We all knew it was fishy now more details on how the 2022 World cup was bought

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By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer










GENEVA (AP) -- Organizers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have denied fresh allegations of wrongdoing after a British newspaper report questioned the integrity of choosing the emirate as tournament host.

The Sunday Times said a "senior FIFA insider" had provided "hundreds of millions of emails, accounts and other documents" detailing payments totaling $5 million that Qatari official Mohamed bin Hammam allegedly gave football officials to build support for the bid.

Bin Hammam was a member of FIFA's executive committee for 16 years and key power broker until being expelled in 2012 for financial corruption during his time as Asian Football Confederation president.

The Qatar 2022 organizing committee's statement on Sunday stressed that Bin Hammam, a Qatari, "played no official or unofficial role in the bid committee."

However, most FIFA executive committee voters in December 2010 were bin Hammam's longtime colleagues. Among them, Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and FIFA vice president Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago have since resigned while under investigation for corruption.

"The Qatar 2022 Bid Committee always upheld the highest standard of ethics and integrity in its successful bid," the Qatari statement said, adding "we vehemently deny all allegations of wrongdoing. We will take whatever steps are necessary to defend the integrity of Qatar's bid and our lawyers are looking into this matter."

The Sunday Times alleged that bin Hammam paid for cash gifts, hospitality and legal fees for some FIFA colleagues, including Warner, and dozens of African football leaders.

FIFA ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia has received the new evidence to help his investigation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests, the newspaper reported.

Garcia was scheduled to meet with Qatari bid officials on Monday in Oman.

"We are cooperating fully with Mr. Garcia's on-going investigation and remain totally confident that any objective enquiry will conclude we won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup fairly," the Qatari statement said.

FIFA declined comment on Sunday about the reports, which revived calls for the 2022 World Cup vote to be re-run. Qatar defeated the United States in a final round after Australia, Japan and South Korea were eliminated.

Instead, football's governing body suggested in a statement to "please kindly contact the office" of Garcia's law firm in New York City.

The law firm, Kirkland and Ellis, did not respond immediately to requests for comment, or to confirm Garcia's meetings with Qatar officials.

Garcia and his investigating team have been traveling across the world meeting officials who worked for the nine candidates ahead of the December 2010 votes. Russia won the 2018 hosting poll.

FIFA board member Jim Boyce, who joined in 2011 after Bin Hammam was initially suspended, said Sunday that he could support a re-vote if bribery could be proved.

"If Garcia's report comes up and his recommendations are that wrongdoing happened for that vote for the 2022 World Cup, I certainly as a member of the executive committee would have absolutely no problem whatsoever if the recommendation was for a re-vote," Boyce told the BBC's Sportsweek radio program.

Garcia is scheduled to submit his report to FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert of Germany, who can recommend sanctions.

Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop told domestic media Monday that his federation was in a "watch-this-space" situation.

"We need to get more information about what's been revealed in the last 48 hours," Gallop told SEN radio. "But don't be under any illusion that we haven't been heavily involved in all of this for some time now.

"We've been involved in interviews, production of documents and also following carefully what's been happening away from Australia - so we've got people that have been involved for some time now."

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SecretFly wrote:............it also makes you think that when people keep coming up with this statement about "people saying YES to someone and then going behind their back to say Yes to someone else instead" - it makes me question is that story absolutely true or also a ruse.  

Perhaps the people who claim other people said YES to them, perhaps they had longer conversations with those people about longer termed projects than any WC in the near or far future?
Perhaps some of these people who were looking for a YES were actually told NO to their faces but continued on with Private Negotiations about Private Future Plans that might soften the NO for both Parties???

Or am I being too cynical about the Politics of corruption?

I think you ask a valid question, Fly and no, I don't think you're being cynical.

Politics is the art of achieving the possible. Sometimes, by whatever means necessary, regardless of what they may be.

Duty281 wrote:So FIFA will hold an inquiry on the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and will make their final judgement in September or October.

Sepp Blatter is doing the right thing and will be making the report public.

No wait, what's the word I'm looking for?
Not. That's the one.

Sepp Blatter is not doing the right thing and will not be making the report public: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29385346

So they have got away with blatant corruption.

Mr Blatter is a criminal, wonder how much he pocketed through this...probably a nice amount...

FIFA ethics committee clears FIFA.

The lawyer who produced this report will be appealing to a FIFA committee.

Don't have to be nostradamus to predict what comes next

FIFA clears FIFA.

Well at least that's settled.  And they also proved that the Thorn in their Side (the English FA) are probably guilty of saying they're guilty and therefore requires a snub and maybe even a prison sentence for dissent.

This FIFA is just a runaway train of dark dealings.  Anyone who stands against them is pin-pointed, highlighted, jeered, insulted and a case against them is furnished to possibly lynch them.

