By RYAN TOLMICH
As FIFA descends into more turmoil, Russia and Qatar could be the next parties to feel the aftereffects of the governmental current investigations.
FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee chairman Domenico Scala says that the two nations could be stripped of their World Cup hosting duties should any allegations of corruption prove true. Both bids are currently under investigation from Swiss authorities.
“If evidence should emerge that the awards to Qatar and Russia only came about thanks to bought votes, then the awards could be invalidated,” Scala said. “This evidence has not yet been brought forth.”
Here are some more news and notes to kick off your Monday morning:
EMAIL LINKS BLATTER TO $10 MILLION PAYMENT
After stepping down as FIFA president last week, Sepp Blatter is being linked to a hefty payment from the South African government.
A 2007 email from FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to the South African government asks when the $10 million will be transferred, according to a report from South Africa’s Sunday Times. The email goes on to say that the $10 million payment was “based on discussions between FIFA and the South African government, and also between our President [Blatter] and President Thabo Mbeki.”
The money, which equals the amount paid to former FIFA official Jack Warner, was stated to not be a bribe and was meant to further develop the sport in the Caribbean, according to the South African government.
TOP-RANKED GERMANY KICKOFF WOMEN’S WORLD CUP WITH EMPHATIC WIN
One of the best teams in the women’s game kicked off the Women’s World Cup with a double-digit victory.
The top-ranked Germans kick-started their WWC campaign with an emphatic 10-0 victory over the Ivory Coast. Celia Sasic led the way by scoring the fastest hat-trick in WWC history in just 31 minutes, while Anja Mittag also contributed a trio of goals.
In Sunday’s other action, Norway put together a dominant performance as well, topping Thailand, 4-0.
QUICK KICKS
Spanish club Elche has been relegated from La Liga due to unpaid tax debts. (REPORT)
Former Arsenal defender Sol Campbell will run for the position on mayor of London. (REPORT)
Former baseball star Mike Piazza is interested in purchasing Italian club Parma. (REPORT)
FIFA’s recently released film United Passions collected just $607 in its first two days of release in the United States. (REPORT)
What do you make of the World Cup news? What do you expect from Blatter going forward? Who do you see rivaling Germany at the WWC?
Share your thoughts below.
Does anyone feel like it’s only a matter of time before US Soccer gets implicated in all this?
1.) We got a World Cup without a functioning league
2.) We’ve been exempt from Pro/Rel
3.) The MLS single-entity looks a lot like third party ownership
Perhaps it’s all coincidence, but with men like Blazer pulling the levers, bribery isn’t out of the question
I would absolutely assume that a certain amount of palm greasing has been required to participate on any kind of equal footing in World Soccer. I would also see it no less….. actually it is MORE important to me that my home country be exposed, held accountable and do everything it can to clean up itself and the sport.
1. We were given the world cup on the condition we would set up a function league because FIFA wanted the biggest economy in the world to have some interest in soccer. I’d say that has worked out pretty well.
2. You don’t need a special FIFA exemption for pro/rel. I’m in favor of pro/rel but we are allowed to set up our league however we want.
3. MLS single-entity was set up to avoid the league going bust like NASL did. The fact we can now question if it’s still necessary demonstrates how successful it’s been.
I’m not saying US Soccer is pure as can be but those aren’t convincing reasons why it’s corrupt.
Agreed.
These points in isolation prove nothing.
But when I see American exemptions and Chuck Blazer, I do wonder.
He’s a one of a kind hustler
In no way am I saying that US Soccer is out and out corrupt.I would suspect they are much cleaner than most. I’d also say that my personal standard for my country is higher than being cleaner than most. I’m not completely naive regarding the nature of the world, but… by complicity, knowingly participating in an innately thoroughly corrupt organization, you are at the very least enabling it and more than likely participating. Whatever the motivation was to finally step in-I am happy and proud that the US did- even at the risk of likely implicating some of it’s own.
Found one of Teddy’s blind followers.
FIFA and any of the leaders at that time of the vote for the US World Cup 94 did so because of the HUGE market the US is for sport. The 1984 Games in LA essentially saved future Olympiads, After the financial debacle in Montreal in 1976 and the boycott of Moscow in 80. There were essentially no bidder for the 84 Games. In stepped LA and virtually ignored all the demands of the IOC for “extra’s” and ran an :”austere” Games. But it generated a huge amount of money for the IOC the LAOOC, and many sports federations. This was not lost on FIFA, who wanted to bring in the US conglomerates for all the $$$ they had. The founding of the MLS was demanded by FIFA but was really an afterthought. They wanted the dough!!!
