rolling lol FIFA thread

I mean, it's perfectly fucking reasonable for the President of any organisation to not report serious corruption among two of his top guys on the basis of semantics.

Maybe if we all act outraged enough on this thread, Blatter will do the right thing.

After this glorious victory over his detractors, the least the world can do to honour the man is rename the sport (which would get rid of the American/Australian/Gaelic football/soccer confusion) as Blatterball.

That american journalist who tried to stand on a 'clean up fifa' ticket, but couldn't get any support - I bet he feels very silly tonight.

Bad weekend for Jack. Yesterday, a judge ordered the T&T football association to make an interim payment of £700k to the 2006 Soca Warriors team, with millions more expected to come. This is something of an advance on the £496 they each got from Warner for taking part in the World Cup four years ago. Still, when the PM is away on state business, it's reported that he's left in charge of the whole country.

The Blatter judgement is astonishing. Is it standard practice to ask the whiter-than-white President of an international organisation for advice on whether to illegally bribe various members of that organisation?

presumably (and i can be thick at times) this is all a blatter team smear against bin hammam? in other words none of this would have come out if there weren't an election.

I hardly think this is a time for cynicism

It's a bit like a microcosm of 21st century Russian politics with Blatter as Putin. They key to retaining power isn't necessarily to be corrupt, it's to ensure that everyone else is. As soon as someone, in this case bin Hammam, steps out of line, you can bring perfectly legitimate charges against them and make them stick. You ignore the equally valid allegations against your allies as long as they know to stay in line. Either the whole edifice collapses or Blatter goes on until he's dead.

you said it better than i could

lol fifa

lol indeed, but surely this is the end for fifa now? The only people who can deal with Blatter from here onwards are those who don't mind looking totally corrupt themselves. For any other body this would be fatal, and even fifa must find it a bit awkward eventually.

You'd like to think.

no this is just a cosmetic make-over for fifa. blatter gets back in, same old same old.

Not again! Blatter accused of rape by hotel maid

lol indeed, but surely this is the end for fifa now? The only people who can deal with Blatter from here onwards are those who don't mind looking totally corrupt themselves. For any other body this would be fatal, and even fifa must find it a bit awkward eventually.

― Ismael Klata, Sunday, May 29, 2011 11:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you'd like to think, right, but this whole thing is only now (like today) getting coverage in germany, some of it along the lines of beckenbauer: "He did a wonderful job," the former Germany captain told Radio 5 Live. "It's not easy. Fifa is like the United Nations - we have 208 members. It's not an easy to handle, but I think Blatter and his staff are doing a wonderful job."

also http://twitter.com/#!/RobHarrisUK/status/74833038332276736

Oh man. I know the bid etc get reported here totally differently to the rest of the world, but I'd assumed this'd be different. Come to think, all the questions yesterday *were* by the bbc, the guardian, the mail and so on. Still you'd expect them to take a bigger interest surely, they're paying for it after all.

The independent commission set up by the FA to investigate the bribery claims surrounding the World Cup vote has apparently exonerated Jack Warner and the three other representatives Lord Triesman accused of demanding payments or favours in return for backing England.

I'm still struggling to work out why they would have pre-warned Blatter that they were paying people to vote against him in the presidential election.

This does seem to be bigger news in the countries that lost out on the two forthcoming World Cups. I'm not sure how many people really know / care what FIFA does, other than arranging one big tournament every four years. Any pressure for reform would be more likely to come from UEFA rather than the public / press, perhaps.

Warner's just published an e-mail from the Gen Sec of FIFA (Valcke) in which he appears to accuse Qatar of buying the World Cup:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13592684.stm

"You don't have to believe me, you don't have to like me, nobody has to eat with me, drink with me or sleep with me but Jesus Christ, take the truth when you see it."

i guess that's the football tsunami warner was talking about

However, Bin Hammam responded by telling BBC Sport on Monday: "I don't know why Valcke has said that."

The Qatari added: "If I was paying money for Qatar you also have to ask the 13 people who voted for Qatar."

Valcke seems quite incompetent. lol @ his email to Warner including ";)".

Warner suggested the equivalent of bribes but in the end didn't receive any (that there is evidence of)? is this why Triesman's claims appear to have fallen down?

There's no evidence of anything aiui - they've created a system of £x million in expenditure by a handful of people, and no need for any of it to be accounted for. That's a scandal of its own quite apart from the current hubbub.

no short corners is saying Chuck Blazer's been fired. Warner re-asserting control in concacaf?

http://theoriginalwinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/concacaf_chuck_blazer.jpg

And so the attacks on the FA continue; this time it's Julio Grondona, the long-time head of the Argentina FA, throwing the punches: "It looks like England is always complaining so please I say will you leave the Fifa family alone!" he says to strong applause. "We always have attacks from England," he adds. "Their journalism is more busy lying than telling the truth."

