The International Football Federations Thread

[Lineker]

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has said Libya is still scheduled to host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013.

But other options are also being considered because of the ongoing violence in the country.

Rebels fighting to overthrow Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi control much of the east of the country.

"Of course we are thinking about it as a matter of priority," Caf secretary-general Hicham El Amrani told the BBC.

"All the tournaments that Libya has agreed to host - not only the Africa Cup of Nations but also the CHAN [African Nations Championship] and the Futsal Championship next year are today still [to be] held in Libya.

"At the same time the Caf executive committee is thinking about plan bs or plan cs.

"We agreed an internal timeline [for the] latest moment at which we should decide on switching the tournament to another venue but as of today the Nations Cup of 2013 is still in Libya."

El Amrani did not want to make the timescale public but pointed out that Caf's executive committee is due to meet in September this year.

Caf has already had experience of moving a tournament from Libya, having been forced to switch the African U20 event to South Africa earlier this year.

"It was a challenge; when it became clear that it was impossible to organise it, we only had about five weeks to look for another host," El Amrani added.

"We were grateful to have South Africa ready to host - they did a terrific job."

[stokeriño]

Sub-text: CAF supports any and all Gaddafi assassination attempts.

[therockbox]

My Dad got a box of old glass cups and stuff out of the loft earlier, they were wrapped in newspaper from around 2002. On the back of the Daily Mail from March 2002 the headline was;

'FA demands probe into Blatter cash scandal.'

Heh.

[Lineker]

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has resigned, world football's governing body has confirmed.

"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained," said a Fifa statement.

Warner was suspended pending an investigation into bribery allegations.

He and fellow Fifa member Mohamed Bin Hammam are alleged to have paid bribes of £600,000 to Caribbean associations.

It had been alleged by Chuck Blazer - the general secretary of the Concacaf federation of which Warner had been president - that violations of Fifa's code of ethics occurred during a meeting organised by Bin Hammam and Warner in May.

Blazer's allegations against the 68-year-old - who had been the longest-serving member of Fifa's executive committee - were preceded by claims made in parliament by the former head of England's failed 2018 World Cup bid, Lord Triesman, about irregularities in the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup.

Triesman, who was also former chairman of the Football Association (FA), accused Warner and three other Fifa Executive Committee members of improper conduct during England's 2018 World Cup bid.

A Fifa statement continued: "Fifa regrets the turn of events that have led to Mr Warner's decision.

"His resignation has been accepted by world football's governing body, and his contribution to international football and to Caribbean football in particular and the Concacaf confederation are appreciated and acknowledged.

[Ace]

....are you shitting me?

The guy gets suspended because they think he might have been bribed. Now, he resigns, so suddenly they drop their investigation into the bribes, and allow the prick to go into retirment with the money he was bribed with??

Seriously, fuck FIFA.

[Lineker]

Yup. Anyway, FIFA accuse bin Hammam of attempting to bribe.

[stokeriño]

The funniest part of that report is that the Ethics Committee declare Warner to have been an accessory to corruption. They sent him an advance copy of their findings last week and lo, three days later he decided to resign, somehow managing to get his investigation dropped in the process.

It's like the farce to end all farces.

[Lineker]

Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke is concerned Brazil has fallen behind schedule with its preparations for the 2014 World Cup.

A new stadium in Sao Paolo will not be ready for the 2013 Confederations Cup, seen as a World Cup dress rehearsal.

Airports and transport links are also reportedly behind schedule and Valcke said: "I won't say Brazil started too late but we are not advanced in Brazil.

"We don't have stadiums, airports, or a national transportation system."

Brazil are the most successful World Cup nation with five victories, but the country has been much-criticised for its planning since winning the rights to host its first tournament since 1950.

"To deliver stadiums is the most important part... it's a lot of work. The Sao Paulo stadium is definitely not a World Cup stadium and that is why it is closed," Valcke said.

Valcke was addressing Russian officials in Moscow who will host the 2018 World Cup tournament, and informed them they should aim to have everything in place two years before the start of the event.

