March 28, 2024, 10:29:06 AM

Author Topic: FIFA News Thread.  (Read 109277 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Deeks

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18631
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #450 on: June 26, 2015, 09:22:34 AM »
Let Blatter play with words that I eh resign, etc. When the time and he eh step down. We will see fireworks. trust me!

Offline Peong

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 7410
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #451 on: June 26, 2015, 06:41:43 PM »
Blatter fraid they produce a surprise arrest warrant when he steps off the plane.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #452 on: June 28, 2015, 02:47:46 PM »
Sepp Blatter told to end speculation surrounding FIFA presidency
By Graham Dunbar (The Associated Press).


Stop flirting with the FIFA presidency and say for sure you are going.

Sepp Blatter got a clear message on Sunday from FIFA election monitor Domenico Scala to end speculation he wants to stay in office.

"The times of flirting with the power are definitely gone," Scala said in a statement at the end of a week in which Blatter's toying with the word "resign" suggested the president of world football's governing body planned to hang on despite a growing corruption crisis.

"I call on all concerned — including Mr. Blatter — to endorse in the interest of the reforms unequivocally the announced changing of the guard at the top of FIFA," Scala said.

Blatter announced his planned exit on June 2 amid a crisis provoked by American and Swiss federal investigations of alleged bribery, racketeering and money laundering, implicating senior FIFA officials.

Three weeks ago, the newly re-elected FIFA leader insisted he would not be a candidate in a fresh ballot to be held between December and March.

However, Blatter has since fueled talk of a U-turn at FIFA by saying he technically did not resign.

Blatter's choice of words is that he "laid down his mandate" which a special election congress of FIFA's 209 member associations will reallocate within months.

The wordplay has provoked Scala, chairman of FIFA's independent audit and compliance committee, to send a clearer message.

Earlier this month, Scala used more diplomatic language when he said that "it is clearly indispensable to follow through with the initiated process of leadership change as it has been announced."

Blatter and Scala are working together on a slate of modernizing reforms which could be approved at the election congress to be held in Zurich.

In an interview with Blatter published on Saturday by Swiss daily Walliser Bote, the outgoing FIFA president said early 2016 was a realistic date for the election.

Blatter repeated to his local newspaper that he would not be a candidate, and felt it "liberating" to decide to leave FIFA after 40 years.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2015, 02:51:34 PM by asylumseeker »

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #453 on: June 28, 2015, 03:14:39 PM »
Costa Rica's Li retains home support as lawyer calls US case a 'legal absurdity'
Mark Baber (InsideWorldFootball.com).


The lawyer for Eduardo Li, president of Costa Rica’s Football Federation and a CONCACAF and FIFA executive committee member, has described the case against his client as a “legal absurdity” saying there is no evidence his client took bribes or participated in a criminal enterprise. Li was picked up in the Swiss police swoop on FIFA executives prior to the congress in Zurich last month.

The US indictment claims that Li “together with others, did knowingly and intentionally devise a scheme and artifice to defraud FIFA, CONCACAF, and FEDEFUT and their constituent organizations, including to deprive FIFA, CONCACAF, and FEDEFUT and their constituent organizations of their respective rights to honest and faithful services through bribes and kickbacks, and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.”

The indictment then claims that to execute this scheme did “together with others” organise the “Wire transfer of $27,500 from Traffic USA’s account at Citibank in Miami, Florida, to a Wells Fargo correspondent account in New York, New York, for credit to an account in the name of Federación Costarricense de Futbol at Banco Lafise in Costa Rica.”

The indictment also accuses Li of requesting and accepting a “six-figure bribe” from Traffic in exchange for agreeing to award Traffic media rights for World Cup matches, an accusation which seems to be at least partly based on the testimony of an unnamed Traffic executive, who is now presumably cooperating with US prosecutors.

Li’s attorney in Costa Rica, Jose Miguel Villalobos, who is in contact with Li’s Swiss representatives said his client was fighting extradition because he is guilty of no crime and that he is not in negotiations with US prosecutors.

Villalobos has said that US prosecutors either misunderstand how Costa Rica football works, by incorrectly assuming the national football federation accounts are the same as Li’s personal accounts, or are unfairly trying to pressure his client to lie and implicate others.

FEDEFÚTBOL has stuck by Li, showing local authorities a copy of the agreement signed between Li and Traffic on behalf of the federation. Acting President Jorge Hidalgo has said that the $27,500 was part of a regular payment made by Traffic Sports USA to FEDEFÚTBOL according to the contract negotiated by Li granting the company exclusive broadcast rights to Sele games leading up to the 2018 World Cup.

“This is neither a bribe nor has the Federation issued a check to Eduardo,” Hidalgo told local media, adding, “It’s obvious that the American authorities were mistaken.”

Unfortunately for Li, US prosecutors, who effectively act as judge and jury in most cases (with only 3% of cases going to trial), work by “persuading” defendants to admit guilt or implicate others in return for far more lenient sentences than they would receive if they refused to cooperate and went to trial in a bid to maintain innocence. This being one of the reasons that many thousands of US prisoners and up to 4% of those on death row are widely considered to be innocent.

The US does have an extradition treaty with Switzerland and, with the arrests, has already proved that it can exercise serious political muscle in the country. Those arrested can be held for 40 days before they go before a Swiss court for an extradition hearing. At which point evidence will have to be produced proving there are legal grounds for extradition.

Offline E-man

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 8711
  • Support all Warriors. Red, White and Blacklisted.
    • View Profile
    • T&T Football History
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #454 on: June 30, 2015, 02:19:27 PM »
FIFA's Sepp Blatter will not attend women's World Cup final in Canada
Reuters


FIFA President Sepp Blatter will not travel to Vancouver for the final of the women's World Cup on July 5 and has told organizers that personal reasons will prevent him from going, a U.S.-based lawyer for Blatter said on Tuesday.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter will not travel to Canada for the final of the women's World Cup on July 5 for personal reasons, a U.S.-based lawyer for Blatter said on Tuesday.

Senior executives of Zurich-based FIFA were charged with corruption on May 27 by prosecutors in the United States over bids for major soccer tournaments dating back 24 years and involving up to $150 million in purported bribes.

Blatter came under pressure to step down, and he announced on June 2 that he would do so. U.S. prosecutors have not accused Blatter of wrongdoing but his stewardship of world soccer's governing body is under scrutiny, sources familiar with investigations in the United States and Switzerland have said.

"He's not going to go to the finals in Canada," said the lawyer, Richard Cullen. "He has informed the organizers of that and cited personal reasons." Cullen said that FIFA Senior Vice President Issa Hayatou of Cameroon would preside at the trophy ceremony after the final in Vancouver instead.

This will be the first time Blatter has not presented the trophy to the winners of the women's competition, which is held every four years, since he became FIFA president in 1998.

Blatter, the self-styled "godfather of women's football," said before the tournament began on June 6 that he was looking forward to being in Canada.

