lol, FIFA

[Lineker]

Fifa has told Michel Platini that he cannot bypass its appeals process by challenging his eight-year ban directly at the court of arbitration for sport.

Platini had been hoping to cut out the required Fifa appeals procedure as he races to try to overturn his ban before the 26 February presidential election.

Fifa says it wrote to Platini’s lawyers on Tuesday to confirm that the Uefa president can only go to the Cas if the governing body’s appeals committee first rejects his request.

Platini was banned Monday for eight years along with Sepp Blatter over a 2011 payment of 2m Swiss francs (£1.35m) that the Fifa president authorised for the former France captain.

The verdict looks likely to finally bring the curtain down on Blatter’s controversial 40-year tenure at Fifa and Platini’s hopes of replacing him in the top job the Swiss has held since 1998.

The Swiss authorities missed the opportunity 13 years ago to clean up Fifa and investigate Sepp Blatter thoroughly, according to senior football figures who brought a criminal complaint against the Fifa president in 2002 for alleged fraud, corruption and mismanagement. Blatter, who confirmed on Tuesday that he would appeal to the court of arbitration for sport against his eight-year ban imposed by Fifa’s ethics committee on Monday for mismanagement and conflict of interest, was in 2002 accused by Fifa’s then general secretary, Michel Zen-Ruffinen, of malpractices bearing a striking resemblance to current allegations being made against him.

In a remarkable cleanup effort at the highest level of football’s world governing body, 11 members of the 24-man executive committee filed the criminal complaint against Blatter’s running of Fifa to a Zurich court, calling for an investigation into Zen-Ruffinen’s allegations, which were supported by 300 pages of documents.

Blatter always angrily denied any wrongdoing, said the allegations were full of factual mistakes, and depicted the process as the antagonism of his rivals before the presidential election at the end of May 2002. Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, now the acting president after Blatter’s suspension and ban, was standing against him then, and accused Blatter of “illegal” and “reprehensible” practices. Blatter won the election, then denounced his critics, including scoffing at Zen-Ruffinen as “Mr Clean” before adding: “Friday, I throw Zen-Ruffinen out of the door.”

In December 2002, the Zurich public prosecutor announced that no action would be taken against Fifa or Blatter and closed the investigation, even stating that the complainants themselves were “reprehensible” and their legal case was “bordering on false accusation”.

Lennart Johansson, the then Uefa president, was one of the executive committee members who filed the criminal complaint. He had lost out in the 1998 presidential election, when Blatter was strongly accused of vote-buying, which the Swiss denied. The Swede maintains that an investigation should have been conducted more thoroughly, on a scale similar to those now being carried out by the Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber, and US criminal authorities. They have in effect taken control of all files at Fifa’s HQ in Zurich, including Blatter’s office, seized property and computer data, and are investigating dozens of Fifa-related Swiss bank accounts. Johansson and his allies argue that an era of corruption and mismanagement, which has now brought Fifa to infamy, could have been avoided if the Swiss authorities had acted robustly then.

One source with close knowledge of the 2002 process told the Guardian that the Zurich prosecutor did not mount an investigation at all resembling the seriousness of the current one, and did not even contact Zen-Ruffinen at any stage to discuss the allegations or evidence he had compiled from four years working as general secretary, the highest executive level in Fifa.

Johansson said: “I feel we, Fifa and football were let down by the Swiss authorities. They had evidence, we filed a complaint in court asking for an investigation, we had Swiss lawyers helping us to present the case, but we lost and Blatter somehow kept everything under control. I feel we were let down, and that now the Americans and Swiss should properly investigate.”

Per Omdal, the then chairman of the Norway Football Association, who also supported the criminal complaint, said his executive committee allies had serious unease about the management of finances and lack of transparency within Fifa at the time. “How the international development work was being financed, the controls and auditing, Sepp Blatter’s salary never being disclosed – it was all very, very vague,” Omdal said. “We raised our concerns that this was not proper, but the Swiss authorities did not seem to be interested. I cannot say for sure if years of mismanagement could have been avoided, but we feel that.”

