Sepp Blatter: Scandals and The Pending FIFA Elections

[Rutashubanyuma]

Sepp Blatter: I once handed back a bribe

• President promises to reform Fifa if he is re-elected
• Blatter revealed being targeted when secretary general

• Press Association
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 May 2011 12.58 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Sepp Blatter has said he will reform Fifa if he wins the presidential election on 1 June. Photograph: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
  
  Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, has promised to reform the organisation if he is re-elected and revealed that he too once handed back a bribe when he was given an envelope which turned out to be stuffed with cash.
  The 75-year-old said he will present proposals to Fifa's congress next week on dealing with past allegations of corruption and ticket touting by senior Fifa officials. Blatter is keeping the details secret but they include allowing the congress made up of all 208 member countries to elect the chairmen of three key committees.
  "Handling the past will be presented to the congress," he said. "We have to make sure that immediately after the election that we rebuild the image of Fifa. We need to reinforce the judicial bodies and we shall find a solution how to handle the past in order that we can stop forever in the future all these damaging things about corruption.
  "These bodies should be more independent and this is a question I will bring to the congress, that the congress should elect the members of these committees or at least the chairmen of the three committees – the ethics, disciplinary and appeal committees."
  Blatter said he had never been involved in any corrupt practices but revealed that he had been targeted for a bribe when he was Fifa's secretary general – but he refused to name the person involved.
  "I received once an envelope, when I was secretary general and in this envelope there was an amount of money," he said. "I couldn't refuse because he put it in my pocket. I came home here to Fifa and gave it to the finance director and he put this money on the account of the Swiss Bank Corporation at that time, and informed the guy 'the money you gave to the secretary general is in that bank' and a few days later he reclaimed it. Then it was specifically known that please don't try to give money to somebody who's in Fifa."
  Blatter added that he was "disappointed" to hear that Amadou Diallo, a former employee of Fifa and a close friend of Blatter's presidential challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam, had been named in parliament as the "fixer" of bribes paid by the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid to two Fifa executive committee members. The Qatar bid team denies all claims of corruption.
  "Yes, it definitely disappoints me. He was working for Fifa in the development programmes, he was in the Goal project with the candidate [Bin Hammam]. I knew him because he was around before we started with the Goal project, he was brought in by Bin Hammam. This is a question of character, so ask Diallo if he's happy in his position, what he's doing. He's a small, nice, smiling guy, always smiling."
  Blatter also confirmed that Uefa's president, Michel Platini, is on the right track to succeed him if he is re-elected – he has promised to step down in 2015. "I'm sure there are a lot of candidates for president but Platini is exactly in this trajectory," he said. "I'm sure that Europe will make everything to maintain the presidency of Fifa, that's why they are also looking very carefully to the election on 1 June in Zurich."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Kama wewe ni mla rushwa sasa una lipi jipya la kutuelezea..................kwa nini hukutujulisha hili mapema wakati lilipotokea na ni nani huyo aliyejaribu kukuhonga??????????????

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Fifa opens ethics proceedings against Sepp Blatter

&#8226; Fifa president to be investigated by his own organisation
&#8226; Move follows demand by Mohamed bin Hammam

• Owen Gibson
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 May 2011 11.00 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, who is the subject of an investigation by the organisation's ethics committee. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
  
  The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, has been summoned to appear on Sunday before the organisation's ethics committee alongside two of his most senior executive committee members as world football's governing body threatens to implode ahead of next week's presidential election.
  The 75-year-old will now appear alongside Mohamed bin Hammam, the Qatari challenger for the presidency accused of offering cash bribes, and Jack Warner, the controversial Concacaf president who has clung to a pivotal role in Fifa's power structure despite an alleged series of ticket touting and bribery claims.
  It is believed Fifa will seek to press ahead with next week's congress, with all 208 member associations due in Zurich for Tuesday's opening ceremony, with the presidential vote on Wednesday, but much will hinge on the outcome of Sunday's ethics committee meeting.
  The independent committee, chaired by the Namibian judge Petrus Damaseb after Claudio Sulser stood down citing a conflict of interest given his Swiss nationality, is due to sit on Sunday and deliver its verdict at 6pm.
  Blatter, who said he knew nothing of the complaint filed by the American executive committee member Chuck Blazer until Wednesday morning, said: "I cannot comment on the proceedings that have been opened against me today. The facts will speak for themselves."
  Fifa widened the investigation after Blatter was reported to the secretary general Jérôme Valcke by Bin Hammam on the basis that the report prepared by a US lawyer at Blazer's behest contained claims that the Fifa president was told about the payments by Warner and did nothing.
  The ethics committee is bound by its own rules to investigate any complaint by an executive committee member under article 16 of its code, making the investigation inevitable once Bin Hammam had formally written to Valcke.
  Bin Hammam is claiming that Warner told Blatter about the payments and the president failed to do anything about it. Article 14 of the ethics code states: "Officials shall report any evidence of violations of conduct to the Fifa secretary general, who shall report it to the competent body."
  Bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confederation president, has said the bribery claims are "without substance". But it is not immediately clear why Blatter would keep quiet about the alleged payments, or what evidence exists in the dossier to support the claims.
  The alleged payments were made at a specially convened meeting of the Caribbean Football Union on 10 and 11 May, which was arranged after Bin Hammam was unable to travel to the main Concacaf congress in Miami, ostensibly due to visa problems.
  Evidence in the file compiled by the US lawyer John Collins, including signed affidavits, text messages, photographs and email conversations, includes claims that Bin Hammam made "football development" payments of $40,000 to the 30 member organisations of the CFU. Twenty-five of the 30 have a vote in Wednesday's presidential election, in which Blatter is seeking to extend his 13-year term for another four years.
  The widening of the investigation to include Blatter is likely to lead to further calls for fundamental reform. The Fifa president on Thursday said he took no pleasure from the allegations against Bin Hammam, who has called them a "tactic" against his election chances, and said there is no need for a revolution at Fifa.
  "I am all for the zero-tolerance policy I announced a while back and will continue to fight corruption in football to the best of my ability," Blatter wrote. "Fifa does not need a revolution. What Fifa needs is iron-clad laws that are implemented forcefully and allow world football's governing body to conduct its affairs transparently, properly and professionally in every respect."
  Blatter has privately said he knew nothing of Blazer's dossier, compiled after CFU members who did not accept the cash approached him with their concerns, until he arrived back from Japan on Wednesday.
  Michel Platini has described the decision to investigate Blatter as a "very interesting moment". After being told of the new developments, the Uefa president said: "We have some strange days these new, these next days." He said that because of the Fifa elections: "I will go back to Zurich after the final of the Champions League." Platini added: "You know the people who are corrupt, they know who can be corruptible. They know I am incorruptible."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Mohamed bin Hammam: 'Increasing evidence of conspiracy against me'