You might say CONMEBOL sought the same thing by bringing the COPA here in 2016, the $$, fortunately the FBI knew this and ensnared many of the corrupt officials
I think now,t FIFA officials rue the day they brought soccer into the mainstream to the USA, for they also brought in a government keen on oversight and had the means, through its fights with the wars on drugs and terrorism, had the legal tools to deal with i a corrupt FIFA
I’d like people’s opinion on something. Russia has a fearsome reputation for hooliganism. If I go to the World Cup in 2018 in Russia and am walking down the street in my US jersey, do you think I have anything to worry about? The politics between our two countries these days is ugly and Russians are constantly being told in their very Pro-Putin press how evil the US is. It’s really given me pause.
“If I go to the World Cup in 2018 in Russia and am walking down the street in my US jersey, do you think I have anything to worry about?”
You should be more worried to do that in LA and Chicago than in any big Russian city.
“The politics between our two countries these days is ugly and Russians are constantly being told in their very Pro-Putin press how evil the US is.”
The same could be said the other way around.
I’ve lived in Russia and I don’t think you would be randomly targeted for wearing a U.S. jersey. It’s actually fashionable among younger Russians to wear the American or British flag, although maybe becoming less so. My advice to anyone visiting Russia is always: Don’t. drink. too. much. and use common sense. You won’t be the only World Cup fan in the city and Russians will be excited about the event. Russian authorities are very aware of the hooliganism and there is a massive police presence at every big match (I went to a Spartak – Barcelona UCL match and was patted down 7 times, including the normal metal detector, before I got to my seat) so even if the U.S. would play Russia I think people will be safe at the venue.
Anytime you see a team score more than 5 goals in a match, further review of the refs and the game are warranted. I smell match fixing in the Womens World Cup.
I hesitate to ask the question, because in most threads it amounts to a throw-away insult, but did you actually see the match yesterday? The only thing that would have justified an investigation of the match would have been Germany’s *not* scoring at least five goals. They were that much better than their opponents, which frankly had no business being on the field. The expansion from 16 to 24 teams is going to lead to results like this one. In terms of FIFA rankings, this was #1 versus #67 — the equivalent on the men’s side of Germany versus Trinidad & Tobago (and probably worse, given the bigger spread in the women’s game between the elite teams and everyone else).
Russia’s bid was probably a very common example of bribery to get the cup. In other words, I’m sure they would find similar instances of bribery with USA ’94, France ’98, etc.
Qatar’s bid, however, was so outside the realm of logic (a country the size of Connecticut that doesn’t serve alcohol) and possibility (temps in the upwards of 120 degrees and cough-floating-cough air conditioners) that, for the sake of the matches themselves, it is a horrible idea.
In the end, I say keep Russia 2018 (politics aside) and re-bid on 2022. I am afraid, however, that a re-vote on 2022 would yield the same results – just as the last FIFA elections resulted in another term for Blatter because….corruption.
Maybe. They’re talking about splitting the World Cup organization off from FIFA, and running it as a corporation. How votes within the corporation would be apportioned would then be subject to some sort of formula that has yet to be determined but would be a function of past history with the game, population, and economic investment…who knows how that will go, but in any such formula the US would come away with a lot more than just 1 vote out of 209.
I don’t think there’s any point in re-voting the World Cups now until FIFA has been reformed. Once that happens…who knows what’s going to go down?
Russia, as pointed out, probably has a much better chance of holding onto 2018. Qatar and 2022 are toast. Nobody wants it there and their bid was dirty as sin…the question was always how, not if, they were going to lose that bid.
I haven’t hear that idea – not bad. Hopefully the formula still gives smaller nations a chance to host and doesn’t turn it into a rotation of 10-15 “superpowers.”
actually it should be that-“superpowers” have the infrastructure to support travel plans and arenas and hotels-no need to sacrifice thousands of workers and billions of dollars on dozens of useless buildings. At least go back to the continental “rotation” system that Blatter insisted on using right before it was CONCACAF’s turn and all of the sudden it wasn’t as the system changed…
A pretty basic rotation system, double-weighting developed world until the rest catch up on basis, measurable GDP, health and human rights indices with Northern Europe, Asia/Oceania, Lat Am, Southern Europe, Mid East/Africa, North Am with no hosts in the same region in back to back cups would cut down on ability to corrupt on a Qatar like scale and push the decisions to the regional level.
A string of Germany, Japan/Korea. Brazil, Italy, S Africa, USA looks a lot better than the current Brazil, Russia, Qatar, ISIS
I have been wondering how the FIFA “Bud Rule” from Brazil was qoing to play in Qatar…
I’m happy to see that Eibar will stay in La Liga. I enjoyed watching their home games this season – beautiful setting for their stadium overlooking their town.
Regardless of anyone’s motives, to punish Qatar for their human rights abuses (a worthy reason, no doubt), or to just move the World Cup to some other country (USA, England, Australia), I hope they will strip Qatar just because of the unnecessary turmoil involved in holding the World Cup in the winter. I think there are plenty of reasons to move it from Qatar.
and literally no good reason for it to remain there.