After the complaint was rejected, Blatter remained as president for a further 13 years until his ban this week. During that time, Fifa’s income from World Cup TV rights and sponsorships increased into the billions of dollars and substantial corrupt practices have been proven to have taken place.

High-ranking executive committee members, including the American Chuck Blazer, a Blatter supporter in that 2002 battle, have pleaded guilty to habitual bribe-taking, and 27 defendants are currently indicted for alleged corruption in the US. They include three other prominent Blatter supporters in the 2002 confrontation: Jack Warner of Trinidad, Nicolás Leoz of Paraguay and Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil, all of whom have denied any wrongdoing.

Zen-Ruffinen produced his 21-page dossier in May 2002, containing a list of allegations including that Blatter authorised the award of TV deals for less than their commercial value, and made cash payments to African football people who supported him. A whole section was reported to have been devoted to Warner, the then president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football Associations (Concacaf), including the allegations that a £6m loan was improperly written off and that World Cup TV rights were sold to Warner at an undervaluation – an allegation against Blatter now subject to criminal investigation by Lauber.

Zen-Ruffinen’s dossier was supported by 300 pages of internal documents to which he had access in the course of his work at Fifa HQ, and he distributed it to all 24 members of the executive committee. Those who then filed the criminal complaint included Johansson, Omdal, Hayatou and Britain’s then representative, David Will, a lawyer by profession who was the chairman of the Scottish FA. Will died in 2009.

The Zurich public prosecutor, having been required by law to formally investigate, stated when closing the investigation that the executive committee members were complaining about some financial transactions they themselves had approved. That was, he said, what made it “reprehensible” and “bordering on false accusation”. That left executive committee members vulnerable to legal action from Blatter himself, and they withdrew the complaint.

However, they argue they were not fully informed about the basis for some financial decisions in the executive committee at the time and were sufficiently alarmed by Zen-Ruffinen’s evidence to call for a thorough investigation. One senior source from the time said that Blatter had formed a sub-bureau of the finance committee, run only by its Argentinian chairman, Julio Grondona, Blatter himself and Warner, and they passed decisions to the executive committee ready to approve.

Roland Büchel, a member of the Swiss parliament who has successfully campaigned for the introduction of a new law outlawing bribery, said he believed there was a culture for too long of tolerance towards Fifa and other sporting associations which enjoy legal and tax-exempt freedoms in Switzerland. Büchel saidthis was partly because of the perception that the associations were good for the prestige of the country, which supplies a capable, multilingual workforce to staff them. “It is a matter of regret that nothing was done then,” Büchel said. “The public prosecutors – and the media and politicians – missed a chance; Fifa’s propaganda did a good job for many years. Things have changed gradually, and we have to admit the involvement of the US is important.”

Blatter’s lawyers did not respond to a series of questions about the 2002 allegations, which he has always denied. A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor in Zurich confirmed that the case was closed for the reasons stated at the time, and said no more details could be provided because it is subject to “professional confidentiality”.

[GhostMachine]

Sounds to me like Blatter probably paid the prosecutor off in 2002....

[Lineker]

The five candidates bidding to succeed Sepp Blatter as Fifa president have been invited to take part in a live television debate.

Broadcaster ESPN is attempting to stage the live event in London, according to sportingintelligence.com.

The contenders for the top job at world football’s governing body are Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, Tokyo Sexwale, Gianni Infantino and Jérôme Champagne.

Champagne told the Sporting Intelligence website: “I can tell you that ESPN proposed to the candidates a televised debate in London on 29 January and I have already expressed my agreement.”

He added of the election process: “I feel that unfortunately–- as I have said already when I launched this campaign myself – that it will be a succession of deals done behind closed doors of five-star hotels.”

The report says Prince Ali’s office has also confirmed it has received an invitation and is assessing his travel schedule. Champagne, Prince Ali, Sexwale, and possibly Infantino, are to attend a meeting at the European Parliament on 27 January.

Blatter’s reign came to a humiliating end on 21 December when he was banned for eight years by Fifa’s ethics committee.