&#8226; Fifa presidential candidate hits back after bribery allegations
&#8226; 'It seems obvious that allegations are without substance'

• Simon Burnton
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 May 2011 16.19 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  The Fifa presidential hopeful, Mohamed bin Hammam, believes his candidacy is being derailed by a conspiracy within the organisation. Photograph: Mark Baker/AP
  
  On the day that his allegations forced Fifa to investigate their president, Sepp Blatter, for breaches of their ethical code, Mohamed bin Hammam has released a statement alleging that "there is increasing evidence of a conspiracy against his candidacy for the Fifa presidency".
  Bin Hammam is himself being investigated by Fifa's ethics committee, over allegations that he attempted to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union in return for their votes in next week's presidential election. He submitted his written reply to those allegations by Fifa's deadline of 12pm on Friday.
  Bin Hammam's statement read: "After having analysed and answered the accusations of bribery made against Mohamed bin Hammam, it seems obvious that they are without substance.
  "It is true that Mr Bin Hammam addressed representatives of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) at an extraordinary meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, which took place on 10 and 11 May. Nobody has ever tried to hide the fact that Mr Bin Hammam paid for the delegates' travel and accommodation expenses and covered the meeting's administrative costs. At this congress, Mr Bin Hammam presented his programme, which included proposals to give more say, more pay, more support and more responsibility to the national associations. Mr Bin Hammam reiterates that any allegations about him trying to buy votes are completely false.
  "It is obvious that these allegations have been made to discredit Mr Bin Hammam as a candidate in the imminent election for the Fifa presidency. For example, it took 14 days to formulate these allegations, whereas Mr Bin Hammam was given less than 48 hours to respond. It is quite obvious that, following previous failed attempts, this is part of a final effort to prevent Mr Bin Hammam from running for the Fifa presidency.
  "Mr Bin Hammam expects Fifa's ethics committee to see through this tawdry manoeuvre. After analysing the allegations made against Mr Bin Hammam, it is difficult to understand how the case could even have been brought before the committee.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Jack Warner warns of a 'football tsunami' ahead of Fifa elections

&#8226; 'You will see a football tsunami that will shock you'
&#8226; Warner not worried about bribery allegations

• Ian McCourt
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 May 2011 13.13 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Fifa vice-president Jack Warner says he is not worried about allegations of bribery. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images
  
  The Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has warned the football world to brace itself for a "football tsunami" in the lead-up to the Fifa presidential elections on Wednesday.
  Speaking to the Trinidad Express ahead of the election, between current president Sepp Blatter and his former ally Mohamed bin Hammam, Warner said: "I tell you something, in the next couple days you will see a football tsunami that will hit Fifa and the world that will shock you.
  "The time has come when I must stop playing dead so you'll see it, it's coming, trust me you'll see it by now and Monday. I have been here for 29 consecutive years and if the worst happen, the worst happen."
  Warner, who on Sunday will face a Fifa ethics committee over allegations of offering bribes to members of the Caribbean Football Union in exchange for votes in the Fifa presidential elections, said that he was not worried about the latest round of allegations against him because he was "not guilty of a single iota of wrongdoing".
  "I have lived three score and almost ten and my Jack hasn't been hanged as yet, why should it be hung now? By whom? The American Chuck Blazer? His American lawyer John Collins? Give me a break. I am not the faint-hearted you know ... Let them go ahead, I have no problem with that. But I'll tell you something, I will hold my head high to the very end because, I repeat here again, I am not guilty of a single iota of wrongdoing."
  Warner also stated that he would not be "remotely bothered" if he were to lose his position as vice-president of football's governing body.
  "If that is what it comes to so be it, you must never get too attached to anything, it clouds your judgment and therefore whatever happens, happens. I am not even remotely bothered. They can do what they want, it doesn't bother me."
  It is not yet clear whether Blatter will be attending the Champions League final. The Fifa president's involvement in the crisis, and his appearance in front of Sunday's ethics committee, means he may avoid the match as he prepares to defend himself and the organisation's shattered credibility. He said: "I cannot comment on the proceedings that have been opened against me. The facts will speak for themselves."
  Fifa appears willing to continue with the elections for its new president despite the mud-slinging and accusations of corruption have dogged the body. Several sponsors, including Adidas have raised concerns about the serious nature of the claims.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Fifa 'farce' means election should be delayed, sports minister says

&#8226; Hugh Robertson says 'sensible election' is impossible
&#8226; FA give Fifa file of evidence about Lord Triesman's allegation

• Owen Gibson
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 May 2011 14.39 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Mohamed bin Hammam, left, with his Fifa rival Sepp Blatter in Qatar in December 2010. Photograph: Mohammed Dabbous/Reuters
  
