FIFA Corruption

[Zatman]

The Guardian does seem to have an agenda on this issue

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Yeah, **** them for standing up for workers rights.

[LondonLax]

I applaud the cause but that article is quite misleading and does seem to let the reader think that FIFA could be responsible for every Indian who has died in Qatar since they were announced winners in 2010.

[ThunderPower_14]

The Guardian does seem to have an agenda on this issue

 

On the contrary, The Guardian is the only outlet getting close to reporting the flagrant human rights abuse properly.

 

The media pressure on FIFA to move the tournament should be massive. This stupid western world can flip it's lid over KONY2012 but it can't muster up enough outrage to shame FIFA into moving the World Cup somewhere it can be staged without the necessitating the deaths of thousands of people.

[Wainy316]

But FIFA don't actually build the stadiums do they?  They let the host nation get on with it, which is why we've seen a number of deaths related to building stadia in Brazil.

[LondonLax]

But FIFA don't actually build the stadiums do they?  They let the host nation get on with it, which is why we've seen a number of deaths related to building stadia in Brazil.

 

Yes, this is why there could be a positive. If enough pressure is put on this project to be better than the typical construction project in Qatar it could leave a lasting benefit on the industry over there. That would be the best outcome from all this. 

Edited February 19, 2014 by LondonLax

[maqroll]

Click 

 

World football's governing body is likely to face renewed pressure over the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, following publication by the Daily Telegraph of claims of new evidence of payments from a Qatari former Fifa vice-president to one of his fellow board members.

The controversial Trinidadian former Fifa executive committee memberJack Warner received $1.2m (£720,000) from a company controlled by former Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam in December 2010, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The newspaper also alleged that a note from one of Warner's companies, Jamad, to Bin Hammam's firm, Kemco, requested $1.2m in payment for work carried out between 2005 and 2010.

It was also claimed that Warner's two sons and an employee were paid a further $1m by the same Qatari company.

One document referred to in the article was said to have stated that payments were to "offset legal and other expenses", but a separate letter claimed that more than $1m covered "professional services provided over the period 2005-2010".

The payment was allegedly made a fortnight after Fifa's 22-man executive committee voted to award the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

Last March it emerged that the FBI was investigating a series of corruption claims surrounding world football's governing body and thatWarner's Miami-based son, Daryan, had agreed to be a co-operating witness.

According to the allegations in the Telegraph, payments totalling at least $750,000 were made to Warner's sons and a further $400,000 was paid to one of his employees.

Bin Hammam was the most senior Qatari football official inside Fifa at the time of the flawed bidding race to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.

He was later banned from football for life after evidence emerged that he had bribed senior officials at the Caribbean Football Union at the height of a bitter battle for the presidency with the incumbent, Sepp Blatter. That ban was annulled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), but he was later banned again over "conflicts of interest" while president of the Asian Football Confederation.

On Monday night, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy attempted to distance itself from corruption allegations relating to Bin Hammam, whose lifetime football ban was reiterated by Fifa in December 2012.

It said: "The 2022 Bid Committee strictly adhered to Fifa's bidding regulations in compliance with their code of ethics.

"The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and the individuals involved in the 2022 Bid Committee are unaware of any allegations surrounding business dealings between private individuals."

The Qatar 2022 organising committee has repeatedly denied any involvement in corruption during the chaotic and ill-defined World Cup bidding race, and sought to distance itself from Bin Hammam.

 

More than half of the 22 men who voted to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 edition to Qatar are no longer members of the executive committee. Several have been implicated in corruption allegations.

Warner was later found by a detailed Concacaf investigation to have committed fraud and misappropriated football money.

Warner, who claimed the Concacaf report was "baseless and malicious", resigned from football for life in June 2012, a move that Fifa said put him beyond its jurisdiction.

For most of his 28 years as a member of the Fifa executive committee, Warner was surrounded by controversy.

In 2006, he was accused of selling World Cup tickets for three times their value and in 2010 a BBC Panorama programme alleged that he was involved in re-selling tickets for the 2010 tournament.

In 2011, he was claimed to have urged members of the CFU to accept "gifts" of $40,000 in cash from Bin Hammam and vote for him in the upcoming presidential election.

Bin Hammam was found by the court of arbitration for sport to "more likely than not" have brought cash to two meetings in May 2011 which was then handed to Fifa delegates. He has denied wrongdoing.

Controversy has continued to surround the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a country in which temperatures regularly top 40C during the summer months.

In addition to the ongoing debate about whether the tournament should be moved to the winter in order to avoid health risks for players, in-depth reports from human rights organisations and the Guardian have raised serious questions over the rights of migrant workers in the country.

More than 380 Nepalese workers and more than 500 Indian migrants have died in Qatar in the past two years, amid an unprecedented construction boom to prepare the country for the tournament and position it for the future.

Blatter, who has strongly hinted he will stand for re-election in April next year, and the Fifa executive committee will meet later this week with the Qatar World Cup again expected to be high on the agenda.