Alexei Sorokin, chief executive of Russia's World Cup organising committee, told the forum the 2016 deadline was "absolutely realistic," despite having to build or renovate every stadium.

"We have to build a lot. We have never hid the fact that we do not have a single stadium that is up to Fifa standards," he admitted.

Russia has nominated 13 host cities for the event, a figure that will eventually be reduced, while estimating the total bill for new infrastructure at $10bn (£6.26bn).

[Lineker]

More FIFA corruption - this time Les Murray of Australia? Interesting package from my old employers the ABC:

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3264012.htm

[Lineker]

Qatar whistleblower retracts claims. Bah. Pathetic.

[IAceI]

"Here's a load of cash, now go tell people we didn't give you a load of cash last time for the other thing."

No doubt back in a month to give her more cash to say she didn't cash to keep quiet about the time she got cash earlier.

Corrupt I say! Burn them all!

[The Quasi Juice]

Don't believe this at all ofcourse, she received a shitload of money to keep quiet and who wouldn't accept that unless you're rich already? Ugh FIFA.

[Lineker]

Wales could face a nightmare World Cup qualifying draw because the Faroe Islands seem to have overtaken them.

The 30 July draw in Rio de Janeiro will be based on Fifa's rankings system, calculated by a complex formula.

Wales are tied with the Faroes on 273 points - with one of those teams set to join the likes of Andorra in pot six.

And the Faroe Islands are lobbying Fifa to include decimal points in their calculations - something which would see them leapfrog Wales into pot five.

The Faroes' coach, the former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr, told BBC Sport: "Decimal points will have to be taken into consideration. Our general secretary has had a verbal confirmation with someone in Fifa that our calculations were correct.

"They [Fifa] were surprised that any country could work [the ranking points] out so accurately - they hadn't come across that in the past."

Current Fifa rankings do not recognise the small decimal difference between countries, keeping Wales in pot five and the Faroes in the sixth pot of seeds.

Being relegated to pot six - along with Andorra and San Marino - would make Wales's task of qualifying for Brazil 2014 even more difficult.

Fifa will publish its new ranking list on 27 July, three days before the World Cup draw. Given that neither Wales nor the Faroe Islands played in July their position should not change.

"The teams are tied in 114th place and have been placed in the list on Fifa.com in alphabetical order," said Fifa in a statement. "This is simply the standard way of listing the teams which are tied.

"We are not in a position to speculate on the potential difference of decimal points.

"What we can confirm is that the change has been done on Fifa.com due to teams that are tied being listed in alphabetical order. Other teams were also tied and not listed in alphabetical order, something which has now been corrected.

"The draw procedure, as well as the pot allocations, will only be announced on 27 July."

The whole affair has led Kerr to call for greater "transparency" from Fifa in the way rankings are calculated.

"We don't know if it was an error or if Fifa ignored the differential and were hoping that neither country would take too much notice before the final draw," said Kerr.

"We know with other aspects of Fifa's dealings [that] it's not always transparent. I'm surprised that even after they changed the list last week that they didn't make any comment.

"They have to have a protocol to decide which teams are ahead of each other where the margins are so small and the consequences are serious for both countries.

"If Wales end up in the bottom pot they are quite capable of winning games.

"But for the Faroe Islands (to be promoted to pot five) it would mean we might be able to play against a side of a similar population and that would give us a chance of winning a game both home and away which hasn't been the case in the past."

The fact that the Faroe Islands should be 0.7 points better off than Wales in the rankings was initially spotted by a 30-year-old Romanian computer programmer, Eduard Ranghiuc, who runs a football ranking website.

It is the not the first time that Ranghiuc has spotted a Fifa ranking error - a task that the world governing body has contracted out.

Ranghiuc has pointed out to Fifa that Japan and Colombia had received an incorrect amount of points for their wins against Montenegro in 2007, while a World Cup qualifier between Burundi and the Seychelles was recorded as 0-0 though the result was 1 0.

"Comparing the ranking produced by my software with the one published by Fifa - I have different values for about 10 teams - but the difference is not bigger than two points."

Ranghuic also believes the current system is skewed in favour of the South American (Conmebol) and European (Uefa) associations.