Interestingly, current Russian sports minister (and president of the Russian Football Union from 2005 to 2008) speaking to Russian media has basically confirmed that bribery was rampant. Of course, he doesn’t see anything wrong with it:
“The World Cup election system worked according to certain laws, rules, and regulations. You cannot apply today’s norms to the past. In 2006, it was normal; it wasn’t forbidden for a football federation of one country to pay for the development of football in another country, for receptions, dinners, gifts… It was normal, that’s how world sports operated.”
http://www.sports.ru/football/1030411315.html (if anyone here wants to see the original)
We sure are “Holier Than Thou” in the US of A.
The corrupt way they got the tournament not withstanding, Qatar should be stripped of hosting the WC based on human rights abuses alone. How can FIFA, sponsors, or the world watch the Qatar tournament wth a clear conscience is beyond me when the tournament is awash in blood.
Visa, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, etc all presently do business in Qatar. They do not care if Kafala is modern day slavery. The workers die with or without the World Cup stadiums being built, the sponsors didnt care before the WC was awarded to Qatar, why should they care after?
We should care, the world should care, but the problems existed well before the world cup bid, and these companies dont care about anything buy money, to think they are at all altruistic is hilarious.
Standing by and watching the human rights abuses and slave labor is cowardly and reprehensable. Knowingly promoting an event that will specifically initiate stadium and infrastructure projects that will up the ante in misery and blood-shed is another thing altogether. No less blood on the hands than the Qataris themselves. If there is any good that can come from this it is the light shone on this to the world through the shame of the supposed “developed world” being complicit and associated with, earning profit by it. How inconvenient the difficulty it presents in ignoring this any longer!
The most obvious evidence of wrongdoing in the 2022 vote is the fact that Qatar won in the first place. Without bribes, who would vote for Qatar over any of the other four countries that bid?
Seriously – this is the most clear-cut example of using the evidence of common sense.
“If evidence should emerge that the awards to Qatar and Russia only came about thanks to bought votes, then the awards could be invalidated,” Scala said. “This evidence has not yet been brought forth.”
evidence of Qatari brides can be accessed by anyone right now, this absolutely ludicrous, if it was a snake it would have bit FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee.
Given the infrastructural requirements to host a World cup, 2018 should probably remain in Russia, unless the corruption around it was just off the charts. If its manageable, from a legal perspective, then I say keep it in Russia, while giving that country’s federation a severe reprimand. On 2022, the only fair thing is to give it to Morocco, who we learned this weekend was cheated from hosting it in 2010. If Morocco now has a bad taste in their mouths, or is now in a different position and not so keen on the costs, offer an amenable situation where some games are allowed to played in southern Spain.
FIFA is so corrupt that there is no “just” remediation. I suspect power being what it is Russia will still host 2018, but money being so tightly tied to scandal Qatar will lose the 2022 WC.
With 7 years remaining plenty of other countries could make a credible bid, and if a smaller country can produce a credible bid it would win over the US, England, etc., especially given the one country-one-vote policy and the resentment of smaller countries regarding the larger countries’ power on the world stage and the perceived “witch hunt” carried out by the West.
While evidence of Qatar’s malfeasance is quite credible and, if the ongoing investigations bore results as expected,. a re-vote and awarding of the 2022 Cup may very well happen. Russia is not do clear. If the Russian did bribe, they most certainly used their own banks, which makes the investigation far more opaque. The Russian government is far less likely to cooperate (as well as the Qatar government) as with both these countries, the hosting of a World Cup is a source of national pride and in Putin’s case, supports his much wanted credibility as a world leader.
An herein lies the conundrum. There will be a tremendous push by the US Government, led by any Congressional leaders, to take away the WC from Russia. Part and parcel to this push is the behavior of Russia toward it’s neighbors and other parts of the world in the last few years. There are strict policy rules in FIFA that punish countries who interfere with sport in those countries NOC’s. FIFA has ejected or suspended more than a few soccer federations for being subservient to political aims.
However there are no policies of FIFA(at least what I know) on foreign political organizations who seek to push FIFA and it’s decisions, one way or another.
In short, Russia’s ability to Hold on to it’s WC may not be a matter of finding enough incriminating information to force a re-vote. it more likely that any information that could be thought as incriminating, may be enough for the US, through it’s investigatory powers being held over practically all existing FIFA representatives, to force a re-vote.
FIFA credibility is so damaged, and Russia’s credibility, through it’s recent military actions, are so egregious, that there are a lot of nations ho will seek to use the WC as a cudgel on Russia, not because of overwhelming evidentiary incrimination, but because of FIFA’s woes ,they can.
I hope so