The International Football Federations Thread

[Lineker]

A joint bid from the US, Canada and Mexico to host the enlarged 2026 World Cup is expected to be finalised this year for submission to Fifa, according to Victor Montagliani, the president of the region’s Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Football Associations (Concacaf). Speaking to the Guardian before Saturday’s annual Concacaf congress in the Caribbean island of Aruba, Montagliani contrasted the prospect of the countries’ cooperating on a World Cup with the division represented by the wall along the Mexican border planned by US president, Donald Trump.

“Canada, the US and Mexico are aiming for a joint bid, the idea has been around for a while, discussions are continuing and it is a very exciting proposition if it comes to fruition,” Montagliani said. “We have had nothing but positive remarks about it and it is a very strong sign of what football can do to bring countries together.”

Asked if he was referring to Trump’s belligerent rhetoric about building a wall, Montagliani, a Canadian insurance executive elected as the Concacaf president last May, said football has to “rise above” all kinds of political regimes which many people dislike.

“It behoves football and leaders of football to deal with it and rise above it,” he said.

Although each country individually would have the infrastructure to host the World Cup alone, Montagliani said, a joint bid would be “a fit” with the new 48-country, 80-game format of the 2026 tournament. A final decision is likely to be taken “sometime this year”.

Fifa’s new process for countries bidding to host the 2026 World Cup, announced last year under the new presidency of Gianni Infantino, set out a period from June this year to December 2018 for the preparation of bids. Evaluation of countries’ suitability by Fifa is scheduled for January 2019 to February 2020, with the final decision to be taken at Fifa’s congress in May 2020. Concacaf’s proposed joint bid is considered by far the early favourite to host the tournament, which has not been held in the region since the US World Cup of 1994. The previous Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, lobbied for the US to host the 2022 World Cup, as part of a continued push to grow football as a sport in the country, before a majority on the Fifa executive committee voted controversially instead for Qatar.

The development of the Concacaf bid, together with running a successful Gold Cup tournament this summer, is a key element in Montagliani’s campaign as its new president to refocus on football itself, following the arrests, criminal indictments and revelations of huge corruption at the confederation under his predecessors.

“It is still shocking when you think of the depth and breadth of the corruption; it was unbelievable,” Montagliani said. “You are in a very privileged position to work in football, 99% of people would give their right arm to be in that position; it’s an honour, and to abuse it is unforgivable.”

Concacaf instituted governance reforms in July 2015 principally aimed at its internal constitution, and auditing and protection against the payment of bribes and kickbacks when TV, sponsorship and commercial rights are sold, which were rife under three previous presidents. In August, a new chief legal and compliance officer was appointed with responsibility for the new procedures, Guilherme (Bill) Carvalho, formerly the associate general counsel for Yahoo in the Americas.

“We have to rebuild the trust of the public, and that takes time,” Montagliani said. “We do not have council members doling out Goal [Fifa development] projects, media rights or dealing with sponsors; there is a clear process now, and although no method is foolproof, I have a fairly high comfort level that we have an integrity process in place.”

Legal proceedings are continuing, he said, to seek the return to Concacaf’s ownership of the centre of excellence built in Trinidad with $26m of Fifa and Concacaf money, which was revealed in 2013 to be owned personally by the long-term former president, Jack Warner. An investigation by a Concacaf integrity committee, set up by Jeff Webb, the president elected in 2012 after Warner stepped down, accused Warner of committing fraud against Concacaf and misappropriating Fifa funds, by representing the centre of excellence as Concacaf’s when in fact it was built on land Warner owned and had bought for the purpose. Warner, who is fighting extradition to the US where he has been indicted for allegedly pocketing multiple bribes and kickbacks during his 21-year presidency of Concacaf from 1990 to 2011, is defending the legal action, Montagliani said.

Chuck Blazer, the Concacaf general secretary working alongside Warner for 21 years, has pleaded guilty to multiple fraud, bribery and tax evasion crimes in the US, and has been an informer in the continuing US Department of Justice criminal investigations. Webb, elected on the promise of reform and integrity following the Warner and Blazer scandals, was himself arrested in Zurich in May 2015 and pleaded guilty last year to having taken multimillion dollar bribes from TV contracts as soon as he became the president. Montagliani described Webb as a man well-liked in football and his admitted corruption as “a horrendous shock.”

Alfredo Hawit, a Honduran lawyer and former professional footballer who was the interim Concacaf president after Warner’s demise, then became president again following Webb’s arrest, was then indicted and pleaded guilty himself last year to trousering bribes on TV deals.