The tournament's semi-finals will be contested by the United States and Germany on Tuesday and England and Japan on Wednesday.

Investigations by U.S. and Swiss authorities also include scrutiny of how FIFA awarded World Cup hosting rights to Russia and Qatar for the 2018 and 2022 men's tournaments.

Offline Flex

  • Administrator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18062
  • A Trini 4 Real.
    • View Profile
    • Soca Warriors Online
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #455 on: July 03, 2015, 01:59:00 AM »
US files formal extradition request for 7 FIFA officials.
T&T Express Reports.


GENEVA (AP) — The United States has submitted a formal request for Switzerland to extradite seven FIFA officials arrested in Zurich as part of a corruption probe that has rocked soccer's world governing body.

Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice said Thursday that the requests were received from the U.S. embassy in Bern. The expected demands submitted late Wednesday met a 40-day deadline since the seven were detained early May 27 in raids on a luxury hotel in FIFA's home city.

All seven men detained in Zurich, including three current and former members of FIFA's executive committee, have already objected to extradition. They face around 20 years in prison.

The widening American investigation already alleges bribery and racketeering worth more than $150 million involving high-ranking FIFA officials over a 24-year span.

The U.S. Department of Justice published an indictment of 14 soccer and marketing officials in May which alleged bribery linked to awarding broadcast rights for international tournaments in North and South America.

"These crimes are thought to have been agreed and prepared in the USA, and payments were allegedly routed through US banks," the Swiss justice ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The seven will be heard by Zurich cantonal (State) police and granted a 14-day period to respond to federal officials about the extradition request, the Swiss justice ministry said.

Swiss justice officials will then rule "within a few weeks" on whether to extradite them. That ruling can be appealed to Switzerland's top criminal court and supreme court.

The seven men include FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay, who was arrested two days before his FIFA vice presidential term expired.

Costa Rican soccer federation president Eduardo Li was arrested two days before he was due to formally join FIFA's executive committee.

Former Brazilian federation chief Jose Maria Marin led the 2014 World Cup local organizing committee and is a member of the FIFA panel organizing the men's and women's tournaments at next year's Olympic Games.

The others are Venezuela FA chief Rafael Esquivel; FIFA staffer Julio Rocha, a development officer from Nicaragua; and Costas Takkas, a Briton who works for CONCACAF President Webb.

The other seven men among the 14 indicted include disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, and former FIFA executive committee member Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay, the longtime former president of South American governing body CONMEBOL.

Warner and Leoz, who left FIFA in 2011 and 2013, respectively, to avoid sanctions for unethical behavior, are fighting extradition to the U.S. from their home countries.

A further four men have entered guilty pleas which were unsealed in May. They include American former FIFA executive panel member Chuck Blazer and two sons of Warner.

The indictment revealed that Blazer admitted being part of a $10 million bribe scheme with Warner for supporting South Africa's successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup. A third South American FIFA voter was also involved, Blazer alleged.

FIFA has acknowledged that its secretary general Jerome Valcke helped transfer the money through its accounts at South Africa's request. FIFA and Valcke said the cash was believed to be for soccer projects for the African diaspora in the Caribbean, and was approved by Julio Grondona of Argentina, the chairman of FIFA's finance committee who died last year.

American law enforcement officials have confirmed that FIFA President Sepp Blatter is a target of the investigation which is expected to bring more indictments.

"Whoever accuses me of being corrupt has to prove it to me first," Blatter said in extracts of an interview released Wednesday by German weekly magazine Bunte. "But nobody can do that because I'm not corrupt."

Blatter said June 2 he would leave office within months, as pressure built from the American case and a separate Swiss federal investigation focused on possible money laundering linked to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting awards to Russia and Qatar, respectively.

Blatter cannot be extradited from his native Switzerland to the U.S. without his consent.

Still, he and Frenchman Valcke risk arrest in many countries. They did not travel to New Zealand for the Under-20 World Cup final played June 20 and will not go to Canada for the Women's World Cup final in Vancouver on Sunday.

Blatter was re-elected for a fifth four-year term on May 29, then announced his planned FIFA exit four days later.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

  • Administrator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18062
  • A Trini 4 Real.
    • View Profile
    • Soca Warriors Online
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #456 on: July 04, 2015, 05:09:36 AM »
Webb named among 7 to be extradited
T&T Express


The United States has asked Switzerland to extradite seven FIFA officials arrested in an investigation into a global bribery scandal at football’s governing body, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said on Thursday.

The move marks the start of a legal process expected to last several months during which the officials, who have been in jail since their detention on US arrest warrants in May, will either keep fighting extradition to the United States or agree to go. The arrests of the seven, including two then-members of FIFA’s executive committee, took place in a raid on a luxury Zurich hotel on May 27, two days before FIFA’s annual congress, pitching the organisation into turmoil.

US prosecutors say their investigation—which is running parallel to a separate Swiss inquiry—exposes complex money laundering schemes, millions of dollars in untaxed incomes and tens of millions in offshore accounts held by FIFA officials.

The seven were among 14 people charged in cases involving more than US$150 million in bribes over a period of 24 years. Those being held in Switzerland include Jeffrey Webb, the former president of FIFA’s Americas confederation CONCACAF, and Eugenio Figueredo, who sat on the executive committee at the time of their arrest.

The FOJ said it would rule on the extradition requests within a few weeks, based on statutory hearings and the responses of the FIFA officials.

Edward O’Callaghan, a New York-based lawyer representing Webb, declined to comment on the extradition request and a lawyer for Figueredo did not respond to requests for comment.

The US Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Under a bilateral treaty, US authorities had up to 40 days to file an extradition request -- by July 3. All seven of the officials had previously said they would contest extradition.

Proceedings under the treaty are relatively straightforward, even if the defendants have the right to appeal along the way, legal experts say. If the FOJ orders extraditions, defendants may appeal to Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona.

The detainees were provisionally banned by FIFA’s own ethics committee following the arrests. FIFA has said that it is cooperating with the investigation.

A Swiss court last month rejected one official’s request to be released on bail, citing the risk he might flee.

Rafael Esquivel, 68, the former head of the Venezuelan Football Association, is among the seven FIFA executives held since the Zurich arrests. At a news conference on Thursday, the interim head of the association said Esquivel’s lawyers had received the extradition request on Wednesday and were already moving to block it.

Esquivel is represented by a group of lawyers led by Gorka Villar, the son of Spanish Football Federation president and FIFA executive committee member Angel Maria Villar.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #457 on: July 07, 2015, 02:55:44 AM »
Harold Mayne-Nicholls handed seven-year ban by Fifa’s ethics committee
By Owen Gibson (The Guardian, UK).


Fifa’s ethics committee has banned Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the Chilean who led the inspection teams for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, for seven years. He ranked Qatar’s as the only “high risk” option of the nine bidders yet it went on to controversially be chosen as the host of the 2022 tournament.