"Say Japan defeat England in a friendly then they would get 543.9 points, but if Greece beat England in a friendly they would get 588 points, so Greece get 44.1 points more just because they are from Uefa."

[Lineker]

The BBC has obtained a document detailing claims that Jack Warner handed a senior Caribbean football official a locked case containing envelopes of cash to be distributed to members of the Caribbean Football Union at a special meeting promoting Mohamed Bin Hammam's Fifa presidential bid.

The allegation is contained in a report by the CFU general secretary Angenie Kanhai. The two page document, on CFU headed paper and dated 15 July 2011, was prepared for Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke but was to be sent via the CFU's executive committee.

It is understood this document has now been submitted to the ethics committee investigating claims that Bin Hammam tried to bribe members of the CFU with gifts of £40,000 each. Kanhai has travelled to Zurich, where the hearing is taking place, and, crucially, was expected to give evidence on Friday.

Warner, Bin Hammam and two CFU officials, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, refused to co-operate with Fifa's ethics committee investigation, carried out by former FBI director Louis Freeh.

So the apparent co-operation of such a senior figure at the top of the CFU - Warner was effectively Kanhai's boss - is a significant development.

In a series of bullet points, signed by Kanhai, a detailed account is given of what happened during the meeting of the CFU at the Hyatt Hotel, Trinidad on May 10-11. The document states:

"I was directed to coordinate the special meeting of the CFU by Mr Jack Warner, who was at that time, president of the CFU. Mr Warner initially requested the meeting be held by April 18, 2011, but the May date was ultimately agreed.

"The purpose of the special meeting was to provide Mr Bin Hammam with the opportunity to address the delegates from the CFU.

"On May 10, 2011, Mr Warner advised me that he had gifts, which were to be distributed to the delegates. Mr Warner did not tell me what the gifts were, but advised that they were to be distributed from the Hotel (sic) that afternoon. After consulting with my staff, Jason Sylvester and Debbie Minguell, I suggested to Mr Warner that the gifts be distributed between 3PM and 5PM that day.

"During the morning session on May 10, Mr Warner made an announcement to the attendees about picking up the abovementioned (sic) gift. I was told that I should come to his office to collect the gifts that were to be distributed.

"I arrived at Mr Warner's office at approximately 2.30PM on May 10 and collected a locked bag with the key in the front pocket.

"The bag contained 26 envelopes, these envelopes were unmarked and were folded and sealed. I did not see any envelopes opened and left Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester to distribute the envelopes.

"The next day I met Debbie and Jason for breakfast at the hotel and they advised me that the envelopes had contained cash."

The report goes on to say:

"In speaking with the representative from the Bahamas I was advised that he had returned the envelope. The representative from the Turks and Caicos returned the envelope to Ms Minguell on the morning of May 11 2011.

"After the meeting I was contacted by Mr Warner who asked that the bag and any remaining gifts be returned to him."

Although Bin Hammam, Minguell and Sylvester all face being banned from football following the ethics committee hearing, all the charges against Warner were dropped last month after he resigned from Fifa and his powerful positions in Caribbean football.

Witnesses from some of the 25 CFU associations offered money have stated that the idea of giving cash gifts originated with Warner. But despite giving up his football posts he has repeatedly denied direct involvement in the bribery plot.

In a statement dated 20 June, Warner said: "I am convinced that since my actions did not extend beyond facilitating the meeting that gave Mr Bin Hammam an opportunity to pursue his aborted bid for the Fifa presidency, I would be fully exonerated by any objective arbiter."

Kanhai's account of events in Trinidad suggests then that Warner was more implicated in the bribery scandal than he has previously admitted.

But while the report shows a clear chain of command between Warner and the officials who allegedly distributed the money, it does not prove a direct link between the cash and Bin Hammam.

Leaked details of Freeh's report into the affair concluded that although there is no smoking gun there is "convincing circumstantial evidence" that he was behind it.

When contacted by phone by the BBC this week, Kanhai refused to comment on the claims she had been handed the controversial case of money by Warner.

Kanhai did not return a number of calls immediately prior to the publication of this story while repeated requests for comment from Warner received no response.