  The British government has called on Fifa to postpone its presidential election after Sepp Blatter was called to appear before the world governing body's own ethics committee alongside two other senior members of its executive committee.
  The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, said the proceedings were fast becoming farcical after Fifa's ethics committee announced Blatter would face a hearing on Sunday alongside Mohamed bin Hammam, his presidential challenger, and Jack Warner, the controversial Concacaf president.
  "I think the process is fast descending into a farce," Robertson said. "It's impossible to have a sensible election when both of the candidates have been accused of corruption. The sensible thing would be to suspend the election until these allegations have been properly investigated."
  Even before the latest round of corruption allegations, Robertson had said he planned to talk to fellow sports ministers in Australia, the Netherlands, Poland and elsewhere to put pressure on Fifa to reform.
  "Fifa needs to urgently reform in the way that the IOC [International Olympic Committee] did after Salt Lake City. Sports governing bodies have to be transparent and accountable and change has to happen for the good of world football."
  He said he also expected other like-minded governments to back his call for Wednesday's election to be postponed. "Anybody with any common sense that looks at this will come to the same conclusion that we have come to. I would be amazed if other countries didn't echo this, especially given that a number of other countries are also concerned about what is happening at Fifa."
  Robertson is due to attend the Champions League final on Saturday night and said he would discuss the situation with the Football Association, Fifa and Uefa. Blatter and many other senior Fifa executives are due to attend the final at Wembley, though it is unclear if the 75-year-old president will now do so.
  The FA has passed a file of evidence to Fifa collected by James Dingemans QC in the wake of allegations made by the former FA chairman Lord Triesman against four executive committee members &#8211; Warner, Nicolás Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi &#8211; of soliciting inducements during the World Cup bidding process.
  "Mr Dingemans has raised with the FA several outstanding issues with the current ethics code and bidding rules that Fifa would be well placed to address," an FA spokesman said. "The FA notes these concerns and will be raising them with Fifa in due course.
  "Mr Dingemans cannot make a final determination on whether there has been any wrongdoing because he does not have jurisdiction to speak to the Fifa executive committee members. It is for Fifa to do this and for Fifa to determine whether any of its rules have been breached."
  The claims from Bin Hammam that Blatter broke Fifa's ethics code mean that 10 of the 24 members of the executive committee now face allegations of impropriety.
  The latest crisis was this week precipitated by claims from the US executive committee member Chuck Blazer that Bin Hammam paid cash bribes of $40,000 (£24,500) to members of the Caribbean Football Union at a specially convened conference organised by Warner.
  Bin Hammam had earlier failed to make the full Concacaf congress in Miami for visa reasons.
  Evidence in the file collated by the US lawyer John Collins, including signed affidavits, text messages, photographs and email conversations, includes claims that Bin Hammam made "football development" payments of $40,000 to the 30 member organisations of the CFU.
  The Qatari challenger is now claiming that Warner told Blatter about the payments and the president failed to do anything about it. Article 14 of the ethics code states: "Officials shall report any evidence of violations of conduct to the Fifa secretary general, who shall report it to the competent body."
  Bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confederation president, has said the bribery claims are "without substance".
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Is Blatter laying down his friends to save his FIFA life?

By Steve Anglesey in Laptop with Martin Lipton
Published 10:01 26/05/11

• (1)
• Recommend (3)

As acts of sheer, naked, political calculation go, it had to be up there.
Eight days before the great and the good of FIFA - and, it must be added, the not so great and not so good - meet in Zurich to decide who will run the global game for the next four years, Sepp Blatter dropped his nuclear bomb.

Blatter, the man who has steadfastly denied any suggestions that FIFA is endemically riven by corruption.

Who dismissed all such allegations as nonsense, made up by those who would not accept the final whistle.Who stigmatised those calling for openness, while speaking of "transparency".

But a week before a vote he suddenly started to think - against all odds and expectations - he might lose, he okayed a corruption probe against his election rival and the most controversial figure in FIFA.
Out of nowhere, based on evidence from CONCACAF's larger than life general secretary Chuck Blazer, FIFA announced in a statement that charges against Mohamed Bin Hammam, Jack Warner and two officials of the Caribbean Football Union would be heard by the organisation's Ethics Committee on Sunday.

No details have been given but if there was any doubt over what is being alleged, a cursory reading of the statement gave the game away:

"On 24 May 2011, FIFA Executive Committee member and CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer reported to FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke possible violations of the FIFA Code of Ethics allegedly committed by officials," said FIFA.

"In particular, the report referred to a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), apparently organised jointly by FIFA Vice-President Jack A Warner and FIFA Executive Committee member Mohamed bin Hammam, which took place on 10 and 11 May 2011. This meeting was linked to the upcoming FIFA presidential election.

"In view of the facts alleged in this report, which include bribery allegations, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke, in compliance with art. 16 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, yesterday requested the FIFA Ethics Committee to open ethics proceedings."

Brutal and brilliant.
Further proof that, for all the flak he rightly gets, Blatter is the master of the game.
There was even a delicious twist, as the FIFA statement revealed that Ethics Committee head Claudio Sulser "has declined to participate in this meeting due to the Swiss nationality he shares with Joseph S Blatter, a candidate for the upcoming FIFA presidency".

Beautifully done and, perhaps, Blatter proving that you can indeed kill two birds with one stone.
Unlike Blatter, Bin Hammam was prevented from attending the CONCACAF Congress in Miami at the start of the month because of visa problems and was instead invited by Warner to meet the CFU a few days later.

At the meeting, showing trademark bluster, Warner told delegates: "You will hear the president of Asia came here for your vote and he gave you, a Benz for you, a Benz for you and a Benz for you.
"You will hear of course that he came from Asia and gave you a barrel of oil.

You will hear those things.
"You will hear he gave you a ship and I am asking you, when you go back home - because in the media, everybody believes the worst thing possible - you hold your head high and you will tell your members that you were not part of this international nonsense."

Unsurprisingly, both Bin Hammam and Warner reacted in shocked disgust, suggesting they were victims of a put-up job.

Bin Hammam spoke of a "difficult and painful day" adding: "If there is even the slightest justice in the world, these allegations will vanish in the wind. This move is little more than a tactic being used by those who have no confidence in their own ability to emerge successfully from the FIFA Presidential election."

Warner, too, went aggressive as he said: "I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part and I shall listen to allegations made and respond accordingly. It is interesting to note the timing of these allegations and the hearing scheduled days before the FIFA Presidential elections."
The damage, though, has already been done, just as Blatter anticipated.

It has been suggested from knowledgeable sources in Trinidad that Blazer has provided a tape of the discussions between Bin Hammam and Warner, backing up the allegations.

There are also claims of sworn affadavits, sent by a major US law firm, of bundles of dollar bills changing hands, of £25,000 per delegate being offered for "development projects".

The very fact that Blazer, long a Warner crony, has turned on the Trinidadian Minister of Public Works shows how vicious the game has now got.

Of course, we can all guess who would be likely to replace Warner as President of CONCACAF if he is booted out of FIFA.

But that is a by-product of the act of vengeance, the final thrust by the Blatter regime after Bin Hammam refused to withdraw his candidacy last week.

Blatter may have not wanted to re-open the Sunday Times files or even, really, listen to what the FA's hired QC James Dingemans had to say about Lord Triesman's allegations.

But he wants to kill Bin Hammam, and Warner will be acceptable collateral damage.
Welcome to FIFA - red in tooth and claw.