The former head of the Chilean football association, who also at one stage considered standing against Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency, was being investigated over an email exchange with the head of Qatar’s Aspire Academy. During the bidding process, Mayne-Nicholls asked if his sons might be able to train there at his expense and also inquired about opportunities for his brother-in-law, a tennis coach. Nothing came of the exchange and yet now Mayne-Nicholls has been banned for seven years.

Mayne-Nicholls was one of five football officials against whom cases were opened in the wake of the publication of a controversial summary of Michael Garcia’s report into World Cup bidding. Garcia subsequently resigned as head of the investigatory arm of Fifa’s ethics committee in protest at the way his 430-page report had been summarised.

The remaining outstanding cases are against Spain’s Fifa vice-president Ángel María Villar Llona, Thailand’s Worawi Makudi and Franz Beckenbauer, who has since retired from Fifa.

Mayne-Nicholls was incredulous that he was being investigated given that he was critical of Qatar’s suitability in his final report and that nothing came of the exchanges with Aspire.

“For me it’s really strange that [the ethics committee] are losing energy, money and time over such an investigation but those are the rules and I have to follow them,” he said last year.

Meanwhile, the former German president Christian Wulff has rejected allegations by Blatter that he tried to exert political pressure before the World Cup was awarded to Russia and Qatar. “The statement by Mr Blatter regarding former President Christian Wulff is false,” Wulff’s office said in a short statement.

Blatter, who has said he will stand down as Fifa president in December after the organisation became implicated in criminal investigations in the US and Switzerland, this weekend said Wulff and the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy had tried to influence their voting representatives before the World Cup was awarded to Russia and Qatar.

In an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Blatter added: “Therefore, we now have a World Cup in Qatar. The people who decided this should also take responsibility,” Blatter was quoted as saying.

“Messrs Sarkozy and Wulff tried to influence their voting representatives. That’s why we now have a World Cup in Qatar,” Those who decided it should take responsibility for it,” said Blatter, who added he was tired of taking the blame for something he had no control over.

“I act on the leadership principal. If a majority of the executive committee wants a World Cup in Qatar then I have to accept that,” Blatter said.

He suggested that the German football federation (DFB) received a recommendation from Wulff “to vote for Qatar out of economic interests”.

The former DFB president Theo Zwanziger wrote in his book that Wulff had asked about Qatar’s chances but he denied it had had any influence. Beckenbauer, an executive committee member at the time, has never indicated which country he voted for.

It has long been claimed that Sarkozy leaned on Michel Platini, the Uefa president, to back Qatar in order to boost French trade links with the tiny Gulf state. But Platini has always insisted the decision was his alone and also denied any link with his son getting a job with a Qatar-owned sportswear firm.

Blatter has repeatedly referred to the European vote winning the day for Qatar in a bid to put pressure on the Uefa lobby that opposed his re-election. What is undeniable is that it was European votes that helped Qatar defeat the USA in the final round of voting and that Sarkozy subsequently travelled to Doha to call for the World Cup to be moved to winter.

A combative Blatter also refused to accept any responsibility over the mistreatment of migrant workers in Qatar.

“Look at the German companies!” he said before naming railway and construction firms. “Deutsche Bahn, Hochtief and many more had projects in Qatar even before the World Cup was awarded.”

And although Fifa insiders have moved to try and quell suggestions that he may try and stay on as president, Blatter left no doubt that he was trying to engineer a succession.

“I’m there now to fight. Not for myself but for Fifa,” said Blatter, who added he was on the right path and had no doubts. “Self-doubt is a leader’s greatest enemy.”

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #458 on: July 07, 2015, 03:11:45 AM »
Mayne-Nicholls was interviewed recently on the BBC programme World Football. Having listened to it then, hmmm ... Form your own conclusions.

http://iono.fm/e/182042

Offline Tallman

  • Administrator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 25250
    • View Profile
Jeffrey Webb reported to have agreed extradition to US
« Reply #459 on: July 10, 2015, 04:44:45 PM »
Jeffrey Webb reported to have agreed extradition to US
theguardian.com


Jeffrey Webb, one of seven Fifa officials arrested in Zurich in May, has agreed to be extradited and face corruption charges in the United States, the Bloomberg website has reported.

Webb is expected in federal court in New York within several days, according to a Bloomberg source.

Webb, based in the Cayman Islands, became Concacaf president, a Fifa vice-president and exco member in May 2012, after Jack Warner resigned following a scandal over payments.

He was seen as a potential successor to Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency but the US indictment has accused him of brazen corruption, being paid bribes that went into building a swimming pool at his house. The bribes are alleged to have been paid by the sports marketing company Traffic USA, in return for being awarded TV and marketing rights for the Caribbean countries’ qualifying matches in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice said the suspect would be handed to the US authorities within 10 days, adding “the person didn’t wish to be named at the moment”. Webb’s lawyer declined to comment as did a spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
The Conquering Lion of Judah shall break every chain.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #460 on: July 16, 2015, 06:02:18 AM »
Webb was extradited yesterday.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #461 on: July 19, 2015, 01:08:06 PM »
FIFA to decide day to replace Sepp Blatter as president
Sky Sports News


The most powerful officials in world football are gathering in Switzerland for an extraordinary meeting to decide the date of the election to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.

FIFA's Executive Committee will meet at FIFA headquarters on Monday morning to discuss a date, and wider reform, after Blatter announced his intention to leave his position.

His decision came four days after his re-election in May, and nearly a week after seven FIFA officials were charged by the United States authorities over alleged corruption.

Blatter has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Top executives will hold informal talks on the eve of the meeting inside the five-star Baur au Lac hotel, where the cheapest room is nearly £600-a-night.

FA vice-chairman David Gill will attend the meeting, his first official role as a FIFA vice-president, after he previously refused to sit on the same committee as Blatter.

Gill, who replaced Jim Boyce in May, remains hostile towards Blatter’s presidency, and the FA demands structural reform.

"The reform programme cannot be left in the hands of Blatter," FA chairman Greg Dyke told Sky Sports News HQ ahead of the meeting. "We don't like him. This is a man who is probably in a state of shock. He was triumphant. He was going to run FIFA for the next four years, and actually gave it up after four days. FIFA is an organisation that has been corrupted over 40 years."

Domenico Scala, the FIFA executive overseeing the election process, has declined to confirm or deny whether he intends to run for presidency, and is understood to have privately played down 'speculation' over his future plans.

Scala issued a statement last month and said: "The times of flirting with the power are definitely gone. I call on all concerned - including Mr Blatter - to endorse in the interest of the reforms unequivocally the announced changing of the guard at the top of FIFA."

The Premier League has also called for urgent reform at world football's governing body.

"You sit there with some despair, really," Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore told Sky Sports News HQ during this month's Asia Trophy in Singapore. "It is the game you love, and the world governing body is going through such turmoil. Who is holding the organisation to account? Things have got to change; we know things have got to change. Let us hope the change is going to be made to bring some sort of impact to the game."