The new evidence emerged as Fifa's ethics committee began hearing the case against Bin Hammam. Earlier in the day the 62-year-old Qatari, suspended from all football activity on May 29, released a statement appearing to concede defeat in his bid to clear his name.

"Despite the weakness of the case against me, I am not confident that the hearing will be conducted in the manner any of us would like," he said. "It seems likely that FIFA has made its decision weeks ago. So, none of us should be completely surprised if a guilty verdict is returned."

[Colly]

The new evidence emerged as Fifa's ethics committee began hearing the case against Bin Hammam. Earlier in the day the 62-year-old Qatari, suspended from all football activity on May 29, released a statement appearing to concede defeat in his bid to clear his name.

"Despite the weakness of the case against me, I am not confident that the hearing will be conducted in the manner any of us would like," he said. "It seems likely that FIFA has made its decision weeks ago. So, none of us should be completely surprised if a guilty verdict is returned."

Ah, the old Alex Ferguson 'witch hunt' defense. Genius.

Edited July 22, 2011 by Colly

[Lineker]

Football's world governing body Fifa has banned six referees for life after finding them guilty of match-fixing in a tournament where all the goals scored were from penalties.

Charges were brought against the officials, from Hungary and Bosnia, after two friendly matches in Turkey.

Latvia against Bolivia then Estonia versus Bulgaria produced seven goals between them.

The Hungarian referees are being held by police in their country.

Authorities are investigating further the match-fixing accusations levelled at Kolos Lengyel, Krisztian Selmeczi and Janos Csak, while the Bosnian officials - Sinisa Zrnic, Kenan Bajramovic and Rizah Ridalovic - denied the charges at the hearing, but were found guilty.

The two international friendlies were fixed for a betting scam, which has become an important case as football's world governing body attempts to up its fight against match-fixing.

Crime syndicates are believed to have made millions of pounds betting on the fixed matches, including wagers that at least three goals would be scored in each fixture. Latvia beat Bolivia 2-1 and Estonia and Bulgaria played out a 2-2 draw.

The officials were found guilty of "passive corruption" and "unlawfully influencing match results" by Fifa's disciplinary committee.

Another senior football figure has also been banned by Fifa, for a year, in the fall-out to the bribery scandal.

Lisle Austin, from Barbados, was punished after he went to court in the Bahamas to try to force through his claim to succeed Jack Warner as president of the Concacaf federation, the body which governs football in the Caribbean.

Austin was initially made acting president when Warner was suspended on bribery charges, but was himself suspended by Concacaf when he tried to sack Chuck Blazer, the organisation's general secretary who exposed that cash gifts had been in use.

[IAceI]

I'd like the idea that the teams found out about the betting on their match and the corrupt officials and just endeavoured to be as shit as possible ensuring 0-0 draws.

As for the Lisle Austin thing; well, the circus just keeps on going, doesn't it? The whole things a joke and the fact it was tacked on to the end of an article about FIFA banning officials for taking bribes and the ilk just about sums it all up.

[Lineker]

Fifa have terminated a 2014 World Cup TV deal after discovering rights had been sub-licensed to a company owned by former vice-president Jack Warner.

Warner's JDI had the rights after an agreement with the Caribbean Football Union.

At the time of the deal, Warner was also the CFU's president. He sold the rights to TV station SportsMax in 2007.

The fee was reported to be between $18million and $20m [around £12m] but that included the 2010 World Cup.

The initial contract with the CFU was agreed in 2005, giving the organisation the rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups for countries in the Caribbean.

Fifa are also owed several payments dating back to 2009 for the rights, which covered 29 Caribbean countries.

Warner resigned from all football activities in June, a month after being charged with bribery by Fifa, who then dropped their investigation saying they no longer had jurisdiction over the Trinidadian.

Fifa have sent a letter to the CFU saying they have "only recently become aware" of the sub-licensing agreement, as well as detailing the missed payments and terminating the contract.

SportsMax's own website said Warner "negotiated the deal on behalf of JDI" and "in his capacity as president of the CFU".

Warner said: "The matter is designed to go after me and is now with the CFU's Swiss lawyers."

