “With Chelsea a couple of years back, he gave onside to Didier Drogba and he was three yards offside.”

Ferguson has until Friday to respond to the charge.

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS ZAMBIA KNOCKED OUT OF ACON

Zambia have had their hopes of glory crushed after drawing 0-0 against Burkina Faso in a must-win match. Zambia were the first defending champion to fail to make it out of the group stages since Algeria in 1990.

Nigeria joined Burkina Faso in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Ethiopia.

Quarter-final action will kickoff on Saturday, February 2nd.

RODGERS ISSUES WARNING TO LIVERPOOL YOUNGSTERS

Following Liverpool’s poor result against Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup, Brendan Rodgers has questioned the physicality and drive of Liverpool’s youngsters.

With regards to the young players on the squad, Rodgers said “They have come in and done well but we don’t have world-class young players, I must be clear on that.” When discussing the mentality of some of the players, Rodgers stated “There are question marks and I don’t think that’s just over this period.”

Rodgers went on to criticize Liverpool’s defensive efforts against Oldham, even going as far as claiming Martin Skrtel and Sebastian Coates made Matt Smith, who netted for the first time at home in two years, “look like Didier Drogba.”

Liverpool’s FA Cup dreams were dashed when League One side Oldham Athletic knocked them out of contention on Sunday. The Merseyside club will attempt to rebound from the tough loss with a positive result against Arsenal tomorrow.

QUICK KICKS

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes had his Chevrolet Captiva Estate stolen Monday morning after the player left the engine running to defrost the windshield.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has ruled out the transfer of David Villa from Barcelona to Arsenal.

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What are your thoughts on ‘Qatargate’? Will Rodgers’ critiques of his players affect the locker room mentality? How will Ferguson respond to the FA charges?

Share your thoughts below.

 

Comments

  1. This man and organization are disgusting.

    I’m glad I fell in love with the game, before I became aware of how corrupt the game is at the highest level.

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  2. “I don’t rule out taking anyone to court who questions my integrity in this vote.”

    -He probably means FIFA court, the only place fifa officials can’t get in trouble.

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  3. GREAT!
    I hope they win this and have all those pigs taken to court and the WCup removed and put in any of the other countries who deserved it

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  4. What a joke, the biggest tourney in the world will take place in the middle of nowhere.Because of blatant corruption.I have no idea when all this will change,when will enough be enough.

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  5. This reminds me of the quote from the Untouchables “…everybody knows where the booze is. The problem isn’t finding it, the problem is who wants to cross Capone.”

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  6. Maybe it’s just a translation thing, but Platini didn’t clearly deny anything. He’s quoted as saying that any allegations are just speculation….possibly meaning he’s confident they have no proof. It could mean he’s saying that the allegations are false, but that’s not exactly what he said, if the quote and translation are accurate.

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  7. Well if they make it a Winter World Cup, would love to see the look on Blatter’s face when European Leagues are forced to adopt the Spring-Fall calendar. Just kidding, hopefully Blatter will be dead and disgraced.

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  8. I maintain, as I have since they awarded it, that the next Generalissimo of the FIFA-junta, barring Platini, will have no monetary connection to the WC, and will pull the plug and give it to Australia or the US. (I’d rather it go to AUS, but there you go)

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  9. forget the obvious corruption. if blatter truly wants to use the WC to help spread the game (as he claims), the most logical place would have been the US in 2022, considering his recent comments about how MLS is struggling. On the other hand, if Qatar wants to develop a solid domestic league, they can just drop some coin, the same way to build skycrapers in the middle of nowhere

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      • Well, that’s hardly a given, though I’m sure Oz could have put on a good show.

        The WC would make the most money in the US. Period.

        That said, Australia would have less terrain to cover since all their cities (save Perth) are concentrated on the boomerang coast. I would also question the availability of stadia in diverse locations. I’m sure Queensland and NSW have some suitable rugby stadiums, but cricket pitches (where a lot of AFL is played) are too big (stands too far), their SSS’s are too small, and the biggest ones would be concentrated in the major 3 cities. The WC requires like 8 major cities, typically.