Blatter intends to travel to Russia for the World Cup preliminary draw, which takes place in St Petersburg on Saturday, in his first trip outside Switzerland since he announced his intention to stand down as FIFA president.

Video
« Last Edit: July 19, 2015, 01:10:22 PM by asylumseeker »

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #462 on: July 19, 2015, 01:14:06 PM »
Jeffrey Webb pleads not guilty for part in FIFA corruption scandal
Sky Sports News


Jeffrey Webb has been released on bond after entering not guilty plea

Former FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb pleaded not guilty in a New York court on Saturday in connection with a massive international corruption scandal.

Webb, 50, agreed to be released from custody on a £6.4m bond, and he has relinquished his passport to the FBI as well as agreeing to staying within a 20 mile radius of the US federal court in Brooklyn.

He is the first former official from football's governing body to appear in a New York court in connection with the sweeping international scandal that has rocked the sporting world.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter decided to step down from his role, after being re-elected in early June, admitting his mandate from world football did not feel complete.

Webb was flown to New York from Switzerland earlier this week, the only one of seven FIFA officials arrested in Zurich not to contest extradition.

His wife, a US citizen, her parents and grandmother signed his bond papers in court. Six other members of Webb's extended family will also sign his bond application.

In all, 14 defendants stand accused of soliciting and receiving more than £96m in bribes and kickbacks across 24 years.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch unveiled the 47-count indictment in May, charging soccer officials and marketing executives with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.

Besides serving as FIFA vice president, Webb was president of the Cayman Islands football association as well as CONCACAF, which oversees the sport in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #463 on: July 20, 2015, 12:59:05 PM »
Fifa announce presidential election will be held in February 2016
By Owen Gibson (The Guardian, UK).


Sepp Blatter has begun the race to see him replaced as Fifa president, setting the election for February next year as Michel Platini emerged as his most likely successor.

The sense of farce surrounding the scandal-hit body intensified when the prankster Lee Nelson, posing as a “North Korean World Cup bidding delegate”, showered the longstanding Fifa president with fake dollar bills seconds before his press conference was due to begin.

Nelson, whose real name is Simon Brodkin, has previously ambushed Kanye West at Glastonbury and posed as a member of the England football team. As the bills fluttered to the floor, Blatter appeared momentarily bemused before calling for the auditorium to be cleaned.

Appearing before the press for the first time since he promised to step down amid a spiralling corruption scandal, he returned to announce a “reform taskforce” that he insisted would restore Fifa’s credibility.

“I am still alive. After the tsunami on 27 May that came to Zurich, the waves have not taken me away. I am still here,” he said, referring to the dawn raids on the Baur au Lac hotel and the US indictments that followed.

Following speculation Blatter would attempt to make a U-turn and stay on as president, the 79-year-old unequivocally vowed to stand down.

“I will not be a candidate for the election in 2016,” he said, joking that he planned to become a radio journalist covering global politics. “There will be a new president. I can’t be the new president, because I am the old president.”

The announcement came as it looked increasingly likely Uefa’s Platini would stand for the role. David Gill, the FA director who reversed his decision to resign from the Fifa executive committee after Blatter promised to go, praised Platini.
Advertisement

“My own personal view is that Michel has done a first-class job at Uefa. He has not officially put his name forward yet, but he is a football man, he has the experience and, like any good leader, he has a lot of good people around him because you cannot do it alone.”

On the reform programme promised by the outgoing president, Gill said: “There are a lot of good ideas and many of them echo what the FA has been proposing for some time. It’s important that the recommendations are taken to the congress in February to ensure Fifa does really start on a new beginning.”

However, reform campaigners argued that Fifa’s proposals were not an acceptable response.

Platini held talks at the Baur au Lac on Sunday night with the Bahraini Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, and Kuwait’s well-connected Fifa executive member, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah.

Platini, who has received backing from four confederations but not from Africa and Oceania, is understood to be weighing up his options and will take further soundings at the World Cup draw in St Petersburg on Saturday.

“He has been pleased to hear a lot of words of support from some of the world’s leading football decision-makers,” said a Uefa spokesman. “He has been impressed by the fact that many people could see him as a possible successor.”

Other potential candidates include the South Korean Chung Mong-joon, the Confederation of African Football president, Issa Hayatou, the former Brazil international Zico and the South African anti-apartheid campaigner Tokyo Sexwale.

The election will take place eight months and 25 days after Blatter promised to step down following the dramatic US indictments against 14 football executives on charges including money laundering, fraud, tax evasion and racketeering.
Advertisement

The US investigation and a parallel Swiss probe into the awarding of the 2018 Russia World Cup and the 2022 tournament in Qatar are ongoing .

Candidates will have until 26 October to announce whether they plan to stand under Fifa election rules but Platini, a former ally of Blatter who later fell out with his one-time mentor, is expected to clarify his plans in the coming weeks.

As revealed by the Guardian, Domenico Scala – the head of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee – who has been put in charge of the reform process by Blatter, proposed the introduction of term limits, centralised “integrity checks” and transparency on pay and expenses at Fifa and its member confederations and associations.

Blatter said the executive committee had approved the creation of a new taskforce to be headed by a neutral chairman. But the plans, the latest in a long line of reform promises, are unlikely to appease anti-corruption watchdogs and campaigners who believe the governance agenda should be separated from the election process and led by an external, respected figure.

If Platini decides to stand, he will inevitably face renewed questions over his support for Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid.

Meanwhile, campaign groups including Transparency International are calling for an independent reform process led by a respected external figure. Coca-Cola last week became the first major sponsor to call for a wide ranging overhaul.

Jaimie Fuller, the founder of the sportswear brand Skins that is backing the NewFifaNow campaign for independent intervention, said it would be a mistake to focus on the presidential election as the vehicle for reform.

“This is not a Sepp Blatter problem, it’s a cultural problem within Fifa,” he said. “The problem is way bigger than the president. I don’t believe Platini or anybody else has the ability to go in and see what needs to be done.”

Six of the seven executives arrested in May remain in custody in Zurich awaiting extradition hearings. Jeffrey Webb, the former Concacaf president and Fifa vice-president, has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2015, 01:05:08 PM by asylumseeker »

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #464 on: July 20, 2015, 01:09:22 PM »
Michel Platini receives further backing to stand as Fifa presidential candidate
The Guardian, UK.


Michel Platini could announce as early as this week that he will stand for Fifa president after receiving backing from four out of the six confederations.

The 60-year-old Uefa president has yet to make a final decision but sources say Asia has swung behind Europe, South America and Concacaf in supporting Platini to succeed Sepp Blatter.

Platini held talks in Zurich on Sunday night with the Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, and as significantly with Kuwait’s Fifa executive member Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait.