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Mohamed bin Hammam withdraws from FIFA presidential race

President of the Asian Football Confederation, was due to stand against incumbent Sepp Blatter in the election at FIFA's Congress in Zurich

• Reuters
• guardian.co.uk, Sunday 29 May 2011 01.09 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Mohamed Bin Hammam withdraws from FIFA presidential race. Photograph: Mohammed Dabbous/Reuters
  
  Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar has withdrawn his candidacy to be FIFA president one day before he is due to face an Ethics Committee hearing into bribery allegations.
  Bin Hammam, 62, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, was due to stand against incumbent president Sepp Blatter in the election at FIFA's Congress in Zurich on Wednesday.
  "It saddens me that standing up for the causes that I believed in has come at a great price &#8211; the degradation of FIFA's reputation. This is not what I had in mind for FIFA and this is unacceptable," Bin Hammam said in a statement.
  "I cannot allow the game that I love to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals.
  "The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first.
  "It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election."
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Greed of Fifa's cronies is putting the World Cup in peril

Allegations surrounding football's world governing body are tarnishing the game's greatest carnival

• Comments (8)

• 
• • Paul Hayward
  • The Observer, Sunday 29 May 2011 <li class="history">Article history
  
  The Fifa president Sepp Blatter, right, will appear before the governing body's Ethics Committee. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
  
  In their official literature, Fifa kindly offer a list of the honours bestowed on President Sepp Blatter for his efforts to make the world a better place. On his wanderings, the supreme leader has picked up a knighthood from the Sultanate of Pahang, the Medalla al Mérito Deportivo from Bolivia, the French Legion of Honour, the Dove of Geneva and countless honorary doctorates. The scroll is longer even than the charge sheet confronting Fifa officials on Sunday in Zurich, where Blatter, his presidential rival Mohamed bin Hammam and the ubiquitous Jack Warner are among those up before the world governing body's Ethics Committee &#8211; itself increasingly an example of Orwellian doublespeak.
  All across the globe &#8211; certainly in the Arab states &#8211; the cult of the leader is under attack. But Fifa still manage to mimic the kind of hilltop state employed by the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. Yet Fifa are not Freedonia and they are not bankrupt: Groucho's big problem, as head of state. Blatter and his committees sit on reserves of $1.28bn and emote obsessively about spreading this largesse around the five continents, even though no one seems able to say clearly where all the money ends up.
  In his mission statement, headed "Fifa Brand &#8211; Our commitment" (note the word brand), Blatter makes a "promise" &#8211; "For the Games, For the World". He says: "The world is a place rich in natural beauty and cultural diversity, but also one where many are still deprived of their basic rights. Fifa now have an even greater responsibility to reach out and touch the world, using football as a symbol of hope and integration."
  Right now the world would probably rather not be "touched" by Fifa. Even the reformist candidate, Bin Hammam, is accused of offering bundles of cash to Caribbean FA officials in the month he hopes to replace Blatter (his rival denies any wrongdoing). The president is counter-accused by Bin Hammam of knowing about the payments and not objecting: hence Blatter's appearance before the Ethics Committee, who are obliged to investigate under Article 16 of their own code.
  The breathtakingly messianic rhetoric mentioned earlier was reflected, of course, in Blatter's campaign to remove illiteracy from the entire continent of Africa: a crusade supported at last summer's World Cup by various corporations and princes and princesses with too much time on their hands.
  Blatter was taking the World Cup to Africa for the first time, not only as a carnival, but as a force for good. How inconvenient, then, that an unnamed government minister should tell a South African newspaper on the eve of the tournament that Fifa were behaving like "gangsters", dropping an independent republic on top of the host country and demanding all sorts of favourable tax concessions, broadcasting restrictions and other privileges (England would have signed up to these had the 2018 bid been successful).
  All the way through the South Africa World Cup we juxtaposed Blatter's supposed idealism with the commercial reality on the ground. All this matters so much because his whole regime has impersonated the United Nations. No man can earn Japan's Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun or the Dostik Order from the president of the Kazakhstan Republic unless he is truly an internationalist. From this marathon of luxury travel, a few dark truths emerge at last. The first is that Fifa, the most private of organisations, are butchering themselves in public and losing the dubious authority they have stockpiled through decades of international deal making.
  The end game here is that Uefa's Michel Platini is waiting in the shadows to step in as the clean-up guy when Blatter's final term is over. Platini, the Uefa president, will restore order to the quasi-papal state and probably strengthen Europe's influence at the expense of the more remote (from Zurich) confederations, which have been used as a power base by Blatter.
  This has been the tactic. To maintain his megalomania, Blatter has gathered the world outside of Europe around himself and, in return, he dispenses "development projects", World Cup staging rights and books to impoverished schoolchildren. The World Cup is the vital element because, without it, Fifa are a geriatric club that just tinker with the laws of the game and gaze enviously at the rise of the big clubs in Europe and the Champions League.
  The more powerful European club football becomes, the more desperate Blatter and his cronies have grown. They cannot speak of football's greatest carnival without calling it the "Fifa World Cup", as if they were its sponsors. They devise double-date bidding races (2018 and 2022) to multiply the opportunities for horse-trading; and they ignore the merits of the bids themselves to send a World Cup to Qatar, a tiny Gulf state with brutal summer temperatures, in return for bribes &#8211; it is alleged &#8211; in relation to a number of executive committee members.
  It is tempting to say Fifa are a shell: a collection of vanities, and increasingly irrelevant. But football's world body have in their possession an event most of us still measure our love of football by: the World Cup, and Fifa are killing it with their greed.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Greed of Fifa's cronies is putting the World Cup in peril

Allegations surrounding football's world governing body are tarnishing the game's greatest carnival

• Comments (8)

• 
• • Paul Hayward
  • The Observer, Sunday 29 May 2011 <li class="history">Article history
  
  The Fifa president Sepp Blatter, right, will appear before the governing body's Ethics Committee. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
  