  10. …Didn’t everyone know that WC 2022 was bought? What was with the whole banning of the Qatar soccer guy, Chuck Blazer being the “whistle blower”, and Jack Warner being removed from FIFA VP post? Or did I just dream of that?

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  11. Also, SAF has no excuse in that game. No matter the situation, if MANU doesn’t win he finds something to complain about. God he’s such a cry baby. Tottenham should have won that game, they absolutley bossed the game and ran roughshod over MANU’s midfield.

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  12. Blatter shouldn’t even defend himself at this point. He should just say, “Everyone knows it was bought, do something about it.” It’s not going to make any difference.

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  13. Platini: “I don’t rule out taking anyone to court who questions my integrity in this vote.”

    We should create an SBI legal fund to investigate Platini, Blatter and all of FIFA. Nothing air dirty laundry like a good lawsuit.

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  14. It is so disheartening that this type of blatant corruption is allowed to happen. If the World Cup were to happen in the U.S. in 2022 it would have incredibly helped out the state of the sport in the United States. The 1994 World Cup led to the creation of MLS and the league has come so far in the 18 years since then. Imagine what the world cup in the USA in 2022 would have been for our sport and country!

    The 1994 World Cup is the MOST successful ever in terms of attendance. In Qatar, a game against S. Korea and Costa Rica for example may have almost no attendance, but it’s almost guaranteed to be sold out in the U.S. because we have people with ancestry spanning the entire globe.

    We have the infrastructure, the burgeoning young league, the cultural acceptance, the stadiums, the weather….How in the hell did Qatar beat us out other than by means of blatant corruption?!

    I still have a glimmer of hope that this will be investigated further and the world cup can still happen in the US in 2022. Dramatic action against FIFA is long overdue.

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    • Not saying it happened, but there was a lot of controversy over the award of the 1994 WC to the US particularly in European circles. I wonder how much money the US may have allegedly paid to FIFA for the right to host?

      Before people start saying the US would never do such a thing, please recall that the IOC only started to clean up its act after the discovery of payments leading up to the award of the winter olympics to Salt Lake City.

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    • I know this is a well intentioned post, but Qatar had every right to contend for the World Cup had they done so in a fair manner. You can’t simply say the US league and economy deserve a boost any more than the Qatari ones do. From an idealistic standpoint anyway, it shouldn’t be about how the WC can make the most money. That mentality among FIFA bigwigs is how it ended up in Qatar in the first place. The added bonus of “bringing a WC to the Middle East” could have (and might still) work out well. To suggest that people won’t travel to Qatar is a bit shortsighted as well. The Middle East is pretty much in the “middle” of the World from a non-USA-centric perspective (that is, the perspective of most of the world’s population.

      That said, the WC should have gone to another nation, and I sure as heck would have preferred the USA.

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    • I actually thought that 2022 should have gone to the Aussies, and if not them then certainly the USA. In the 2000 Sydney games, Australia had one of the most successful Olympics ever; along with the fact that it has a young domestic league that could use a boost, a competitive national team that has qualified for the World Cup finals before, has never had the opportunity to be the focus of the football world, and is just about as perfect of a destination for travelers as a place could possibly be, it was basically the perfect candidate! (with the USA bid being an extremely compelling candidate behind it). The whole thing still boggles my mind…

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  15. My thoughts on Qatargate….unsurprised. It doesn’t matter though, they could lay 100 pages of bulletproof evidence in front of FIFA and the WC would still be located in Qatar and they would just lay the blame at the foot of some patsy.

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    • this. unless interpol or some other outside agency gets involved, nothing will change fifa. they’re corrupted top to bottom.

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    • There was a time when the IOC was considered the most corrupt sporting organization in the world, but FIFA has worked very hard to change that.

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