Both men are key to the Frenchman’s chances of success – Al-Sabah is viewed as the most important broker in the International Olympic Committee and together with Salman should be able to swing 46 countries behind him, enough to secure a majority.

Platini has long-held links with Kuwait – in 1988 at the invitation of the Emir of Kuwait he came out of retirement to make a guest appearance for the Arabic country in an exhibition match against the USSR, playing 21 minutes.

Platini’s decision will rest on his personal feelings – he has in the past questioned whether he wants to give up his involvement with Uefa, and its influence over European football, in exchange for Fifa.

Platini would be the clear favourite for Fifa however, and were he to win then Germany’s Wolfgang Niersbach would be a likely successor for the Uefa presidency.

Offline Sando prince

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 9192
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #465 on: July 28, 2015, 03:05:33 PM »
THE OPPORTUNIST WAS JUST WAITING FOR THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY. Europe will soon be in control. See all the development happening in African and Asia don't be surprised if that comes to a gradual end soon  :)

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20150728/sports/michel-platini-will-run-for-fifa-president

Offline E-man

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 8711
  • Support all Warriors. Red, White and Blacklisted.
    • View Profile
    • T&T Football History
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #466 on: July 28, 2015, 05:15:05 PM »
Sepp Blatter deserves Nobel Prize, says Russian President Vladimir Putin
BY ESPN STAFF


Russian President Vladimir Putin believes FIFA chief Sepp Blatter is innocent of corruption, and even deserves a Nobel Prize.

Putin, whose country will host the 2018 World Cup, met Blatter before the event's preliminary draw on Saturday and said the leader of the football's under-fire world governing body had his respect.

"We all know the situation developing around Mr Blatter right now," Putin said in an interview with Swiss broadcaster RTS. "I don't want to go into details but I don't believe a word about him being involved in corruption personally.

"I think people like Mr Blatter or the heads of big international sporting federations, or the Olympic Games, deserve special recognition. If there is anyone who deserves the Nobel Prize, it's those people."

The Nobel Peace Center announced last month that it would stop working with FIFA on the joint fair-play "Handshake for Peace" initiative after the corruption allegations that rocked world football.

Blatter will step down as FIFA president in February, a decision he made in June following the bribery scandal that has led to the indictments of top FIFA officials. Blatter himself has not been indicted and denies any wrongdoing.

FIFA's awarding of the World Cup to Russia, a country with a history of civil rights violations and which is currently involved in armed conflict with Ukraine, was one of many reasons that the U.S. justice department turned it's gaze toward football.

The scandal put some doubt over whether the World Cup will stay in Russia, and Putin has previously criticised the U.S. for overstepping its bounds.

He hit back at the U.S. again on Monday, implying that the Americans were trying to reopen the voting so they could host an upcoming World Cup instead.

"The way there is this fight against corruption makes me wonder if it isn't a continuation of the bids for 2018 and 2022," Putin said.

Offline Sando prince

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 9192
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #467 on: July 28, 2015, 05:25:32 PM »

Platini coming. Kiss the the one country, one vote goodbye  ;)

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #468 on: August 17, 2015, 03:36:55 AM »
FIFA Official Agrees to Extradition, Just Not to U.S.
By Rebecca R. Ruiz (The New York Times).


A FIFA official indicted by the United States on corruption charges has agreed to be extradited, but not to the United States. The official, Julio Rocha, the former president of the Nicaraguan soccer federation, consented to be extradited from Switzerland to Nicaragua, Swiss officials said Friday.

Mr. Rocha, 64, was among the seven FIFA officials arrested in May in Zurich, where they had gathered for FIFA’s annual congress. Accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from sports marketing firms in connection with the sale of media rights to soccer matches, he has been in a Swiss jail since.

The United States filed a request to extradite the seven officials in July, and Nicaragua filed its own request specific to Mr. Rocha last week, the Swiss authorities said.

“The Nicaraguan criminal prosecution authorities, like their U.S. counterparts, suspect Rocha of having abused his office for personal gain,” Folco Galli, spokesman for the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, wrote in an email.

The United States authorities will be given the opportunity to consent or object to Mr. Rocha’s extradition to his home country, Mr. Galli said. The United States attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, which brought the case against Mr. Rocha, declined to comment on Friday.

If the United States objects to Mr. Rocha’s extradition to Nicaragua, the Swiss authorities will decide which country’s request should be granted. Consideration would be given to the timing of the two requests, the Nicaraguan citizenship of Mr. Rocha and where the suspected offenses took place, Mr. Galli wrote.

The bribes said to have been paid to Mr. Rocha were transmitted through banks in Brazil; Miami; Managua, Nicaragua; and Madrid, according to the United States’ indictment. Mr. Rocha conspired with fellow defendants regarding bribe payments at meetings in Miami as recently as February 2014, prosecutors said.

He continued to solicit illegal payments, the United States has charged, even after he stepped down as head of his country’s federation in 2012. Since 2013, he has served as a FIFA development officer based in Panama, overseeing soccer development in Central America.

Only one of the six other officials with whom Mr. Rocha was held in jail has been extradited to the United States: Jeffrey Webb. On Friday, Mr. Webb, a resident of the Cayman Islands who owns property in the United States, appeared in federal court in Brooklyn for a procedural hearing. His next court date was set for Oct. 9.

Two other defendants, Aaron Davidson and Alejandro Burzaco, businessmen accused of paying bribes to Mr. Rocha and Mr. Webb, are also in the United States and are set to appear in court on Sept. 18. Excluding Mr. Rocha, 10 men remain abroad, in countries including Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago; several are actively contesting the United States’ efforts to extradite them.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #469 on: August 17, 2015, 03:40:07 AM »
FIFA Names François Carrard to Lead Reform Committee
The Associated Press


GENEVA — FIFA has named François Carrard, who helped oversee a cleanup at the International Olympic Committee after the Salt Lake City bidding scandal, as the chairman of a group that will propose reforms for soccer’s corruption-plagued governing body.

Carrard, a former director general of the I.O.C., was chosen Tuesday to lead a team of 12 officials picked by the six continental soccer confederations, plus two chosen by World Cup sponsors.

The selection of Sheik Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah of Kuwait, a new FIFA executive committee member, as a member of the reform team confirmed his growing influence in world soccer.

By including sponsors in the project, FIFA acknowledged its growing anxiety after the indictments of 14 soccer officials and marketing executives and guilty pleas by four others this year in a United States government investigation into racketeering and bribery in international soccer.

“It’s a very big crisis,” Carrard said in a conference call with reporters. “The objective is to get acceptable reforms to the world and to restore FIFA’s credibility.”

Carrard set a mid-September date for the panel’s first meeting and acknowledged that a Sept. 24-25 meeting of FIFA’s executive committee in Zurich was a “very tight” deadline for a report.