  In their official literature, Fifa kindly offer a list of the honours bestowed on President Sepp Blatter for his efforts to make the world a better place. On his wanderings, the supreme leader has picked up a knighthood from the Sultanate of Pahang, the Medalla al Mérito Deportivo from Bolivia, the French Legion of Honour, the Dove of Geneva and countless honorary doctorates. The scroll is longer even than the charge sheet confronting Fifa officials on Sunday in Zurich, where Blatter, his presidential rival Mohamed bin Hammam and the ubiquitous Jack Warner are among those up before the world governing body's Ethics Committee – itself increasingly an example of Orwellian doublespeak.
  All across the globe – certainly in the Arab states – the cult of the leader is under attack. But Fifa still manage to mimic the kind of hilltop state employed by the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. Yet Fifa are not Freedonia and they are not bankrupt: Groucho's big problem, as head of state. Blatter and his committees sit on reserves of $1.28bn and emote obsessively about spreading this largesse around the five continents, even though no one seems able to say clearly where all the money ends up.
  In his mission statement, headed "Fifa Brand – Our commitment" (note the word brand), Blatter makes a "promise" – "For the Games, For the World". He says: "The world is a place rich in natural beauty and cultural diversity, but also one where many are still deprived of their basic rights. Fifa now have an even greater responsibility to reach out and touch the world, using football as a symbol of hope and integration."
  Right now the world would probably rather not be "touched" by Fifa. Even the reformist candidate, Bin Hammam, is accused of offering bundles of cash to Caribbean FA officials in the month he hopes to replace Blatter (his rival denies any wrongdoing). The president is counter-accused by Bin Hammam of knowing about the payments and not objecting: hence Blatter's appearance before the Ethics Committee, who are obliged to investigate under Article 16 of their own code.
  The breathtakingly messianic rhetoric mentioned earlier was reflected, of course, in Blatter's campaign to remove illiteracy from the entire continent of Africa: a crusade supported at last summer's World Cup by various corporations and princes and princesses with too much time on their hands.
  Blatter was taking the World Cup to Africa for the first time, not only as a carnival, but as a force for good. How inconvenient, then, that an unnamed government minister should tell a South African newspaper on the eve of the tournament that Fifa were behaving like "gangsters", dropping an independent republic on top of the host country and demanding all sorts of favourable tax concessions, broadcasting restrictions and other privileges (England would have signed up to these had the 2018 bid been successful).
  All the way through the South Africa World Cup we juxtaposed Blatter's supposed idealism with the commercial reality on the ground. All this matters so much because his whole regime has impersonated the United Nations. No man can earn Japan's Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun or the Dostik Order from the president of the Kazakhstan Republic unless he is truly an internationalist. From this marathon of luxury travel, a few dark truths emerge at last. The first is that Fifa, the most private of organisations, are butchering themselves in public and losing the dubious authority they have stockpiled through decades of international deal making.
  The end game here is that Uefa's Michel Platini is waiting in the shadows to step in as the clean-up guy when Blatter's final term is over. Platini, the Uefa president, will restore order to the quasi-papal state and probably strengthen Europe's influence at the expense of the more remote (from Zurich) confederations, which have been used as a power base by Blatter.
  This has been the tactic. To maintain his megalomania, Blatter has gathered the world outside of Europe around himself and, in return, he dispenses "development projects", World Cup staging rights and books to impoverished schoolchildren. The World Cup is the vital element because, without it, Fifa are a geriatric club that just tinker with the laws of the game and gaze enviously at the rise of the big clubs in Europe and the Champions League.
  The more powerful European club football becomes, the more desperate Blatter and his cronies have grown. They cannot speak of football's greatest carnival without calling it the "Fifa World Cup", as if they were its sponsors. They devise double-date bidding races (2018 and 2022) to multiply the opportunities for horse-trading; and they ignore the merits of the bids themselves to send a World Cup to Qatar, a tiny Gulf state with brutal summer temperatures, in return for bribes – it is alleged – in relation to a number of executive committee members.
  It is tempting to say Fifa are a shell: a collection of vanities, and increasingly irrelevant. But football's world body have in their possession an event most of us still measure our love of football by: the World Cup, and Fifa are killing it with their greed.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Fifa's presidential race falls apart as Blatter's rival quits

Mohamed bin Hammam withdraws from election on the eve of ethics committee verdict over claims of backhanders and bought votes

• Owen Gibson
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 May 2011 19.43 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Sepp Blatter presents the Fifa World Cup trophy to the Spanish team on July 11, 2010 at Soccer City stadium in Soweto, suburban Johannesburg. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
  
  Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar has withdrawn his candidacy to be Fifa president in a surprise move. He is due to face an ethics committee hearing into bribery allegations this evening.
  Bin Hammam, 62, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, was due to stand against incumbent president Sepp Blatter in the election at Fifa's Congress of the 208 member nations in Zurich on Wednesday to pick the man to hold the post for the next four years.
  "It saddens me that standing up for the causes that I believed in has come at a great price &#8211; the degradation of Fifa's reputation. This is not what I had in mind for Fifa and this is unacceptable," Bin Hammam said.
  "I cannot allow the game that I loved to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first. It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election."
  The move comes as Jack Warner, Fifa's vice-president, who is also appearing before the ethics committee to deny bribery claims, predicts a "football tsunami" will hit the organisation in the next couple of days that will "shock" the world.
  "The time has come when I must stop playing dead, it's coming, trust me you'll see it," Warner told newspapers in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago.
  Meanwhile, the British sports minister, Hugh Robertson, is to speak to his foreign counterparts in an effort to form a consensus that action needs to be taken to reform Fifa.
  Robertson feels this crisis could be Fifa's "Salt Lake City moment", referring to the bribery scandal that forced the International Olympic Committee into reform in 1999.
  Uefa's president, Michel Platini, also believes the recent developments will be the catalyst for change within Fifa, just as the IOC was forced to do after officials were expelled from the committee for taking payments in the bidding process for the 2002 Salt Lake City winter games. "I think that Fifa is like the IOC was some years ago, I think we are at the end of a system based on politics," Platini said. "I think it will finish in the next few years and we will have people from the sport &#8211; and I think Fifa has to come back to football."
  While Blatter's supporters believe he holds the upper hand in the power games that characterise life at Fifa, many think he has underestimated the strength of feeling outside the Fifa bubble.
  Much will depend on the outcome of the deliberations by the ethics committee, which could suspend either or both men. Alternatively, it could provisionally suspend both Blatter and Bin Hammam.
  Blatter, whose 13-year tenure at the top of world football has been marked by recurrent scandal, became the 10th of its 24 executive committee members to face corruption allegations.
  His former opponent, Bin Hammam, who is charged with attempting to buy votes in Wednesday's election, has claimed that payments made to Caribbean Football Union officials were for legitimate expenses and that Blatter knew all about them, having been told by Warner.
  It was Warner, who has held a powerful position in Fifa for 28 years by virtue of controlling Concacaf's bloc of 35 votes, who arranged Bin Hammam's special conference with 25 voting members of the CFU on 10-11 May, at which bundles of cash totalling $40,000 (£24,000) are alleged to have been distributed.
  The claims have been documented by John Collins, a lawyer asked to investigate by Concacaf general secretary and Fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer when he was approached by concerned CFU members.
  Bin Hammam, a Qatari who has spent 15 years on Fifa's executive committee, claims the allegations were a plot to undermine his chances in the election, and accuses Blatter of a "tawdry manoeuvre" amid "increasing evidence of a conspiracy". For his part, Blatter insists that he knew nothing of the allegations until last Wednesday morning.
  Last week's events have shown the folly of the continued insistence from both men that they will overhaul Fifa. Blatter is likely to dismiss calls for reform from Britain, Australia and the US as sour grapes over their World Cup bid humiliations, and will take heart from the support of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, whom he helped to victory in the 2018 race.
  But he will find it harder to dismiss the concerns of sponsors who have bankrolled Fifa, which is now sitting on reserves of $1.3bn a year thanks to television and advertising deals. "I have to say that in general we have had a good relationship with Fifa for a long time," Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer told the Observer.
  "But obviously all that has happened in the past few days is neither positive for sport nor for Fifa."
  It was partly Blatter's desire to turn the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups into a twin-track circus that created the climate for corruption and turned the spotlight on Fifa's inner workings.
  The FA has passed its own file of evidence to Fifa collected in the wake of allegations made by the former FA chairman Lord Triesman against four executive committee members &#8211; Warner, Nicolás Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi &#8211; of soliciting inducements during the 2018 World Cup bidding process.
  A claim that Warner asked for financial help to build an education centre has been backed up by Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards, while the file also includes an email from Warner to Triesman asking the FA to pay for Haiti's World Cup TV rights through him.
  Two other Fifa executive committee members, the Nigerian Amos Adamu and Oceania's representative Reynald Temarii, were suspended by Fifa in October following a cash-for-votes investigation by the Sunday Times.
  
