lol, FIFA

[MDK]

I see

[Adam]

Basically, the short version is that Canada wouldn't qualify anyway because they suck at soccerball.

[DFF]

There's a good chance Canada could be co-hosting the tournament the year that they expand. I forget where I read it, but 2026 is likely to be hosting by a North American country apparently, and USA, Mexico and Canada are considering different combinations of a two-nation bid.

[MDK]

So the guy that was involved in "The Trump Memos" was also involved in England's World Cup bid. Right now I'm waiting for Trump to be somehow involved in the Qatar World Cup.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Christopher Steele's also the guy who investigated the FIFA corruption issues and was a key part in bringing Sepp Blatter down.

[Lineker]

Fifa has announced the completion of its 22-month internal investigation into the multiple allegations of corruption and fraud which plunged it into an existential crisis in June 2015. The US law firm, Quinn Emanuel, was hired to handle the investigation and pass all relevant information to the Swiss law enforcement authorities, after the governing body strove to adopt the legal position that it was a victim rather than a participant in wrongdoing, and pledged absolute cooperation.

In an effort to separate itself from the criminal proceedings and investigations which are still ongoing, Fifa said it has handed over reports consisting of more than 1,300 pages, and 20,000 pieces of evidence, “on the issues of primary concern to the Swiss and US authorities.” No detail has been publicly released, nor has Fifa clarified which areas of the criminal investigations it has primarily assisted.

The US Department of Justice is continuing with its comprehensive investigation into alleged multi-million dollar bribery and kickbacks on TV rights sales and alleged tax fraud by executives at football federations and confederations in the Americas, which explosively became public on 27 May 2015 with the arrests of seven officials in Zurich days before the re-election of Sepp Blatter as Fifa president.

Several key figures have admitted to serial crimes of corruption and pleaded guilty in the US, including Chuck Blazer, the former longstanding general secretary of the Confederation of North, Central and Caribbean Football Associations (Concacaf), who also agreed to be an informant. Jack Warner, president of Concacaf alongside Blazer for 21 years from 1990 to 2011, has been indicted by the US authorities for multiple alleged corruption offences, with 26 other defendants, and is fighting extradition in his home country of Trinidad.

The investigation is believed to be continuing into the payment by Fifa to Warner of $10m from the organising budget of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which was stated to be for projects to benefit the “African diaspora.” Blazer himself has said that the $10m was a bribe for his, Warner’s and another Fifa executive committee member’s vote for South Africa to host the tournament, and pleaded guilty to that as a crime, but Warner has not admitted that, or any wrongdoing.

The Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber, announced on the same day as the Zurich arrests that he had opened a criminal investigation into allegations passed to him by Fifa itself of possible wrongdoing in the bidding and voting process which led to Russia and Qatar being named as hosts respectively of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

In September 2015, Lauber announced a criminal investigation into Blatter, for a 2m CHF payment to the former Uefa president Michel Platini in 2011, which led to both men being banned from football by Fifa’s ethics committee in December 2015. Lauber said he was also investigating a 2005 TV contract with the Caribbean Football Union, when Warner was the president, for having potentially been “unfavourable” to Fifa.

Blatter has denied any wrongdoing in both cases and throughout his 17 year tenure as Fifa president, and said he is confident he will not be charged with any criminal offences.

Announcing that it has completed the handover of all relevant evidence to the authorities, Fifa said it was “legally restricted from releasing or commenting on the findings from its internal investigation,” because the US and Swiss criminal investigations are ongoing.

Gianni Infantino, Blatter’s successor as president, has sought since his election in February 2016 to maintain Fifa’s victim status in the legal proceedings, distance his tenure from the previous disgraces and redirect global attention on to football itself. He said: “Fifa committed to conducting a thorough and comprehensive investigation of the facts so we could hold wrongdoers within football accountable and cooperate with the authorities.

“We have now completed that investigation and handed the evidence over to the authorities, who will continue to pursue those who enriched themselves and abused their positions of trust in football. Fifa will now return its focus to the game, for fans and players throughout the world.”

[Lineker]

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has admitted there have been human rights abuses of workers involved in the construction of the arena in St Petersburg due to host matches in next year’s World Cup. In a letter to the presidents of four Nordic football associations, which the Guardian has seen, Infantino also acknowledged that some men from North Korea, whose working conditions are “often appalling”, were deployed to work at the Zenit Arena in St Petersburg.

The presidents of the Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic FAs wrote to Infantino raising their concerns last week, following in-depth reportage by the Norwegian football magazine Josimar, which highlighted dreadful working conditions at the St Petersburg site. The article alleged that accommodation for the North Korean and other workers was in crowded storage containers outside the stadium, and cited local reports that a North Korean man was found dead in one of the storage containers having suffered a heart attack.

The conditions of North Korean workers in Russia, China and the Middle East, effectively sent abroad by their country’s totalitarian regime in return for commission, was described as “exploitation” and “slave-like” in a resolution of the United Nations in November. The Josimar report interviewed migrant workers from other countries who said they had worked long hours in dismal conditions at the Zenit arena and been underpaid, in cash.

In his letter to the four FA presidents dated Monday May 22, Infantino said: “Fifa is aware of and firmly condemns the often appalling labour conditions under which North Korean workers are employed in various countries around the world.”