Conservative MP Damian Collins, who is campaigning for Fifa reforms, said Warner's involvement pointed to a clear conflict of interest.

Collins, who sits on the culture, media and sport committee, said: "There should be a very strict code where members of Fifa's executive committee have to declare all their financial interests.

"If it looks like senior officials are making money on the side as a result of their role in football. That is plainly wrong."

Warner's close connections to the television rights in the Caribbean were also revealed by former FA chairman Lord Triesman in his claims about improper approaches during England's 2018 World Cup bid.

Triesman said Warner asked for $500,000 [£310,000] to be channelled through him to buy the television rights to show the 2010 World Cup on big screens in earthquake-hit Haiti.

Mohamed Bin Hammam has admitted he is not confident of having his life ban from football overturned at the appeal in Zurich on 15 September.

[Lineker]

Sepp Blatter has moved to deny claims that he will stand down from the Fifa presidency to make way for his opposite number at Uefa, Michel Platini.

Reports had suggested Blatter might stand aside in 2013, rather than serving his full term until 2015.

But Blatter tweeted: "The existence of a 'deal' between me and Michel Platini for the presidency is pure nonsense.

"The suggestion that I intend to stop my four-year mandate before its end is simply ridiculous."

Blatter, 75, was re-elected in June after being the only candidate.

Rival Mohamed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Federation, pulled out after being suspended over bribery allegations.

[Lineker]

A Fifa official who blew the whistle on alleged corruption within the game's governing body is to step down as general secretary of Concacaf.

Chuck Blazer will continue as a Fifa executive committee member but will leave his North and Central American and Caribbean post on 31 December.

The 66-year-old American said: "It is time for me to explore new challenges."

His allegations led to senior Fifa colleague Mohamed Bin Hammam being banned from football for life.

Another senior executive, Trinidad & Tobago's Jack Warner, resigned in June after being suspended pending an investigation into bribery allegations.

Vice president Warner and fellow Fifa member Mohamed Bin Hammam were said to have paid bribes of £600,000 to Caribbean associations.

But in a statement at the time of Warner's resignation, Fifa said: "As a consequence, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained."

Blazer alleged that violations of Fifa's code of ethics had occurred during a meeting organised by Bin Hammam and Warner in May.

In a statement, Warner said: "I am convinced, and I am advised by counsel, that since my actions did not extend beyond facilitating the meeting that gave Mr Bin Hammam an opportunity to pursue his aborted bid for the Fifa presidency, I would be fully exonerated by any objective arbiter.

"I have, nonetheless, arrived at the decision to withdraw from Fifa affairs in order to spare Fifa, Concacaf and, in particular, CFU and its membership, from further acrimony and divisiveness arising from this and related issues."

Warner also told Bloomberg press agency he felt he had been "hung out to dry" and insisted the giving of gifts has been part of Fifa culture during his 30 years in the organisation.

"It's not unusual for such things to happen and gifts have been around throughout the history of Fifa," he said. "What's happening now for me is hypocrisy."

He added: "I have lost my enthusiasm to continue. The general secretary that I had employed, who worked with me for 21 years, with the assistance of elements of Fifa has sought to undermine me in ways that are unimaginable.

"This is giving the impression that Fifa is sanitising itself. I've been hung out to dry continually and I'm not prepared to take that."

In May, Fifa opened "ethics proceedings" against Warner and Bin Hammam but Warner insisted he was not guilty of a "single iota of wrongdoing".

Football's governing body then suspended Warner and Bin Hammam on 29 May, pending an investigation into claims they had offered bribes to members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).

Despite claims by Bin Hammam that Fifa president Sepp Blatter was aware of payments made to the CFU, and that he too should be investigated, Fifa's ethics committee stated that "no investigation is warranted" of Blatter.

Following Bin Hammam's suspension, Blatter went on to run unopposed in the Fifa presidential election, despite efforts by the FA to have the election suspended amid the corruption allegations that had engulfed the sport's world governing body.

Blatter was re-elected for a fourth term after receiving 186 of the 203 votes, after 16 other member associations supported the FA's request for a delay.