The ban was imposed by Fifa’s ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert for a “disloyal payment” of two million Swiss francs (£1.3m) made to the Uefa president Michel Platini in 2011, signed off by the outgoing Fifa president Blatter. Platini was also banned for eight years.

The charges found proven included offering and accepting gifts, conflict of interest, and violating their fiduciary duty to Fifa.

Blatter and Platini have vowed to fight the sanctions.

Banned Uefa president Michel Platini could face further investigation from Fifa’s ethics committee after attending an awards ceremony and conference in Dubai despite being barred from “all football activity”.

Platini, the head of European football body Uefa, was handed an eight year ban from the game on 21 December, along with banned Fifa president Sepp Blatter. He is appealing the decision and insists he has done no wrong.

The ban relates to a payment of two million Swiss francs made by Blatter’s Fifa to Platini in 2011, nine years after he finished working as a consultant to Blatter.

On 27 December, Platini attended the Globe Soccer Awards organised by the Dubai Sports Council in Dubai, along with football stars such as Lionel Messi and Andrea Pirlo.

Frenchman Platini was photographed at the event and also made comments regarding his ban to the Italian media while in Dubai.

A spokesman for Fifa’s ethics committee declined to comment on the specific case but said: “In general terms: the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee of Fifa investigates any alleged breach of the ethics code of Fifa.”

A spokesman for Platini did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 21 December ruling from Fifa ethics committee chair Hans-Joachim Eckert stated that Blatter and Platini were banned “for eight years from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) on a national and international level. The bans come into force immediately.”

Platini has said he will fight the ban through the appeals process, which is likely to end up with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has also been fiercely critical of the decision and the ethics committee itself. Blatter has also said he will appeal.

Fifa has been thrown into crisis by investigations from the FBI and Department of Justice in the United States and Swiss authorities.

The Swiss Attorney General has opened a criminal investigation into Blatter regarding the payment to Platini. The Frenchman is viewed as “somewhere between a witness and an accused person” according to the Attorney General Michael Lauber.

In the United States, prosecutors have indicted 27 current or former football officials, including eight ex-Fifa executive committee members and the current heads of both the North and South American federations, over allegations they ran bribery schemes connected to the sale of TV rights for football competitions.

[Lineker]

Musa Bility’s appeal to overturn his exclusion from the Fifa presidential election has been dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Bility, who is from Liberia, failed to make the field after failing an integrity check.

Fifa’s election monitoring panel ruled the Liberian federation president ineligible last month. No reason was publicly given.

CAS says it will release the grounds for its decision early in January.

Fifa has approved five candidates for the election to be held on 26 February. Michel Platini, who has been handed an eight-year ban along with the outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter, but still hopes to run for Fifa presidency, is also expected to appeal to CAS.

[Lineker]

The suspended Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke’s provisional ban has been extended by 45 days.

The adjudicatory chamber of Fifa’s ethics committee extended the suspension after an investigation into Valcke was concluded on Tuesday.

The Frenchman is facing a nine-year ban after an ethics investigation into several alleged offences including being connected to black-market sales of World Cup tickets.

The ethics committee’s investigatory chamber recommended a nine-year ban and a 100,000 Swiss franc fine on charges including conflicts of interest and offering and accepting gifts and other benefits.

[Lineker]

Michel Platini has formally withdrawn his candidacy for the Fifa presidency and said he will dedicate himself to overturning his eight-year ban.

The Uefa president, banned by Fifa’s ethics committee from all football-related activity for eight years over a 2m Swiss franc payment (£1.3m) he received from the Fifa president Sepp Blatter in 2011, said he had originally received 150 declarations of support when he announced he would run but had now been forced to pull out of the election on 26 February - it is also unclear whether any appeal process would have been completed by that date.

The move by the 60-year-old will clear the path for the other five candidates in the race to succeed Blatter as there was still the possibility that Platini could stand if he had overturned the ban on appeal.

Platini told L’Equipe: “I will not present myself as president of Fifa. I withdraw my candidacy. I cannot, I do not have the time or the means to go the voters, to meet people, to fight against the others.

“By removing myself, I make the choice to dedicate myself to my defence against a dossier where there is no mention of corruption, of falsification, forgery, where there is nothing any more.”