He acknowledged that an inspection team for Fifa’s “Decent Work Monitoring System”, set up to address concerns about human rights abuses, did find “strong evidence for the presence of North Korean workers on the construction site in St Petersburg” on a visit in November. “The issues found were subsequently raised with the respective company and with the general contractor,” Infantino wrote.

A further inspection carried out in March found no more North Korean workers employed at the site, he said.

The monitoring system, which Infantino said has since been strengthened, is run jointly by Fifa and the committee in Russia organising the World Cup, whose chairman is Vitaly Mutko, the country’s sports minister. Infantino acknowledged in his letter there had been “incompliances” relating to health and safety – five workers have reportedly died in accidents – timely payment of salaries and accommodation at the site.

“As a consequence of the relatively high number of incompliances compared with the other Fifa World Cup stadiums found in St Petersburg and due to the fatal accidents that happened on that construction site, Fifa and the local organising committee have required the general contractor to take immediate steps to rectify the issues identified,” the letter said.

In a statement, Fifa said it continues to monitor all World Cup construction in Russia, adding that no further evidence has been found of North Korean workers on any sites. “These activities are part of a broader effort by Fifa to systematize and enhance its activities to ensure respect for human rights throughout its operations,” the statement said.

[Lineker]

Quote

Claims of alleged corruption in Qatar's successful 2022 World Cup bid have been published in the German media.

The Bild newspaper says it has obtained the 'suppressed' 2014 report authored by former Fifa independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia.

Bild's report includes details of a $2m (£1.6m) sum allegedly paid to the 10-year-old daughter of a Fifa official.

Garcia quit in December 2014 in protest at the handling of his report into the bidding process.

The American lawyer cited a "lack of leadership" as he left football's world governing body, whose executives unanimously agreed to publish a "legally appropriate version" of his report.

That 42-page version cleared Qatar of corruption allegations.

Bild says it will be publishing the full details of Garcia's 403-page report from Tuesday.

The newspaper claims:

• Three Fifa executive members were flown to a party in Rio in a private jet belonging to the Qatari federation before the vote for 2018 and 2022 hosting rights.
• The Aspire Academy in Qatar was implicated "in a decisive manner" in "the manipulation of Fifa members who had the right to vote".

In a Facebook post, Peter Rossberg - the journalist who claims to have obtained the report - said it "does not provide the proof that the 2018 or 2022 World Cup was bought".

He described its findings instead as "like a puzzle that only makes sense when all parts are put together".

Fifa's inquiry looked at the conduct of all nine bidding teams who were trying to win the right to stage the 2022 World Cup or the 2018 event, which was awarded to Russia at the same ceremony in 2010.

Speaking before he resigned, Garcia said the version of his report that Fifa published contained "numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations".

Simon Johnson, who led England's 2018 bid team said: "Now that I have seen Mr Garcia's statement, I am absolutely convinced that the report is a politically motivated whitewash."

British MP Damian Collins also described it as "a whitewash" and "an attempt to con people".

"The result is that allegations of bribery and serious wrongdoing remain unanswered and they are still suppressing the full report," he added.

Fifa's final report strongly criticised the English Football Association.

It said the body had tried to "curry favour" with its former vice-president Jack Warner, who quit his role in 2011 amid bribery allegations. The FA rejected the claims, insisting it "conducted a transparent bid".

French prosecutors have also been investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and in April questioned former Fifa president Sepp Blatter "as a witness".

France's National Public Prosecutor's Office began its investigation last year.

[Adam]

I am shocked.

I'll actually be shocked if this leads anywhere significant, because it won't.

[Gazz]

FIFA have now released the full, 400+ page report, saying 'they always intended to do so'.

[Lineker]

Angel Maria Villar, the vice-president of UEFA, has resigned following his arrest on suspicion of corruption. He's also resigned from his position as senior vice-president of Fifa.

[Lineker]

Quote

The former Fifa officials Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were charged with fraud and other offences by Swiss prosecutors on Tuesday after investigating a controversial payment of 2m Swiss francs (about £1.35m) for six years.

The 85-year-old Blatter and 65-year-old former France international Platini now face a trial within months at federal criminal court in Bellinzona.

“This payment damaged Fifa’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini,” Swiss federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The case from September 2015 ousted Blatter early as Fifa president and ended the campaign by Platini, the then Uefa president, to succeed his former mentor. It centres on Platini’s written request to Fifa in January 2011 to be paid backdated additional salary for working as a presidential adviser in Blatter’s first term, from 1998 to 2002.

Blatter authorised Fifa to make the payment within weeks. He was preparing to campaign for re-election in a contest against Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, where Platini’s influence with European voters was a key factor. Both Blatter and Platini have long denied wrongdoing and cited a verbal agreement they had made, now more than 20 years ago, for the money to be paid.

Blatter has been charged with fraud, mismanagement, misappropriation of Fifa funds and forgery of a document. Platini has been charged with fraud, misappropriation, forgery and as an accomplice to Blatter’s alleged mismanagement. Platini was not placed under formal investigation until last year, and months later the more serious allegation of fraud was included against both men.

Prosecutors had opened criminal proceedings against Blatter in September 2015 ahead of a police raid at Fifa headquarters in Zurich on the day he and Platini attended a meeting of the governing body’s executive committee.

 

[Lineker]

Blatter and Platini both acquitted of fraud.

[stokeriño]

lol justice