Edited March 18, 2014 by maqroll

[maqroll]

I think national teams should join together in a boycott of a Qatar World Cup. It's an absolute disgrace that it even got this far. It should have been awarded to Australia, anyway. 

[Qwpzxjor1]

Would be great if countries did.

 

Haven't even gotta boycott it (that would incur the wrath of Fifa and probably spitefully punish them in some way).. just come out and say that they're not bothered about qualifying for it and will probably play a weakened team, and maybe not even qualify.

 

Nobody will though. And the players won't let them. If a country deliberately didn't qualify for a World Cup, that would mean there would be nearly 8 years between when a professional can play on the 'biggest stage'.. in a short career, 8 years is too much, and the FA would face backlash from the PFA equivalent of said country.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Qwpzxjor1

[maqroll]

If enough top countries came out and boycotted the Qatar WC, FIFA would have to act. 

 

It seems as though we've reached a crossroads with FIFA- They are so brazenly corrupt, they don't even try to hide it. But everyone lets them get away with it. UEFA as well. 

 

If there was ever a time to reign in the sleaze and corruption  of FIFA, it's now. 800+ dead in Qatar, workers who were essentially slaves! All the revelations of bribes and whatnot demand action. If WC regulars like Germany, Argentina, Holland and Italy come out and say they won't play, it could prompt other countries to do the same. 

 

Fans could do their part, too.

[StanBalaban]

It wouldn't hurt if the fans boycotted the WC. 12 empty new stadia.

[Jimzk5]

Ttthere wont be a boycott, boycotting the WC would need a uefa boycott, and there's no way you can get 250+ members to stage a walk out without a viable body to organise things, its just too much trouble, but -

if these latest allegations of bribery are true, the only rightful thing to do is stage a new vote, but its not FIFA who have made this discovery, its the FBI, an outside interference and probably don't matter to sepp blatter

[maqroll]

It really is maddening. And depending on how this Russia v The West spat plays out over the next few years, the WC in Russia could be thrown into a state of confusion. It should've been Australia 2018 and England 2022. No controversy, no scandal, just football. Shame on FIFA.

[Jimzk5]

I agree with you maqroll, anyone with a modicum of sense had an idea that the draw was dodgy, even in FIFA's mantra of taking it to countries that haven't hosted it before & the its the worlds game stuff, Russia i can understand, but that qatar bid was so bent its ridiculous that even 2 years later more and more of these bribe allegations come out and fifa stay silent

[maqroll]

As long as there is no accountability, FIFA can operate basically like the Mafia, or the Vatican. And they do. Until Blatter and his flunkies are threatened to be brought before The Hague, they'll carry on, business as usual.

[CanVillan]

It's become a shambles.

In my opinion, no country should even be able to bid, unles the infastructure and the stadiums are already in place.

Now, it's the countries who's governments have the least transparency, that get the prize.

[ThunderPower_14]

 

In my opinion, no country should even be able to bid, unles the infastructure and the stadiums are already in place.

 

 

I don't agree with this.

 

For example Australia would have had to do a fair bit of development to turn our Oval stadiums into football friendly stadiums for the tournament.

 

But we'd have done so without killing thousands of slaves.

 

FIFA are horrendously corrupt and until a band of bigger countries are prepared to strongarm FIFA into putting the right people into leadership or alternatively, break away from FIFA altogether, nothing will change. 

[CanVillan]

 

 

In my opinion, no country should even be able to bid, unles the infastructure and the stadiums are already in place.

 

 

I don't agree with this.

 

For example Australia would have had to do a fair bit of development to turn our Oval stadiums into football friendly stadiums for the tournament.

 

But we'd have done so without killing thousands of slaves.

 

FIFA are horrendously corrupt and until a band of bigger countries are prepared to strongarm FIFA into putting the right people into leadership or alternatively, break away from FIFA altogether, nothing will change. 

 

It's a fair point but based on my opinion you would have to stick to the rules.

Become a football country first, then be taken seriously. Understandibly, Austrailia would not use slave labour in a conversion project. And I agree that it would not be the undertaking of a Quatar. Even if you were ready to go, like my comment states, your government is too transparent for the underlying corrupt bidding process.

I'm also not buying this "selling football to the world" Why? Does it need everyonee to love it? Will it be the winter Olyimpics in the West Indies next? There are enough countries that would be ready to go right away, but that doesent factor into it as we know it's all about the bribes.

[Zatman]

well all the major sponsors like Adisas, Coca-Cola, VISA etc. have all signed back up for 2018 and 2022 and they don't seem to find an issue with it and this was the main fear about rewarding to these countries

[coda]

well all the major sponsors like Adisas, Coca-Cola, VISA etc. have all signed back up for 2018 and 2022 and they don't seem to find an issue with it and this was the main fear about rewarding to these countries

 

They couldn't care less until it hits their profit margins. I wish more attention was being brought to the issue. It would be terrible PR for those companies to be linked to these deaths.