Platini had been the clear favourite to succeed Blatter but his election campaign was stopped in its tracks when details of the 2011 payment were revealed in September. It then emerged the payment was based on only an oral agreement made with Blatter 13 years before when he worked as technical adviser to the Fifa president.

The Frenchman was provisionally banned for 90 days which stopped him campaigning, and the eight-year ban imposed on 21 December, in effect, ended his chances.

He added: “How can one win an election when one is prevented from campaigning. Yet when Blatter announced his retirement, I received 150 declarations of support - 100 official letters from federations and 50 promises. All this in two days.

“Now I must follow all the procedures - the Cas [Court of Arbitration for Sport] and the [electoral] commission chaired by Domenico Scala who said that I had falsified accounts.

“I would have fought as I have always done in my life but I was not given the opportunity to compete this time around.”

The Asian football president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa has emerged as the new favourite to lead Fifa but he faces competition from Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan, the Frenchman Jerôme Champagne, South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale, and Gianni Infantino, the Swiss lawyer who for the last five years has been Platini’s right-hand man as Uefa’s general secretary.

[Lineker]

State prosecutors in Paraguay have raided the headquarters of Conmebol, South America's football confederation, near the capital Asuncion.

They said the move was part of US-led investigations into corruption at Fifa, world football's governing body.

Last month the president of Conmebol, the Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, was extradited to the United States to face charges there.

Mr Napout has pleaded not guilty to taking millions of dollars in bribes.

Paraguay's state prosecution service said in a statement it was "searching for documentation related to the granting of commercial and broadcast rights for sporting events".

A lawyer for the confederation, Alfredo Montanaro, said the raid was "irresponsible".

"It is very strange. We have been cooperating with the judicial authorities of the United States, Uruguay and Paraguay."

Mr Napout, 57, was also a Fifa vice-president. He was arrested in a dawn raid on a luxury hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, on 3 December.

He is accused of taking bribes worth millions of dollars linked to the sale of marketing rights to South American tournaments.

He resigned as Conmebol president on 11 December following his arrest and is currently banned from football.

Meanwhile, the former general secretary of Guatemala's football federation, Hector Trujillo, who has been charged with corruption in the US, has been allowed out on the terms of his house arrest.

He must wear an electronic monitor and cannot travel more than 50 miles (80km) from a federal courthouse in Brooklyn as part of a bail agreement set by a US magistrate.

The FBI investigation into Fifa corruption was initially sparked by the controversial award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, as well as the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup awarded to Russia.

But the inquiry has since been widened to look at Fifa's dealings over the past 20 years. The US says the corruption was planned in the US and US banks were used to transfer money.

[Lineker]

Quote

Jérôme Valcke, the suspended secretary general of Fifa and Sepp Blatter’s long-time associate, has been sacked with immediate effect.

The Frenchman is facing a nine-year ban after an ethics investigation considered several alleged offences, including being connected to the black-market sales of World Cup tickets. He denies wrongdoing.

The ethics committee’s investigatory chamber recommended a nine-year ban and a 100,000 Swiss francs (£67,500) fine as it passed the case to the adjudicatory arm, headed by the German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, for a final decision.

In December Blatter and Michel Platini, the Uefa president who was his heir apparent, were banned from football for eight years following an investigation into a £1.35m “disloyal payment”. Both men protested their innocence.

Valcke has been suspended since 17 September, but a meeting of Fifa’s emergency committee has now decided to dismiss him from the organisation.

Fifa said in a statement: “The employment relationship between Fifa and Jérôme Valcke has been terminated… The provisional suspension … extended on 6 January 2016 continues to be valid. The duties of the Secretary General will continue to be assumed by the Acting Secretary General, Dr Markus Kattner.”

It is the second time Valcke has been dismissed by Fifa. In 2006 a New York judge said Valcke, as head of marketing, had “lied repeatedly” to potential sponsors, with a lawyer saying that among Fifa’s “white lies, commercial lies, bluffs, pure lies, straight untruths and perjury, Mr Valcke even lied when testifying about his lies”. Blatter rehired him eight months later.