  

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Fifa's presidential race falls apart as Blatter's rival quits

Mohamed bin Hammam withdraws from election on the eve of ethics committee verdict over claims of backhanders and bought votes

• Owen Gibson
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 May 2011 19.43 BST <li class="history">Article history
  
  Sepp Blatter presents the Fifa World Cup trophy to the Spanish team on July 11, 2010 at Soccer City stadium in Soweto, suburban Johannesburg. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
  
  Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar has withdrawn his candidacy to be Fifa president in a surprise move. He is due to face an ethics committee hearing into bribery allegations this evening.
  Bin Hammam, 62, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, was due to stand against incumbent president Sepp Blatter in the election at Fifa's Congress of the 208 member nations in Zurich on Wednesday to pick the man to hold the post for the next four years.
  "It saddens me that standing up for the causes that I believed in has come at a great price – the degradation of Fifa's reputation. This is not what I had in mind for Fifa and this is unacceptable," Bin Hammam said.
  "I cannot allow the game that I loved to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first. It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election."
  The move comes as Jack Warner, Fifa's vice-president, who is also appearing before the ethics committee to deny bribery claims, predicts a "football tsunami" will hit the organisation in the next couple of days that will "shock" the world.
  "The time has come when I must stop playing dead, it's coming, trust me you'll see it," Warner told newspapers in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago.
  Meanwhile, the British sports minister, Hugh Robertson, is to speak to his foreign counterparts in an effort to form a consensus that action needs to be taken to reform Fifa.
  Robertson feels this crisis could be Fifa's "Salt Lake City moment", referring to the bribery scandal that forced the International Olympic Committee into reform in 1999.
  Uefa's president, Michel Platini, also believes the recent developments will be the catalyst for change within Fifa, just as the IOC was forced to do after officials were expelled from the committee for taking payments in the bidding process for the 2002 Salt Lake City winter games. "I think that Fifa is like the IOC was some years ago, I think we are at the end of a system based on politics," Platini said. "I think it will finish in the next few years and we will have people from the sport – and I think Fifa has to come back to football."
  While Blatter's supporters believe he holds the upper hand in the power games that characterise life at Fifa, many think he has underestimated the strength of feeling outside the Fifa bubble.
  Much will depend on the outcome of the deliberations by the ethics committee, which could suspend either or both men. Alternatively, it could provisionally suspend both Blatter and Bin Hammam.
  Blatter, whose 13-year tenure at the top of world football has been marked by recurrent scandal, became the 10th of its 24 executive committee members to face corruption allegations.
  His former opponent, Bin Hammam, who is charged with attempting to buy votes in Wednesday's election, has claimed that payments made to Caribbean Football Union officials were for legitimate expenses and that Blatter knew all about them, having been told by Warner.
  It was Warner, who has held a powerful position in Fifa for 28 years by virtue of controlling Concacaf's bloc of 35 votes, who arranged Bin Hammam's special conference with 25 voting members of the CFU on 10-11 May, at which bundles of cash totalling $40,000 (£24,000) are alleged to have been distributed.
  The claims have been documented by John Collins, a lawyer asked to investigate by Concacaf general secretary and Fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer when he was approached by concerned CFU members.
  Bin Hammam, a Qatari who has spent 15 years on Fifa's executive committee, claims the allegations were a plot to undermine his chances in the election, and accuses Blatter of a "tawdry manoeuvre" amid "increasing evidence of a conspiracy". For his part, Blatter insists that he knew nothing of the allegations until last Wednesday morning.
  Last week's events have shown the folly of the continued insistence from both men that they will overhaul Fifa. Blatter is likely to dismiss calls for reform from Britain, Australia and the US as sour grapes over their World Cup bid humiliations, and will take heart from the support of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, whom he helped to victory in the 2018 race.
  But he will find it harder to dismiss the concerns of sponsors who have bankrolled Fifa, which is now sitting on reserves of $1.3bn a year thanks to television and advertising deals. "I have to say that in general we have had a good relationship with Fifa for a long time," Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer told the Observer.
  "But obviously all that has happened in the past few days is neither positive for sport nor for Fifa."
  It was partly Blatter's desire to turn the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups into a twin-track circus that created the climate for corruption and turned the spotlight on Fifa's inner workings.
  The FA has passed its own file of evidence to Fifa collected in the wake of allegations made by the former FA chairman Lord Triesman against four executive committee members – Warner, Nicolás Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi – of soliciting inducements during the 2018 World Cup bidding process.
  A claim that Warner asked for financial help to build an education centre has been backed up by Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards, while the file also includes an email from Warner to Triesman asking the FA to pay for Haiti's World Cup TV rights through him.
  Two other Fifa executive committee members, the Nigerian Amos Adamu and Oceania's representative Reynald Temarii, were suspended by Fifa in October following a cash-for-votes investigation by the Sunday Times.