“I couldn’t imagine such a crisis occurring in a company and the company surviving,” Montagliani said. “But you should never waste a good crisis. Football has survived because of fans and players, and now we have an opportunity to restore our image, and bring the game back to them.”

Montagliani, a supporter and ally of Infantino’s, appointed the chair of Fifa’s new football stakeholder committee said that Concacaf is party to Fifa’s legal claim for recovery of money defrauded by its former officials.

[MDK]

Really? A North American World Cup? FFS. 

[The Lusophone]

Hey 94 was great.

[MDK]

9 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

Hey 94 was great.

I forgot that magical moment that Ray Houghton spanked that volley in against Italy in the opener of the Calgary World Cup  

But really? Fucking MEXICO and AMERICA get to have two World Cups apiece and we, the fucking inventors of everything important and proper, only get the sodding one and that was before my lifetime. And CANADIA?! What, we gonna replace the games in British America with games of bandy? I just cannot deal with this. 

[Lineker]

A North American WC would be amazing.

[DFF]

Yeah, I'm all for a North American WC.

[MDK]

Why?! All three countries can host it by themselves, why split it between even more timezones?!

Wait, the zones go horizontal and and vertical, right?

[Colly]

Yep, when it's 2pm on a Monday in Tijuana it's 8pm on a Friday in Vancouver. It's a logistical nightmare.

[Adam]

I would still love a WC held in all three of those countries, if it could be logistically sorted. I don't get why there aren't more 'joint' tournaments, might alleviate some of the social anger we've seen regarding funding in recent hosts.

[MDK]

USA, Canada AND Mexico are all big enough to hold the bloody tournament. Fuck Canadia getting it before we get a second crack at it.

[The Lusophone]

USA/Mex/Can spreads the costs nicely as well. Canada probably would not be interested in doing it alone due to the costs. They're not a big football/soccer nation and its not like China where the government is putting more and more focus on advancing in it as well. Mexico probably has massive security issues - worse than South Africa had even - and so is extremely limited in where they could do it - violence isn't exactly uncommon at Mexican league games. It makes sense for them.

[Hobo]

French Guiana have been made to forefeit their Gold Cup match against Honduras for fielding former France international Florent Malouda. 

Apparently he's eligible to play in matches overseen by  CONCACAF but not FIFA.

[Adam]

Aye, it's a bit unlucky but they should have made sure beforehand. French Guiana aren't in FIFA so don't compete in the World Cup etc. meaning he can play for them, but CONCACAF adopted FIFA rules for the Gold Cup making him ineligible.

[Hobo]

I always figured this kinda thing is part of why you submit squad lists.

[angeluzcr]

20 hours ago, Hobo said:

I always figured this kinda thing is part of why you submit squad lists.

Every team submitted a 40 men squad list with enought time before the start of the cup, nobody from CONCACAF did anything to prevent him from playing, even when it was plasted all over the news sites covering the events, the only reason any of them did anything after was because Honduras couldn't beat Guyana.....

[Lineker]

The Africa Cup of Nations will move from January to June from its next staging in Cameroon in 2019 and be expanded from 16 to 24 teams.

The change of timing will be welcomed by European clubs, many of whom have lost players at vital periods of the season because of the time slot.

The changes were approved at a meeting of the Confederation of African Football in Rabat which adopted recommendations made at a symposium in Morocco earlier in the week.

Other decisions included the awarding of the 2021 and 2023 Africa Cup of Nations to Ivory Coast and Guinea respectively.

Major changes have also been made to Africa’s Champions League and Confederation Cup tournaments, which will now run from August to May, like Europe’s Champions League, rather than over the course of a calendar year.

The expansion of the Cup of Nations puts pressure on the 2019 hosts, Cameroon, who have denied claims they are behind in their preparations. “I would like to reassure national and international opinion that the government is fully committed to fulfilling the Caf’s specifications and, to date, no Caf mission has reported any delay in preparations,” said the Cameroon sports minister, Ismael Bidoung.

African football chiefs are due to inspect Cameroon’s preparations in September, with Morocco on standby if a backup host is needed.

“Morocco will not hesitate for a second to respond favourably to any invitation to host this Nations Cup,” said their football association president, Faouzi Lekjaa.

Impact of this obviously being that some bigger clubs who were previously reluctant to sign big African players should now not be as much so - because they won't be vanishing off mid-season!

[MDK]

And it gives us something to watch in those barren summer months 

[Lineker]

VAR likely to be used at World Cup but not in 2018-19 Champions League

[Baddar]

Wales are gonna win the China Cup!

[Lineker]

Gareth Bale is now Wales' record goalscorer.