lol, FIFA

[LL!]

Doesn't make LL an American either

Exactly! Being born here does.

[lanky316]

Every time I see Sepp's name I still hear this in my head...

With a new series starting I suspect there'll be a lot of Sepp Blatter/Step Ladder comments over the next few weeks.

[gunnar hendershow]

Sepp is considering not resigning.

http://www.espnfc.com/fifa-world-cup/story/2491089/sepp-blatter-reconsidering-his-fifa-resignation-report

[GhostMachine]

Its probably moot, since he was actually re-elected. But short of him facing criminal charges, is there any way to force him out if he chooses not to resign after all?

[The Lusophone]

I believe that since he's announced he is resigning and the process of selecting candidates has begun, he'd have to face another election either way.

[Lineker]

Sepp Blatter has indicated there has been no change of heart in his decision to step down as FIFA president. Blatter's former election advisor Klaus Stoehlker has claimed it remains "open" for the 79-year-old to run again if a convincing candidate does not emerge. But a FIFA spokesperson said Stoehlker was no longer employed by Blatter and the FIFA president "would like to point" to his statement of June 2, where he announced he would step down between December and February.

[gunnar hendershow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KamkEOFbMR0

[9 to 5]

If you cut Jack Warner, he bleeds brown envelopes.

[GhostMachine]

Just appoint Roger Goodell. That way he can be the head of two corrupt sports organizations at once......

[Lineker]

Senior Japanese football officials have denied claims that they paid $1.5m to South American associations in return for support of its co-hosting of the 2002 World Cup with South Korea.

Diego Maradona has decided to stand as a candidate for the Fifa presidency to replace Sepp Blatter, the Uruguayan journalist and author Victor Hugo Morales has said. Morales said that Maradona had told him of his intention when he called the former coach of the Argentina team to check on the condition of his sick father on Sunday.

[Benji]

lol, Maradonna

Nothing says "let's fix FIFA" than a cheating cokehead who has in the past shown support for dictators and owes millions of Euros in back taxes.

[Lineker]

Sepp Blatter has added to speculation that he could yet attempt to stay on as Fifa’s president – three weeks after he announced his plan to step down over the organisation’s corruption crisis.

Blatter, addressing an audience at the topping-out ceremony for Fifa’s new museum in Zurich, said he had not resigned and had merely made his mandate available – and joked that he was “not ready for a museum, or for a waxwork”.

Blatter, who opened his comments with a quote from Pablo Picasso – “Give me a museum, and I will fill it” – appeared “fresh and full of energy,” according to the Swiss newspaper Blick, “with the worry-lines disappeared from his face”.

The 79-year-old was quoted by the newspaper as responding to a question over his long-term future by saying: “I have not resigned. I am making my mandate available at an extraordinary congress.”

Talking about the museum, he added: “Only those who know the past can understand the present and shape the future. Or in other words: the ball is round – but only those who come from outer space know the actual dimensions of our sport … For me personally, the museum is a labour of love. But do not get me wrong: I’m not ready for the museum nor for a waxwork yet.”

Speculation that Blatter could perform a remarkable U-turn on his decision was originally sparked by comments made to another Swiss paper, Schweiz am Sonntag, by the 74-year-old Zurich-based communications consultant Klaus Stöhlker.

Stöhlker acted as an advisor to Blatter throughout his low-key re-election campaign, when he was not supposed to draw on central Fifa resources, but his contract expired on 31 May. Fifa responded by stating that Stöhlker no longer has a mandate to speak for Blatter.

Scepticism from those hoping for reform is inevitable, since Blatter also promised in 2011 that his fourth term as president would be his last before changing his mind and declaring his “mission” unfinished.

Stöhlker had told the paper that Blatter had a “fair chance” of remaining in power, adding: “It’s hard to find someone who is an equal. Blatter has built the organisation into a global, highly successful company – and he’s a top diplomat.”

[Benji]

For fuck's sake, piss off you stupid cunt.

[Noah]

Benji apparently angling for a top position at Fifa with such fine diplomatic skills.

[SeanDMan]

Balotelli should run.

[EddieG]

He never runs.

[Lineker]

Sepp Blatter says his decision to leave Fifa was “liberating” and he expects the election to replace him will be in early 2016. In an interview published on Saturday, Blatter explained why, on 2 June, he announced his exit from Fifa amid American and Swiss investigations of corruption in world football. “It was the only way to take away the pressure from Fifa and my employees, including [pressure] from the sponsors,” Blatter told the Swiss newspaper Walliser Bote. “To remove Fifa and me personally from the line of fire.”