Carrard, a Swiss lawyer, was the I.O.C.’s director general for 14 years until 2003, a period that included the scandal that led to the expulsions or resignations of 10 committee members connected to Salt Lake City’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

The scandal prompted the committee to enact reforms, including the creation of an ethics commission, the introduction of term and age limits and a ban on visits by members to bid cities.

Reform proposals being discussed for Sepp Blatter’s successor as FIFA president and for executive committee members include term limits, the publishing of salaries and stricter vetting of candidates.

Carrard’s team includes three members of FIFA’s executive committee, whose integrity has been questioned in the past. Amid skepticism by World Cup sponsors and FIFA critics that his task force would lack both independence and figures from outside of soccer, Carrard said input from confederation officials would be “an asset.”

Although Carrard praised previous FIFA anticorruption advisers led by Mark Pieth, a Swiss law professor, for providing “pillars” for his panel, he suggested that people from within the sport could achieve more.

“At some point these outsiders are sitting on the clouds,” he said. “You have to be in the eye of the storm and moving the reforms with the people inside.”

Carrard will choose up to five people to form an advisory board that will review his proposals.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #470 on: August 17, 2015, 03:44:50 AM »
Brazilian Implicated in FIFA Case Remains Free, Unlike Many Others
By Rebecca R. Ruiz (The New York Times).


Some are sitting in jail in Switzerland, while others are under house arrest in places including New York and Asunción, Paraguay. But of the 14 people indicted in May in a far-reaching corruption case within world soccer, only one remains a free man.

José Margulies, 75, has not had his daily routine disrupted in São Paulo, Brazil, in a country whose constitution forbids the extradition of its citizens unless they are accused of trafficking drugs or of committing crimes that predate their Brazilian citizenship.

“He’s living in Brazil as a free man because, according to Brazilian law, it’s impossible to charge him,” said Jair Jaloreto, Mr. Margulies’s lawyer. “He’s old and sick, and he mostly prefers to stay home with his wife.”

Mr. Margulies has heart disease and diabetes, Mr. Jaloreto said. He was, however, on vacation in Germany when United States officials indicted him in May, according to Mr. Jaloreto; he returned to Brazil soon after and has not left since.

As other countries have done with the implicated FIFA officials and business executives who live within their borders, Brazil has begun its own investigation into the United States’ allegations against Mr. Margulies. He was indicted on four counts of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy, based on allegations that he, as a broadcasting executive, helped arrange illegal payments between marketing executives and soccer officials.

But Brazil’s inquiry is expected to take at least a year, Mr. Margulies’s lawyer estimated, and in the interim he will remain free.

“Without a judicial order, it’s impossible to arrest him,” said Antonio Sergio Pitombo, a lawyer with the Moraes Pitombo firm in São Paulo. But while extradition is unlikely, he said, it is not impossible. Mr. Pitombo suggested that under the Palermo convention, which relates to organized crime and corruption, the Brazilian authorities could agree to send Mr. Margulies to the United States temporarily to testify, requiring that he be returned to Brazil afterward.

Mr. Margulies — who according to prosecutors also goes by José Lazaro, a “nickname,” according to his lawyer — was born in Argentina. He became a Brazilian citizen in 1973, decades before activities that led to the charges began. He also holds Polish and Argentine citizenship.

The federal police in Brazil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It’s extremely common for countries all around the world to put in place protections for their own nationals,” said Rebecca Niblock, an extradition lawyer with Kingsley Napley in London, noting that Russia uniformly refuses to extradite its nationals and that Switzerland, too, offers its citizens strong protections.

Though six of the indicted FIFA officials remain in Switzerland, where they were arrested, they are not citizens of that country. Another official, Jeffrey Webb, the former president of a regional soccer confederation, was also arrested there, but he consented to extradition and was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn last month. Mr. Webb is out on bail in New York, as is Alejandro Burzaco, a marketing executive who turned himself in to the authorities in Italy.

Elsewhere, several defendants are fighting extradition but have been arrested by local authorities who are carrying out their own investigations. Among them is Nicolas Léoz, who is under house arrest in Paraguay while that country continues its own inquiry into the charges against him.

Ms. Niblock said it was not unexpected that Brazil’s investigation of Mr. Margulies might extend into next year while he remained free. “An investigation like this one would be immensely complicated, and a year would be perfectly reasonable,” she said.

In the interim, Mr. Margulies is immune to arrest only if he remains in Brazil, and international authorities are on alert. In June, Interpol issued so-called red notices for Mr. Margulies and five other defendants, telegraphing that they are wanted by the United States authorities.

On Friday, Pietro Calcaterra of Interpol confirmed that the notice for Mr. Margulies was still in effect, meaning if he were to travel outside of Brazil, the United States authorities would be notified upon his arrival in another country.

Interpol is also still on watch for Jack Warner, a former FIFA vice president and a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Warner, too, has largely continued about his daily life in that country, where he is active in politics. But, unlike Mr. Margulies, Mr. Warner was arrested and required to surrender his passport before posting bail.

Edward Fitzgerald, a lawyer representing Mr. Warner, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The United States attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

“Mr. Margulies is still wanted by the F.B.I,” Kelly Langmesser, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York, said Friday. “He’s a wanted fugitive, and we still have a poster out for him.”

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #471 on: August 17, 2015, 03:54:21 AM »
Updating the legal status of the 14 soccer and sports marketing officials charged in the FIFA corruption case
By Rebecca R. Ruiz (The New York Times).


Charged in the United States

Jeffrey Webb, President of Concacaf, one of the six regional confederations that compose FIFA, and a vice president of FIFA.

Webb, 50, pleaded not guilty on July 18 at an arraignment in United States District Court in Brooklyn to charges that he had solicited bribes to parcel out lucrative soccer media and marketing deals. Webb, who was arrested in Switzerland in May, was released on a $10 million bond secured by a mix of real estate holdings owned by him, his wife and other relatives; bank accounts; cars; and expensive watches and jewelry. He has been provisionally banned from all soccer-related activities by FIFA’s ethics committee.

Aaron Davidson, president of Traffic Sports USA, a promoter of soccer events, and chairman of the board of the North American Soccer League.

Davidson, 44, pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court and was released on a $5 million bond secured by several real estate properties. Prosecutors told the judge in the case in July that Davidson was in talks for a plea deal, but no such deal has emerged. Davidson has been provisionally banned from soccer by FIFA and suspended from any role in the N.A.S.L.

Alejandro Burzaco, president of the sports media company Torneos.

Burzaco pleaded not guilty on July 31 to charges that he had paid bribes to top soccer officials in order to secure lucrative media and marketing contracts. Burzaco had surrendered to the Italian authorities after being declared a wanted person by Interpol in June. He and Webb are the only defendants who have been extradited to the United States. His bail was set at $20 million, twice the amount that secured Webb’s release.

In Custody

Eugenio Figueredo, former president of Conmebol, the South American soccer federation; Eduardo Li, president of the Costa Rican soccer federation; Julio Rocha, president of the Nicaraguan soccer federation; Costas Takkas, former president of the Cayman Islands soccer federation; Rafael Esquivel, president of the Venezuelan soccer federation; José Maria Marin, former president of Brazil’s soccer federation.