That liveblog is some depressing reading.

a julio grondona primer:

According to a former employee of the Qatar bid team, at least one adviser recommended that the Qatar Football Association make a payment of $78.4 million to help the Argentina Football Association, or AFA, dig out of a financial crisis that threatened the country's domestic league. This person said the payment was meant to help Qatar's relationship with AFA President Julio Grondona, who is a member of FIFA's executive committee.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703377504575651103941330246.html

grondona denied that the argentine fa was in debt. but that's not exactly what the WSJ is claiming - they're saying the league was under threat because of a financial crisis. and indeed, the year before the vote, the AFA had to postpone the start of the season because the first division clubs couldn't pay their players' wages - which led to riots and argentina's president calling for grondona to lose his job. there was no repeat of the problems last august, after the vote for qatar. hmm.

other grondona highlights:

Julio Grondona, Sepp's vice-president and head of Argentina's FA denies threatening a referee who alleged "systemic corruption" in Argentina. Javier Ruiz: "I pointed out how whole championships are being rigged for cash. Grondona told me: 'Pal, watch out for your family.'" Grondona: "I hardly know Ruiz. I only met him once or twice. Nothing can be proven."

Fifa senior vice-president and head of Argentina's FA Julio Grondona forced to apologise after telling a live TV audience: "I do not believe a Jew can ever be a referee. It's hard work and, you know, Jews don't like hard work." ("He's a monumental man!" says Sepp. "We are friends for ever!")

New from Argentina FA head Julio Grondona: answers government questions about his efforts to end violence in football. "I have no responsibility for violence in football. Football is the people's salvation." Grondona dismissed reports that 235 gang members had their trips to the World Cup paid for by cash extorted from his FA officials. "We cannot help who travels with us."

£50m: total amount lost on 'financial mismanagement' this year - a new Fifa best. £3.6m of it went to ex-general secretary Urs Linsi: handed a new contract by finance director Julio Grondona, two months after Sepp Blatter had privately decided to sack him.

etc.

That's the English media for you, making up lies again to distract people from the real issue here - las Malvinas

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2011/6/1/1306919741004/Sepp-Blatter-007.jpg

someone else want to make the gif or shall I

closing an attempt at exoneration with "nothing can be proven" is a bit like aiming for verisimilitude by ending your sentences with "I tellsya".

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/06UZ4Z829ueLj/610x.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/073u3MCeoe2CC/610x.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/03Ob9qv88p5nq/610x.jpg

FIFA president Joseph Blatter, right, welcomes FIFA Executive Committe member Chuck Blazer prior to the 61st FIFA Congress held at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 1, 2011.

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0gimgl5b8X8AH/610x.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0aTW1Iq4OR0UM/610x.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00Qp3ee4VifQZ/610x.jpg

haha, right now they're making each of the 208 delegates cast their vote one after the other, which at the current rate of progress should take over an hour, for a contest with one candidate. the suspense is killing me.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/SPORT/Pix/pictures/2011/6/1/1306941116767/Fifa-ballot-form-007.jpg

joseph sblatter

wow

Rummenigge, the Bayern Munich chief executive, said: "The recent happenings have once more proven that FIFA needs a change in its whole structure. As chairman of the European Club Association, I request FIFA to immediately introduce democratic and transparent structures and procedures.
"European clubs will no longer accept that they do not participate in the decision-making when it comes to club related matters.
"We will closely follow FIFA's development in this respect in the future and take appropriate measures, if there is no improvement."

^ most significant development of the day imo

are the clubs just going to use this as leverage against fifa to protect players from being used in international friendlies or whatever? i presume they don't really care about transparency and probity all of a sudden, given their own routine dealings with agents.

They'd rather be without the international game altogether is my feeling. Handily, fifa seem bent on giving every reason for it to be marginalised.

totally xxp.

not sure of the role of the ECA, but my impression is bayern are seen as (1) a technocratic, well run club (2) not english.

At his victory press conference, Blatter announced that a key member of the new internal structure to clean up the governance of Fifa will be the former US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. His precise role is as yet unclear.

presumably dispensing advice like: "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a bit longer."

http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2011/06/british-and-corruption

"We" think "they" are too tolerant of corruption. They think we are revolting hypocrites.

both otm

The article's OTM about the perception that England's complaints look hypocritical. There's certainly a sense that England tried to 'play the game' but weren't as clever or well-resourced as the rival bids.

All the stuff about integrity and decency also sits ill in the light of the FA's decision to roll out the red carpet for people like Abramovich, Usmanov, Shinawatra and al Mubarak at the domestic level. For a start, two of them provided the bankroll for the bid that actually beat England. Fixing a World Cup bid is hardly the greatest of Abramovich's crimes but the English game has been more than happy to swim in his money.

true. i've been surprised the extent to which the british press have rallied round the fa. it's been held in total contempt (incompetent, likely corrupt) basically throughout the premier league era afaict.

that's just their xenophobic instinct over-riding

4 reals tho blatter out

He's not cheating, he's just being "clever". The other team's going to do it, so why shouldn't we etc...

Not sure it is 'rallying round the FA' so much as 'we've got a story and we're going to run it'. The dear, hapless FA just happen to be the only ones putting themselves up to be shot down - it'd be a lot more effective if it was someone else.

off to a good start

World Cup in Qatar is off to a hot start….the other day we got a peak into the Fyre Fest looking tent city for fans and now a Danish TV reporter is forced off air while live by Qatari security pic.twitter.com/UUYzp7ojI1

— Wu-Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) November 16, 2022

Greek salad at the Qatar World Cup fan zone

🇶🇦 38 Rial (£9) pic.twitter.com/K5taOhM9Q3

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) November 16, 2022

Fyre Festival Presents... World Cup 2022

and Murder Inc. artist Ja Rule *will* be performing “Always Off Side” during the opening ceremony

irlol