FIFA fiddles as football burns

by

FIFA fiddles as football burns It is no news to football fans that FIFA is having major image problems.  Allegations of corruption on the part of senior officials and the large question of how Qatar landed the 2022 World Cup are only a few of the scandals afflicting the organization these days.

FIFA’s large corporate sponsors, including Adidas, Visa and Coca-Cola have been expressing concern over the perceived corruption, and recently McDonald’s joined in the voices calling for reform and ethical behaviour by FIFA officials.  However, according to marketing experts, the sponsors are unlikely to renege on any lucrative deals unless a really massive scandal erupts.

Chris Welton, a well-known sports marketing consultant, said that the average football fan is not really interested in whether FIFA is behaving badly or not.  They just want to watch and enjoy their football, and they don’t want to see the governing body in football embarrassed more than it already is.

Sepp Blatter, who just won his fourth four-year term as FIFA’s head honcho in an uncontested election, has finally acknowledged that the organization is having a crisis, and has promised that reforms will be made.  He said it would take some time, but he intends to “ . . . put FIFA’s ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters.”

As part of the reforms, he said that in future all the 208 member federations would vote on the World Cup host, instead of FIFA’s 24-member executive committee.  David Bernstein, the English FA chairman who tried and failed to get the election postponed, said that it least his attempt had pressured Blatter into proposing reforms.

Sepp Blatter defiant in the face of football storm

by

Sepp Blatter defiant in the face of football storm Sepp Blatter was cleared of any wrong doing by the FIFA world ruling body allowing him to run unopposed for the presidency in Wednesday’s election. The only challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam, stood down amidst corruption allegations.

Bin Hammam as well as executive committee member Jack Warner received suspensions for all activity related to football after the ethics committee of FIFA said they would launch a full blown inquiry into the allegations of bribery made against the two.

The group agreed to investigate claims that financial incentives were offered to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) members. Both deny the allegations and Bin Hammam said earlier he rescinded his candidacy saying he did not want FIFA’s name to be dragged through the mud.

The ethics committee ruled in favor of Mr. Blatter by saying there was no need to investigate the present President who Bin Hammam accused of knowing about the alleged payments to CFU members.

The two Mr. Warner and Mr. Bin Hammam are accused of trying to bribe members with bags of cash that totaled £24,000 for each member of the CFU members in Trinidad. These alleged payments were to secure votes for Bin Hammam’s presidential election campaign.

The ethnics committee was presided over by Namibian judge Petrus Damaseb who told a news conference that Bin Hammam was provisionally banned from participating in an football activity until the ethics committee of FIFA take a final decision and the same for Mr. Jack Warner, also suspended pending further inquiry were Jason Sylvester and Debbie Minguell, CFU officials that are alleged to have handed over the bundles of cash.

FIFA election up in the air

by

FIFA election up in the air After two powerful figures in football were accused of forking over close to £20,000 to officials for bribes, FIFA officials have received calls to cancel the presidential election next week. Mohamed Bin Hammam one of the candidates for FIFA president and Jack Warner, Vice –President have been charged, in the most serious crisis of corruption to hit the governing body, with bribery.

The MP, Damian Collins, who named two other members of FIFA in Parliament as having received alleged bribes for the World Cup 2022 Qatar bid, has requested that FIFA abandon elections.

Saying that if Bin Hammam is suspended then Sepp Blatter would be a shoo-in to win the presidency so there should be a new election with new candidates coming forward to run for the election. There also needs to be a proper investigation and because of the time constraints for the election this cannot happen so the election should be cancelled.

Both Warner and Bin Hammam will face the ethics committee for FIFA on Sunday and face potentially long bans from football. Both have denied any part in any wrongdoing. The election between Blatter and Bin Hamman is scheduled for Wednesday and Bin Hamman has declared that the charges are an attempt by Blatter to increase his chances.

FA backlash for not voting for FIFA boss

by

FA backlash for not voting for FIFA boss The FA has been criticised for their decision to abstain from voting for the new FIFA president, according to one of the candidates. Mohammed Bin Hammam says that if the FA stick to their decision, they will be forfeiting their right to affect any changes from within, and ultimately have little or no say in future consultations. The FA announced last week that they would be abstaining from the vote on the 1st of June.

The battle for FIFA supremacy is between Bin Hammam, the Chief of the Asian confederation and Sepp Blatter, the 13 year incumbent. Former Chairman David Triesman has told a parliamentary enquiry that England’s recent bid to hold the World Cup had been blighted by corruption. Bin Hammam posted on his website that he was disappointed and surprised by the decision by the FA to abstain.

He wrote that the footballing family was both diverse and vast, probably more than anyone could truly comprehend, but that was one of the greatest strengths of the sport. He said it was disappointing that someone had chosen not to engage with the others, and that the decision of one of FIFA’s national nations has taken the decision not to attempt to affect any changes.

Interpol and Fifa will fight football corruption together

by

Interpol and Fifa will fight football corruption together It has been reported that Interpol will join forces with Fifa the world football governing body to combat match fixing and corruption in football. Sepp Blatter Fifa President and Ronald Noble the Secretary General of Interpol will announce their plans after a session on May 9 in Zurich at the headquarters of Fifa. The cost would be about $20 million for the Interpol and Fifa joint scheme.

The Fifa president says he is aware of where international matches were organized and played to benefit betting scams. The monies will be used for pre-emptive measures and not for investigative purposes. The funding by Fifa would allow Interpol to help develop programmes that are pre-emptive for officials, administrators and players to raise awareness of how the fixers employ their methods.

The education of young players is a priority if the fight to eradicate corruption is to be a success. And it is important for the administrators to adequately perform due diligence when reviewing third parties that want to arrange matches. Monitoring and educating match officials are a must since they are pivotal in not allowing the games to be manipulated.