These six men, and Webb, were arrested by the Swiss authorities in May at their luxury hotel in Zurich, where they had gathered for FIFA’s annual congress. While Webb has been extradited, the other six remain in custody in Switzerland. All have been provisionally banned from all soccer-related activities by FIFA’s ethics committee. Rocha has consented to extradition — to Nicaragua. Swiss officials are expected to decide whether to send him there, or to the United States, which requested extradition in July.

Released on Bail

Jack Warner, former president of Concacaf and former vice president of FIFA.

Warner, who resigned from FIFA in 2011 amid an earlier ethics scandal, turned himself in to the police in his native Trinidad and Tobago in June. A judge read out the charges against him and released him on bail of about $400,000. He must report in to the authorities regularly as a condition of his release, but has so far been able to delay his extradition, even though the United States made a formal request on July 22. He has repeatedly, defiantly and, at times, comically professed his innocence.

Under House Arrest

Nicolás Leoz: former president of Conmebol and former member of FIFA executive committee.

A judge in Paraguay ordered the detention of Leoz, 86, who had been receiving medical treatment for high blood pressure. Leoz, too, has been provisionally banned from soccer by FIFA.

Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis (father and son), and president and vice president of the sports media company Full Play International.

After the FIFA scandal broke, an Argentine judge quickly issued arrested warrants for Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, and that country’s tax authorities said they had opened an investigation into tax evasion. They turned themselves in to the police on July 18 after Interpol raided their company’s offices and issued red alerts for their arrest. Hugo, 70, and Mariano Jinkis, 40, are reportedly under house arrest.

Arrest Warrant Issued

José Margulies, sports media executive.

Margulies was charged by the United States as an intermediary who facilitated illegal payments, reportedly in exchange for an annual commission. Margulies, 75, remains listed as “wanted” by Interpol, but because of Brazilian law he has not been arrested.

(as of August 8, 2015)
« Last Edit: August 17, 2015, 03:55:53 AM by asylumseeker »

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #472 on: August 17, 2015, 04:11:10 AM »


On August 4, Nicaraguan authorities formally charged Julio Rocha with money laundering and unjust enrichment (criminal in the context of the Nicaraguan law, rather than civil) in the Sixth District Criminal Court of Managua.

According to the charging documents, the State, the financial system and the Nicaraguan federation were identifed as the victims of the offences charged. Subsequently, the Nicaraguan authorities reached out to Interpol to secure Rocha's arrest (for Nicaragua; they are of course cognizant of the US interest in extradition to the US).

The August 4 proceeding was not made public until this past weekend. In fact, although Nicaragua formally requested Rocha's extradition from Switzerland, Nicaraguan authorities did not share with the Swiss that local proceedings against Rocha had been initiated.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2015, 04:34:53 AM by asylumseeker »

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #473 on: August 18, 2015, 10:38:06 AM »
Chung Cannot Bank on Support of Japan, Says FIFA's Tashima
By Reuters


KUALA LUMPUR — South Korean FIFA presidential hopeful Chung Mong-joon cannot bank on the support of neighbouring Japan, FIFA executive committee member Kozo Tashima told Reuters on Tuesday.

Tashima said he was pleased his good friend Chung was standing for president, but suggested Japan would instead vote at the Feb. 26 election for Michel Platini to head world football's governing body.

"Of course as the same region, east Asia, we are so proud to have a candidate for FIFA (president)," the Japanese official told Reuters on Tuesday on the sidelines of an Asian Football Confederation conference.

"We haven't decided who we will vote for, we should consider all candidates and the manifestos, what he is doing, what he has done."

AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa last week declared his support for Platini. Around 30 to 35 of the AFC's 46 members traditionally vote in unison with Salman, and Tashima said it was always important for Japan, one of the region's wealthiest members, to be united with the rest of the confederation in electing leaders.

Chung, a former FIFA vice-president, launched his bid to succeed Sepp Blatter on Monday in Paris, the home of UEFA President Platini.

Frenchman Platini is favourite to win the election and take charge of the scandal-hit governing body.

"We should discuss within the AFC. Sheikh Salman has already recommended Michel Platini," former Japan international Tashima told Reuters.

"The AFC decided to support Blatter last time even against our very good friend Prince Ali as a candidate," he added, referring to May's FIFA election where the Swiss beat Jordanian Prince Ali bin al Hussein after receiving the support of Salman.

Ex-Brazil player Zico, former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder David Nakhid and Liberian FA chairman Musa Bility have also said they are running in the election, while Ali and South African Tokyo Sexwale are considering taking part.

Tashima said it was vital that whoever won the election brought about big changes in the running of the sport otherwise the body had no future.

He said he wanted to hear more about plans to abolish the executive committee from Domenico Scala, the independent chairman of FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee.

U.S. prosecutors indicted nine football officials, most of whom had FIFA positions, and five marketing and broadcasting company executives, in May over a range of alleged offences, including fraud, money-laundering and racketeering.

Blatter was re-elected for a fifth term as FIFA president on May 29, but four days later said he would lay down his mandate amid the worst crisis in the body's history.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #474 on: August 19, 2015, 02:23:37 AM »
FIFA Election: Chung paints Platini as Blatter insider
by Paul Kennedy (Soccer America).


Chung Mong Joon is an old hand when it comes to FIFA politics -- he served on the executive committee for 17 years and helped South Korea win the right to co-host the 2022 World Cup with Japan -- but he is running as an outsider in his bid to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president. His strategy is to paint favorite Michael Platini as an insider and too close to Blatter and the corruption scandal that has engulfed FIFA.

"Recently, Platini said Blatter is his enemy," the 63-year-old billionaire whose family controls the industrial giant Hyundai, said, "but we know the relationship was like mentor and protege, or father and son."

Platini, the UEFA president, was an outspoken critic of Blatter in recent presidential campaign, supporting Prince Ali of Jordan, who had ousted Ching from the FIFA executive committee in 2011.

Chung launched his presidential bid in Paris.

"Michel Platini was a great football player,"he said, "and he is my good friend. His problem is he does not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the corruption crisis at FIFA."

Chung, 61, blamed Blatter for FIFA's problems and promised to serve only one term, long enough to clean up the organization.

"The real reason FIFA has become such a corrupt organization is because the same person and his cronies have been running it for 40 years," said Chung. "If I'm elected I will serve only one term, four years. I can change FIFA in four years."

Chung said the new FIFA president should be a crisis manager and reformer.

"The core issue of the coming election is whether the 40-year-old system of corruption should continue or not," he said. “Organizations begin to corrupt and the leader thinks he is indispensable.”

In the world of FIFA politics, enemies become friends and friends later become enemies. In 2011, Blatter supported Prince Ali in his successful to unseat Chung from the FIFA executive committee. Four years later, Prince Ali ran against Blatter for FIFA president.