Blatter was asked hand on heart if he would renege on his promise to go. “I am not a candidate, but the elected president,” Blatter said in the interview given several days ago. “And I want to hand over Fifa in good condition.”

That is likely to be in 2016, he suggested, at a special election congress of Fifa’s 209 member federations in Zurich. Blatter said the realistic date was the beginning of next year, to prepare a four-month election campaign required by Fifa rules and avoid a clash with the Club World Cup. That tournament in Japan is scheduled to take place from 10-20 December.

In his most frank comments since his declaration on 2 June, he reflected on the approaching end of his four decades at Fifa and what lies ahead. “I am not yet having many thoughts about this, and am not worrying,” he said. “The decision to go is definitely liberating. For Fifa and for myself.”

He suggested that his final months will be busy, despite many descriptions of him as a lame-duck leader. “I am still president of Fifa and fully capable of acting. Fifa and football have been the most important part of my life for 40 years,” Blatter said. “So I will use all my strength and inspiration up to my last working day to steer the ship back into the safe harbour.”

Blatter has pledged to drive through reforms which could be approved at the election congress. “The key to this is strengthening democracy in the ‘Fifa government’,” he said. “There should not be a redistribution of the places on the executive committee, but an appropriate expansion of the body.”

Blatter said Asia and Africa were not democratically represented on the exco he has chaired as president since 1998. The two continents combine for 100 Fifa members yet have only nine of 25 voting seats on the ruling panel.

Further tensions with Uefa are likely with Europe’s traditional influence in world football under attack. Blatter won re-election last month despite Uefa’s president, Michel Platini, urging him to resign. Their face-to-face meeting followed the day after US and Swiss federal cases hit Fifa and top officials with raids in Zurich for separate investigations of alleged corruption. The events of 27 May were an “earthquake” for football, Blatter acknowledged.

The Swiss investigation focuses on possible money laundering and criminal mismanagement at Fifa, mainly in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process. Switzerland’s attorney general, Michael Lauber, has said Blatter is not under suspicion but could be questioned.

The US case alleges bribery in the 2010 World Cup hosting vote and widespread bribery and racketeering implicating senior Fifa officials in organising competitions in North and South America. Seven men among 14 indicted have been detained in Zurich and face extradition to the US. Blatter is a part of the widening investigation, American law enforcement officials have confirmed.

Blatter was not asked whether he is avoiding travel to countries where he risks arrest at the request of American authorities. The Women’s World Cup final is played on Sunday 5 July in Vancouver.

Blatter offered one piece of advice to his successor: that he should continue with Fifa development programs which 130 members depend on. Asked if he expected Platini to seek the presidency, Blatter replied: “I’m not a prophet. You’ll have to ask him.”

---

Ben Affleck is teaming up with Warrior director Gavin O’Connor to bring the story of the Fifa corruption scandal to cinemas, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Affleck will produce a film that focuses on Chuck Blazer, the American former member of the football governing body’s executive committee, who provided the FBI with the information it needed to arrest Fifa officials on corruption charges, according to reports. Fourteen current and former Fifa executives were arrested at Fifa’s annual meeting in Zurich last month.

The film, which is as yet untitled, will be scripted by O’Connor and his regular collaborator Anthony Tambakis, based on reporting by Buzzfeed journalist Ken Bensinger.

Blazer, 70, pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including bribery, money laundering and tax evasion, in 2013. He co-operated with the FBI from 2011 and was reported as having recorded Fifa colleagues using a bug hidden in a key fob during meetings at the London 2012 Olympics.

O’Connor’s film will follow United Passions, a Fifa-produced biopic starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, into cinemas. That film, directed by Frédéric Auburtin, made history last week when it became one of the lowest grossing films in US history. It took $918 from 10 cinemas before being pulled by its distributor.

[gunnar hendershow]

I demand a sequel be dedicated to the life and times of Blazer's cats who had their own apartment in Trump Tower.

Actually fuck it, just make that the original movie.

[Lineker]

The former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has hired the lawyer who represented the Moors murderer Myra Hindley in his fight against extradition to the United States.

[Lineker]

Lol. Fifa have issued Chuck Blazer a lifetime ban..