[The Lusophone]

Is there even anyone left to run FIFA anymore?

[Noah]

@stokeriño are you sure you're not available?

[stokeriño]

Well given that this afternoon I learned that I'm going to have to pile the role of Official MS Excel Helpdesk Person on top of my regular job, I suppose resigning and moving to FIFA isn't completely out of the question...

[Lineker]

Quote

Sepp Blatter is still receiving his salary as president of Fifa despite being suspended and subsequently banned from football for eight years. 

A spokesman for Fifa's Audit and Compliance Committee told BBC that Blatter will continue to be paid until a new president is elected on February 26.

Fifa's Audit and Compliance Committee has decided it will stop Blatter's bonuses bring paid to him but not, due to his contract, his salary.

The bonuses could be stopped because Blatter was not in a position to supervise Fifa.

 

[Benji]

Don't really disagree with that, if he's contractually obligated to be paid then that's that.

[Lineker]

Gianni Infantino, the Uefa general secretary who is bidding to succeed Sepp Blatter as Fifa president, has proposed staging an expanded World Cup across several countries as part of his manifesto.

Unveiling his plans, Infantino vowed to increase the amount of income that Fifa spends on football development to 50% and introduce a series of governance reforms to increase transparency and try to restore trust in the beleaguered governing body.

Despite the now banned Blatter making global development the bedrock of his appeal to the narrow constituency of 209 Fifa members, the last Fifa accounts for the four years from 2010-2014 showed only a fifth of its expenditure was invested in football development.

Like his rivals for the Fifa presidency, Infantino has outlined a raft of reforms including the introduction of term limits, transparency over salaries and the introduction of a Fifa Council to replace the current executive committee.

“Fifa and football have a lot at stake in this election. Football means so much to so many people all over the world and makes such a difference to so many lives,” said Infantino.

“It is time for all those that love the game to stand up now and make the right decisions to take Fifa forward. The challenges Fifa faces are huge but I believe that I have the right experience, vision and determination to drive the changes that are necessary.”

The Swiss entered the race to succeed Blatter last year after Michel Platini was suspended over a £1.3m “disloyal payment” received from the former Fifa president. Platini, like Blatter, was subsequently banned from football for eight years.

As the politicking heats up before the 26 February election, speculation is growing surrounding Infantino’s intentions – particularly as regards a possible alliance with the Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa.

But he has insisted he is focused only on winning the race. The other three candidates are the Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, the South African Tokyo Sexwale and the French former Fifa executive Jérôme Champagne.

In addition to expanding the World Cup to 40 teams, Infantino proposes accepting bids from across a region rather than a specific country. In the wake of Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup, many have suggested it would have been more sensible to stage the event across the Gulf.

“Each confederation shall have to wait at least two editions before being able to host the World Cup again,” he said. “This will ensure a more equitable rotation, while giving every confederation the opportunity to organise this unique event.

“Furthermore, Fifa should investigate the possibility of organising the World Cup not only in one or two countries but in a whole region, so enabling several countries to enjoy the honour and benefits of hosting the World Cup.”

[Lineker]

The German Football Association has backed Gianni Infantino in his bid to replace Sepp Blatter as Fifa’s president.

Infantino, the Swiss general secretary of Uefa, is one of five candidates for the election, which is due to take place on 26 February amid the worst crisis in Fifa’s troubled history.

There is no clear favourite, but Infantino would have a head start if he were to capture the majority of the 53 European votes. Each of Fifa’s national associations holds one vote.

The German FA co-president Reinhard Rauball said: “Gianni Infantino is the Europeans’ candidate and the best one.

“Through his work as general secretary of Uefa he knows all aspects of the game, has outstanding international connections and speaks six languages.”

The Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, the former Fifa deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne, the South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale and the Jordanian former Fifa executive committee member Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein are Infantino’s rivals.

Rauball added: “With his reputation and experience he meets the necessary conditions for structural changes and to take on the challenges ahead.”

Forty-one individuals and entities have been indicted in the US for corruption and money-laundering, and Fifa’s own ethics committee has banned leading officials – including president Blatter, barred for eight years.