Chung, who holds degrees from MIT and Johns Hopkins, has unsuccessfully run for president of South Korea (2002) and mayor of Seoul (2014). His greatest achievement in soccer was as head of South Korea's bid to host the 2002 World Cup.

Japan was the heavy favorite with a head start on its Asian rival, but South Korea eventually pulled even in a race so heated that FIFA decided to allow Japan and South Korea to co-host the event.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #475 on: August 23, 2015, 06:03:49 AM »
Zico gets praise from Asia but not Fifa vote for presidential elections
Marcus Mergulhao (Times of India).


Asian football, particularly Japan, recalls with fondness the role played by Zico in its development but just about nobody is willing to part with their nomination for the Fifa president's post.

Ever since long-serving Fifa president Sepp Blatter surprisingly announced that he will quit his post and fresh elections were called, a raft of candidates have put their hand up. Leading the race is UEFA president Michel Platini, followed by former Fifa vice president Chung Mong-joon. And even though Zico has openly declared he intends to stand for the presidency, getting the required backing of five federations that would allow him to stand could be tough.

The Brazilian legend and FC Goa chief coach is hopeful of securing the four nominations -- with Brazil guaranteeing him of a nomination if he gets the other four -- from countries where he has worked in the past. Japan remains an obvious choice but Fifa executive committee member and Japan FA vice-president Kozo Tashima remained non-committal.

"Japan got recognition as a leading football nation globally only after Zico took charge of our national team. Previously, it was not possible (for us) to play friendlies against top ranked nations like England, Argentina and Germany.

"It goes without saying that the Japanese national team has been successfully transformed (after playing top teams). Zico (as coach) encouraged the national teams' players to be self-reliant and strong mentally," Tashima told TOI.

Asked specifically about the nomination for Zico, Tashima said "any matters related to Fifa presidential election would not be commented at the current moment."

Tashima's silence, and even those from other Asian countries where Zico has worked previously, including Iraq, Uzbekistan, Qatar and even India, is understandable.

AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has declared his support for Platini and just about nobody is ready to break ranks, at least openly.

"It's easy for someone to vote for a Fifa presidential candidate but extremely difficult to hand over a nomination. A vote after all is secret but a nomination becomes public knowledge. Nobody will want to invite the wrath of the AFC when the president himself has announced that the confederation is backing Platini," said a high-ranking Asian football official.

Frenchman Platini is favourite to win the election and take charge of the scandal-hit governing body.

Besides Platini, Chung, the 63-year-old billionaire major shareholder of the industrial giant Hyundai, and Zico, former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder David Nakhid, Liberian FA chairman Musa Bility and South African Tokyo Sexwale are also considering throwing their hat in the ring.

Zico will officially announce his campaign intentions on August 31 and then travel to Dubai for FC Goa's pre-season training.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #476 on: September 09, 2015, 10:44:45 AM »
Prince Ali back in the race to be FIFA president
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi (Reuters).


Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan is back in the race to be elected FIFA president having declared his candidacy on Wednesday four months after losing May's vote to Sepp Blatter.

Prince Ali, 39, announced in a speech in the Jordanian capital that he would run again for the top job at world soccer's governing body.

“Friends I stand here in this ancient place in the timeless heart of Amman to once again launch my candidacy for the Presidency of Fifa,” Prince Ali said.

“Let me be clear, I want to finish what we started,” he added.

“We have come too far to walk away now. I have thought long and hard on this, I believe in the road we started, I believe in the moments I shared with people all over the world, who told me their hopes and dreams.”

Prince Ali is the third heavyweight to declare following UEFA chief Michel Platini of France, and former Asia vice-president Chung Mong-joon of South Korea.

He also said in his declaration speech that his campaign will depend on reforming the organization.

“It is only through new leadership that FIFA can change I do not believe that FIFA can give this sport back to the people of the world without new leadership, untainted by the practices of the past.

“Since the last election, I have thought long and hard about how to reform FIFA. It will be a difficult task. We must overcome deep-seated corruption and political deal making.

“I will not be a pawn for others. I cannot leave the field that I have cleared, only to allow a flawed system to continue.

“To Member Associations of FIFA I say, you are the backbone of football and FIFA should serve you. FIFA will not be run as the personal fiefdom of an all-powerful clique.”

WORST CRISIS

Ali lost by 133-73 votes to incumbent Blatter in the election on May 27 before the Swiss announced he was standing down from the position four days later after FIFA was plunged into the worst crisis in its 111-year history following arrests of its officials and others two days before the election.

A fresh election to find a successor to Blatter will be held in Zurich on Feb. 26 and Ali will again campaign on an anti-corruption, reform program.

Backed by Platini in May's election, Ali now faces him as an opponent in the race, describing the Frenchman as a "Blatter protege" who is not the man to lead FIFA into a new era of transparency and democracy.

Ali has already defeated Chung in an election when he took his Asian vice-presidency seat on the FIFA executive committee in 2011 which ended the Korean's 17-year stint at FIFA's top table.

Ali subsequently lost his place on the FIFA executive earlier this year.

Speaking at the Soccerex global convention in Manchester this week, Ali said: "I have tremendous respect for Mr Platini both as the UEFA president and a former footballer but at the same time there is a difference between UEFA and FIFA.

"FIFA is in a crisis and we need a new beginning and, whether anyone likes it or not, Michel Platini's introduction into football governance was as a protege of Sepp Blatter. That's the reality.

"I have sat down and talked with him, I have listened to his ideas and I think it's my responsibility to at least guarantee the future is different from the past and therefore I was not very encouraged by Michel Platini."

He was equally dismissive of Chung, saying: "The important thing is to have a new beginning and to have new ideas and therefore any candidate who has been in the organization for a long time is not what is needed at this time."

Ali confounded many observers by forcing a second round of voting in May's election after denying Blatter an outright two-thirds winning margin in the first round.

However, it is hard to see him collecting so many votes again, especially if UEFA members back their president Platini and the Asian confederation also throws its weight behind the Frenchman.

Candidates with nominations from five national associations must officially register their declarations with FIFA by Oct. 26.

Liberian FA president Musa Bility, former Brazilian footballer Zico and David Nakhid, a former Trinidad & Tobago international, and all lightweights in FIFA political circles, have also said they are standing for the position.

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile

Offline asylumseeker

  • Moderator
  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 18073
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #478 on: October 07, 2015, 02:55:23 PM »
A FIFA ethics panel has recommended that Sepp Blatter be suspended for 90 days. Reports indicate that a final decision will be rendered on Friday.

However, based on comments from Mr. Blatter's attorney, the FIFA action has not been communicated formally.


Offline Sando prince

  • Hero Warrior
  • *****
  • Posts: 9192
    • View Profile
Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #479 on: October 07, 2015, 05:30:39 PM »


 

1]; } ?>