The police in the territory of their Head Office - or some International court - should now be invited to do a REAL investigation into FIFA.  And if the FA come out of it not looking so clean either, like has been suggested by FIFA, then so be it, they'll have to live with that truth - but if the objective is to truly and fully look into the mechanisms of governance at FIFA, then some truly judicial neutral third party must be brought in.

You can't have a corporation investigating itself and then coming to the conclusion that everyone is innocent except the guys who wanted the investigation!  It smells of rat.

Its Blatter to a tee.

If in doubt, discredit your opponent through some controversy.

I have no doubt the English FA got their hands dirty. I have no doubt everyone involved did. Blame FIFA for making the rules rather than everyone else for following them.

More allegations of corruption during the bidding process to stage the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 have been made.
The House of Commons Culture Media and Sport select committee has published previously unseen material submitted to it by the Sunday Times newspaper.
It draws on claims by senior sources that officials connected to England's bid for the 2018 World Cup ran an intelligence-gathering operation against rival nations.
Russia and Qatar won the bids.
This submission by the Sunday Times outlines how England 2018 executives compiled a database of rumours and intelligence - gathered by private companies and, significantly, British embassies.
There is, however, no clear evidence supplied by the paper.
Instead, its submission provides detailed accounts of how votes were allegedly bought and sold in the build-up to the December 2010 poll - and how Fifa's opaque rules for bidding nations were exploited.
The paper claims Russia's President Vladimir Putin played a major role in his country's winning bid, even, it says, enlisting Fifa's president Sepp Blatter to help lobby for votes.
Another claim suggests the Russia bid had lobbied for the support of Michel Platini - the Uefa president and voter - by giving him a painting believed to have been a Picasso.
There are also allegations about Qatar, and how its dominance in the natural gas industry helped it secure votes through bilateral trade deals.
Russia, the 2018 World Cup hosts, and Qatar, who will hold the 2022 tournament, have always denied any wrongdoing, and a recent, albeit disputed, summary of a Fifa inquiry cleared them.
The Football Association said in a statement: "The FA can confirm the England 2018 bid engaged with a number of parties around the world to provide general and background information on the progress of the bidding process within different countries and perspectives.
"These were media and corporate affairs consultants engaged on a confidential basis to gather intelligence.
"The fact the bid team had taken advice on intelligence gathering was referenced to Mr Garcia [Michael Garcia conducted a two-year inquiry into alleged corruption within Fifa] as part of the investigative process.
"The FA reiterates that it has fully complied with all disclosure requests made by Mr Garcia."
Culture Media and Sport select committee chairman John Whittingdale MP has told BBC Sport that, in light of the Sunday Times submission, he would like to hear from FA executives to ascertain if the 'database' exists and, if so, for them to outline its contents.

A complaint by the man who spent two years investigating World Cup corruption claims for Fifa has been dismissed by football's governing body.
US lawyer Michael Garcia's findings were released as a 42-page summary by Fifa-appointed independent judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.
Garcia said his summary was "incomplete and erroneous" and he appealed against it to Fifa's Appeal Committee.
However, it has now ruled that Garcia's complaint is "not admissible".
In a statement, Fifa said German Eckert's summary was "neither legally binding nor appealable".
Garcia was appointed by Fifa to lead the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar following a series of damaging allegations.
A complaint by two whistleblowers who said their confidentiality was compromised after they gave evidence to Garcia's inquiry has also been dismissed by Fifa.
Phaedra Al Majid and Bonita Mersiades, who worked for the Qatari and Australian bid teams respectively, spoke to Fifa about alleged corruption on condition of anonymity.
They said they were "clearly identifiable" when Eckert's summary of Garcia's report was released.
But Fifa says there are "no grounds" for opening disciplinary proceedings.
"No names were mentioned in the statement and any information provided was of a general nature," a Fifa spokesman said.
"Thus, there was no divulgence of any information of a confidential nature.
"The chairman reviewed all provided material and stressed that, since the participants in the investigation had gone public with their own media activities long before the publication of the statement of the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber Judge Eckert, the breach of confidentiality claim had no substance."

Sickening if you ask me, as we suspected absolutely nothing will be done to hold anyone accountable and Qatar will hold the crappiest world cup in history either held in winter or in the burning heat of hades.

"Contrary to what the international media says there has not been a single injury or death on the World Cup projects," he said.

"It's not possible to have 400 deaths when you are still digging a hole in the ground so I would like to make sure this matter is put to rest.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/13/us-soccer-forum-asia-qatar-idUSKBN0DT1I520140513
Nothing to see here, move along.

The problem with the Qatar story is that I think people in football are trying to use the corruption angle not because they are genuinely concerned about them paying for the World Cup but because they're concerned about what it will actually be like as a football tournament. The fears are real because it will likely cause issues in the football calendar, but a real pain for fans and players alike.