The German FA is the biggest federation in the world in terms of membership, but it has been dealing with its own scandal related to the 2006 World Cup, which prompted the resignation of Rauball’s predecessor, Wolfgang Niersbach, last year.

[Lineker]

A planned televised European parliament debate between three of the five Fifa presidential candidates has descended into farce after two of them pulled out with less than 48 hours’ notice.

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the South African Tokyo Sexwale and the French former Fifa executive Jérôme Champagne had all been due to appear at the European parliament in Brussels to debate Fifa’s future.

At one stage the Uefa president, Gianni Infantino, had also been considering whether to appear but did not formally accept and ultimately decided to send a video presentation instead.

The Bahraini Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman, had already said he would not attend the debate, which was due to be screened live on ESPN. However, plans for the debate were thrown into chaos after Prince Ali informed the joint organisers – the European parliament’s Sports Intergroup and NewFifaNow – on Monday that he would be unable to attend. When he heard that Prince Ali had pulled out, Sexwale followed suit.

The reasons for the fiasco over the debate, which will still go ahead, were mired in confusion last night.

A spokesman for Prince Ali, who was campaigning in Paraguay on Monday, said: “It was brought to our attention that there may be a breach of the electoral rules so we had to regretfully pull out.”

But sources close to the Fifa Ad Hoc Electoral Committee, which is chaired by Domenico Scala and is overseeing the election, said there had been no complaints about the debate and that it was hard to see how a public debate would break electoral rules.

NewFifaNow said that Prince Ali, who is standing for a second time after being defeated by Sepp Blatter in May shortly before the longstanding Fifa president agreed to step aside, had told them that one of the two candidates not participating had made a complaint to the Ad Hoc Electoral Committee on the basis of political interference.

Damian Collins MP, a member of the culture, media and sport committee, said he had written to Scala for clarification on the issue and said it was ridiculous to suggest that holding the debate at the European parliament would constitute political interference.

“We are merely trying to put legitimate questions about the future of Fifa to presidential candidates as members of various parliaments as well as on behalf of fans and other key stakeholders,” said Collins, who has been a long-standing campaigner for reform.

He added: “Any organisation interested in, or committed to, democracy, transparency and accountability would understand this as should the people who want to be Fifa president. We are just seeing the same old Fifa at play and they have learned nothing about what they need to do to try to rebuild trust and credibility from the broader community.”

The BBC is also attempting to convene a debate with all five presidential candidates but may well run up against similar obstacles.

Champagne will now be the keynote speaker alongside others including MEPs and the former footballer Ramon Vega. ESPN has cancelled its plans to show the debate live but it will still be streamed online.

[Lineker]

The disgraced Fifa president Sepp Blatter will return to the headquarters of the world governing body on 16 February when his appeal against his ban from the sport will be heard, according to his adviser.

Blatter, head of Fifa since 1998, was banned in December from all football-related activity for eight years by the body’s ethics committee.

“Mr Blatter will attend an appeal hearing on February 16, at the home of Fifa, and we expect the decision as soon as possible,” Thomas Renggli said.

Blatter’s case will initially be dealt with by Fifa’s own appeal committee. Renggli said that, if he is unsuccessful, he will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

Blatter, 79, who has denied wrongdoing, was banned for ethics violations over a £1.35m payment Fifa made to the Uefa president Michel Platini with Blatter’s approval in 2011.

Platini, who had been the favourite to succeed Blatter, was also banned for eight years. The election for the new Fifa president will take place in Zurich on 26 February.

A total of 41 individuals and entities, including many former Fifa officials, have been charged with corruption-related offences in the United States as part of the wider scandal.

In other news, Infantini appears now to have secured the backing of both UEFA and CONMEBOL.

[Adam]

If he has, does that mean he has a realistic chance of winning? Or will an AFC/CAF bloc vote still swing it in favour of Sheikh Salman or whoever they go for?

[Matt]

103/209 votes go to Africa and Asia. Europe and South America get 64.

[The Lusophone]

So expect Tuvalu's FA to announce a new £100 million hq shortly after voting for whoever UEFA wants. >_>