However, the corruption angle that has been taken just seems so silly. Pretty much every country was at it, and unashamedly so. Qatar simply won because it paid the people off better. You can't take it away from Qatar because of those reasons, because then who do you award it to? Everybody has dirty hands. If Qatar are to lose the World Cup, it would have to be because the damage it would do on a footballing level.

Crimey wrote:The problem with the Qatar story is that I think people in football are trying to use the corruption angle not because they are genuinely concerned about them paying for the World Cup but because they're concerned about what it will actually be like as a football tournament. The fears are real because it will likely cause issues in the football calendar, but a real pain for fans and players alike.

However, the corruption angle that has been taken just seems so silly. Pretty much every country was at it, and unashamedly so. Qatar simply won because it paid the people off better. You can't take it away from Qatar because of those reasons, because then who do you award it to? Everybody has dirty hands. If Qatar are to lose the World Cup, it would have to be because the damage it would do on a footballing level.

Both factors play into it. First of all Qatar is not a place fans want to go in the summer and not a place players want to go. The fact that it isn't a location suitable to the games makes the corruption seem even worse. If someone takes a bribe and makes a good decision that has merits anyway it is not quite as bad as taking a bribe and basically giving the players and the fans the FU in the process. It shows disregard for the game and the fans on two levels not just one. I mean would you rather go watch a world cup in Brazil, france or Qatar? I think this world cup will be impacted as many fans won't go because Qatar doesn't have much to see other than a few nice new buildings and the weather is not just terrible but possibly hazardous to your health that time of year.

I was so happy when i saw the news early morning today, I can still remember the disbelief on the day back in 2010 when we failed in our bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
It was not the fact that we lost, it was the fact we received 1 vote (disregarding our own vote), despite our fantastic bid.
All the commentators said we had no chance with Blatter as president and I was so very disappointed when they were proved right.
I hope the 14 people who have been indicted all rat on Blatter and his cronies and they get their comeuppance.
I believe both Russian and Qatari bids should be nulled and void.

However by the time these two investigations are complete I don't think there will be enough time to reorganize the Russian World Cup so may have to take that one on the chin.
The Qatari 2022 bid is abother matter, there would be several countries able to host a World Cup at relatively short notive.
My major problem with the Qatari bid is the near slave labour they use, the conditions they work, live and sleep in.
1200 dead so far with estimates of up to 6000 by the project completion.
6000!
6000 peoples lives.
If FIFA decides to continue with the Qatari tournament I would advise to boycott the event.

Wellington wrote:I was so happy when i saw the news early morning today, I can still remember the disbelief on the day back in 2010 when we failed in our bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
It was not the fact that we lost, it was the fact we received 1 vote (disregarding our own vote), despite our fantastic bid.
All the commentators said we had no chance with Blatter as president and I was so very disappointed when they were proved right.
I hope the 14 people who have been indicted all rat on Blatter and his cronies and they get their comeuppance.
I believe both Russian and Qatari bids should be nulled and void.

However by the time these two investigations are complete I don't think there will be enough time to reorganize the Russian World Cup so may have to take that one on the chin.
The Qatari 2022 bid is abother matter, there would be several countries able to host a World Cup at relatively short notive.
My major problem with the Qatari bid is the near slave labour they use, the conditions they work, live and sleep in.
1200 dead so far with estimates of up to 6000 by the project completion.
6000!
6000 peoples lives.
If FIFA decides to continue with the Qatari tournament I would advise to boycott the event.

Ditto Wellington. No way I will watch a second of the world cup if it is in Qatar. Sorry, opposition to slavery trumps football. Not to mention the other odious aspects of the Gulf oil sheiks their misogyny, abuse of human rights, support for Sunni terrorists and extremists etc. But the slavery thing is very much the deal breaker if the other issues don't qualify. No way an oven like Qatar with the record they have and a population of less than half a million should get the WC.

Now that the scandal has more or less blown over, I wonder why FIFA hasn't gone back to discussing the topic that was on their agenda just before it broke - the possible expulsion of Israel

The topic that was on the agenda of the PFA don't you mean, politics has no place in football.

Except for extreme circumstances, of course, like Apartheid South Africa. & also, when politics interferes with selections.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/israel-faces-fifa-suspension-after-claims-it-discriminates-against-palestinians

Little bit out of date that article and a load of old tosh, it was a motion that had no backing by other associate members so was amended and dropped.

I know it's out of date. As I mentioned, the issue seems to have disappeared from the radar since the scandal broke just as the case against Israel was gaining some momentum. How curious.

It's disappeared for the reasons I just said, the PFA had no backing so it was dropped.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52197014

Yes, we know.