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Fifa in crisis live blog - Blatter cleared, Bin Hammam and Warner suspended

&#8226; Fifa to conduct 'full-blown' investigation
&#8226; Bin Hammam vows to clear name after withdrawing
&#8226; Storm clouds gather as big hitters fight to clear names
&#8226; Email your thoughts to john.ashdown@guardian.co.uk

• Comments (105)

This page will update automatically every minute: On | Off

Mohamed bin Hammam arrives at Fifa HQ. Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

5.59pm: Damaseb on why Blatter was cleared: "The allegation is that he failed to report to the authorites a report made to him that Bin Hammam intended to make payments. Mr Blatter's version is that indeed Mr Warner told him that the meeting was going to be held and take Bin Hammam intended to make these payments. Warner denies the allegations, he says he never says anything like that. Blatter says he was told. Blatter says the obligation to report did not arise because he was asked for advice and an opinion and informed Warner that that should not happen. So he did not have the evidence that a wrongdoing had taken place. At that stage no wrongdoing had occurred, he was only being asked for a view and he discouraged the asker."
5.55pm: "Am I happy to see Mr Blatter elected?" says Valcke. "Yes."
5.53pm: A quick summary from Tom Bryant here.
5.49pm: The Guardian's man in Zurich, Matt Scott, asks one of the longest questions of the day. "Might you investigate the Qatar 2022 bid?" is his final question of four. "It was not discussed by the committee," says Valcke. Fifa trying to get meeting with the whistleblower.
5.42pm: "If Bin Hammam and Warner have not been found guilty why are they banned?" asks someone from the floor. Essentially, Ethics committee will need to talk to officials at their FAs and so they are banned to ensure the investigation is not comprised, explains Damaseb.
5.38pm: Damaseb is at pains to point out that Bin Hammam and Warner "have not been punished today".
5.37pm: "Surely Fifa must postpone this election?" says PA's Martyn Ziegler. "Why?" shoots back Valcke. "The allegation against Blatter has been cleaned by the committee. Why should we postpone the election?"
5.35pm: "The elections will take place on 1 June," confirms Valcke.
5.34pm: Final decision [on Bin Hammam and Warner] likely to come in late June, early July.
5.33pm: Questions from the floor now.
5.32pm: Jerome Valcke: "Puerto Rico FA president has emailed to confirm he was present at meeting and received gift of $40,000 from CFU officials."
5.31pm: So everything's coming up Sepp.
5.30pm: Justice Torres to commence a "full-blown" investigation into Bin Hammam and Warner.
5.29pm: "No investigation against Blatter is warranted," says Damaseb.
5.28pm: NOT. SHOULD NOT BE MADE. Bad typo.
5.27pm: Sepp Blatter claims he told Warner that the $40,000 payments should not be made.
5.24pm: Bin Hammam and Warner temporarily banned from football activities.
5.23pm: "We are satisfied that there is a case to answer [against Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner]. There is going to be a full inquiry."
5.22pm: "I started watching this guy talk, went to make tea, came back and he's still got nowhere," writes Will Morrison. "It was a strong brew as well."
5.21pm: "We were not concerned with establishing the guilt or innocence of the parties accused," says Damaseb. Eh? "What we sought to do was to establish whether there appears to be a violation of the Fifa code of conduct."
5.18pm: Mr Damaseb is making the most of this. So far he's told us only what the allegations are. We already knew them. So that's helpful.
5.15pm: "We started proceedings at 9am and finished literally an hour ago." Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester from the CFU, also accused of corruption, were not present.
5.12pm: More procedural waffle and blather &#8230; come on, get on with it.
5.10pm: "The ethics committee is described in its statutes as a judicial body," says Damaseb. "A judicial committee is independent from the rest of the organisation. Its task is to make a determination on the issues placed before it. Our duty is to be neutral, impartial and independent."
5.08pm: Nicolas Maingot, Fifa's Director of Communications, does the introductions and hands over to Petrus Damaseb, who chaired the meeting today.
5.06pm: OK, here we go &#8230;
5.00pm: I'll be keeping you up to date with all the details right here, but you can also watch online here (that's the press conference you can watch, not me). Fifa currently broadcasting a blank screen and the sort of music you might get on hold if you phoned a gardening centre.
4.56pm: Scratch that. We are going to kick off more or less on time. Journalists are now filing into the press room.
4.47pm: Now hearing that the press conference, originally scheduled for 5pm, has been put back.
4.43pm: "I'm always surprised that the press never mentions Jack Warner's other jobs," writes Rod Stewart. "He is an MP, Minister for Works and Transport in the government of Trinidad and Tobago, and sometimes Acting Prime Minister. There were calls for him to give up his FIFA vice-presidency when he helped form the current coalition government in 2010. The official position is that his FIFA job benefits Trinidad and Tobago." Interesting that on his Fifa profile page he lists "Real estate developer" as his occupation rather than politician.
4.26pm: Getting close to decision time now (if things go to schedule). Still not a hint of a whiff of a whisper of a soupçon of a rumour coming out of Switzerland with regards to the outcome.
4.10pm: Away from the meeting rooms of Zurich, it's still 0-0 in a nervy League One play-off final. The juxtaposition of this grubby Fifa episode and one of the great footballing performances at Wembley last night (not to mention the many important end-of-season games going on across Europe) serves as a reminder that while the game can be so great, it also retains an ability to shoot itself in the foot.
3.42pm: Here's an email from Ivan Pope: "I don't understand why there is no commentary on why Hammam has withdrawn from the election 'in order to clear his name'. I mean, the election will be over next week. His name will either be cleared or not cleared by this afternoon. So why did he need to withdraw yesterday, at a time when he can't really do anything? What if the panel today does clear him? Then he'll look a bit stupid as he's given up his opportunity. Or is there something he knows is going to happen today?"
3.31pm: Here's David Conn's view of the day's events thus far and what we might expect later in the week:

"After Bin Hammam's withdrawal overnight, if the presidential vote does go ahead on Wednesday - which is not yet certain - Fifa's statutes will effectively ensure Sepp Blatter is voted in by 'acclamation', unopposed, as he was in 2007. The rules of the organisation state that 'a simple majority' of the votes cast are enough to elect the president. So unless a majority of Fifa's 208 national associations actively votes against Blatter, despite him being the only candidate, which is almost impossible to envisage, he will be elected for another four years. Blatter's 'simple majority' is likely to constitute a large number of votes if the election does go ahead, but he could go through with the votes of only a few. Abstentions, as the English FA has delivered in the election, are simply disregarded; they do not count as a vote against Blatter."
​

3.19pm: I'll be covering the press conference (due to take place around 5pm) right here, but you can also watch it online as Fifa are live-streaming it.
2.57pm: Here's Matt Scott's scene-setter from Zurich:

A strangely peaceful atmosphere has enveloped Fifa House. Its few football pitches lay in a silence befitting an organisation whose recent history suggests its prime focus is now corruption and politics, rather than anything to do with growing the world's most popular sport.
But inside the great glass building, a $100m bunker remote from the eyes of the world, three of its most powerful figures face a battle to clear their names. Sepp Blatter, Jack Warner and Mohamed Bin Hammam face questions that could lead to their suspension from all football activity, in what is the most serious challenge ever to have faced this scandal-scarred body.
The depth of the crisis is illustrated by the names of those involved. Blatter is the incumbent Fifa president, who on Wednesday seeks a mandate for a fourth term as football's primate. He has been accused of providing approval for allegedly corrupt payments to be made in the course of presidential campaigning.
Warner is a Fifa vice-president, and the man who says he approached Blatter to ask for permission for Bin Hammam to pay the expenses of officials attending a meeting of the Caribbean Football Union, a regional body serving the Concacaf confederation of which he is president. And until Saturday night Bin Hammam, also a Fifa executive-committee member and the Asian Football Confederation president, was campaigning to run against Blatter for Fifa's top job. He has now withdrawn his candidacy to concentrate on clearing his name; Warner and Blatter also deny any wrongdoing.
​

2.49pm: Here's AP's Rob Harris on Twitter: "Interesting to note here @ FIFA, press pack formed of intl wires agencies & UK paper/TV reporters. Few journos from elsewhere."
2.33pm: Here's Matt Scott in Zurich: "Wandering around the outbuilding at Fifa House where we press are corralled I have discovered that apparently three of Fifa's 387 personnel are tailors. There is a room marked "Tailors" in which people are frantically sewing badges on blazers. Less than 48 hours before the two-day Fifa congress, they are doubtless busy. How they are occupied the other 383 days of the year, I cannot testify. NB: Average Fifa staffer's salary, 2010 US$200,000."
2.02pm: Some strong words from former International Olympic Committee vice-president Dick Pound on the BBC: ""If Fifa is not going to do the game any good, the game may have to do something to Fifa. You could withdraw from Fifa, for example, and say we're not satisfied that the organisation is not being properly run and it isn't a credit to the sport we know and love, so let's have an alternative. That's one possibility. It has been done in other sports."
1.38pm: An interesting idea from Forza77 below the line: "

"I think the fans and media should go after FIFA's sponsers - do visa, addidas, budweiser, whoever want this associated with their products - media should keep on at them, whilst we the fans boycott all associated brands and companies"
​

1.11pm: This whole shebang was kicked off, of course, by our old friend Chuck Blazer, a man who likes to wear his trousers high. In fact, while we're waiting for Fifa's announcement, you could do worse than take a tour through Chuck's blog. Halloween is a particular highlight.
12.53pm: So who is the man in charge of today's proceeedings? You can read about Petrus Damaseb here and here
12.30pm: So the pieces are being placed on the board. Here's Matt Scott in Zurich: "MBH has come in to Fifa House in the back seat of a large black limo to face Petrus Damaseb's ethics committee."
12.22pm: Today is all about a Fifa meeting. And thanks to Fifa.com, you can re-live the best bits (no, really) of Fifa meetings past. Will this week's bunfight make it on to that list? Who knows. Yes, this does smack of filler, doesn't it. Only four hours 38 minutes to go!
12.06pm: The ever excellent Paul Hayward's view:

In their official literature, Fifa kindly offer a list of the honours bestowed on President Sepp Blatter for his efforts to make the world a better place. On his wanderings, the supreme leader has picked up a knighthood from the Sultanate of Pahang, the Medalla al Mérito Deportivo from Bolivia, the French Legion of Honour, the Dove of Geneva and countless honorary doctorates. The scroll is longer even than the charge sheet confronting Fifa officials on Sunday in Zurich, where Blatter, his presidential rival Mohamed bin Hammam and the ubiquitous Jack Warner are among those up before the world governing body's Ethics Committee &#8211; itself increasingly an example of Orwellian doublespeak.
All across the globe &#8211; certainly in the Arab states &#8211; the cult of the leader is under attack. But Fifa still manage to mimic the kind of hilltop state employed by the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. Yet Fifa are not Freedonia and they are not bankrupt: Groucho's big problem, as head of state. Blatter and his committees sit on reserves of $1.28bn and emote obsessively about spreading this largesse around the five continents, even though no one seems able to say clearly where all the money ends up.
In his mission statement, headed "Fifa Brand &#8211; Our commitment" (note the word brand), Blatter makes a "promise" &#8211; "For the Games, For the World". He says: "The world is a place rich in natural beauty and cultural diversity, but also one where many are still deprived of their basic rights. Fifa now have an even greater responsibility to reach out and touch the world, using football as a symbol of hope and integration."
Right now the world would probably rather not be "touched" by Fifa.
​

11.55am: Franz Beckenbauer has offered Uncle Sepp his support: "He did a wonderful job," the former Germany captain told Radio 5 Live. "It's not easy. Fifa is like the United Nations - we have 208 members. It's not an easy to handle, but I think Blatter and his staff are doing a wonderful job." 'A wonderful job'? Really?
11.48am: The big news this morning is that Mohamed Bin Hammam has withdrawn from the presidential race. Here's Matt Scott, in Zurich:

Mohamed bin Hammam has withdrawn from the race to become the next Fifa president and has vowed to clear his name when he appears before the body's ethics committee.
The president of the Asian Football Confederation is facing bribery allegations, alongside the Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, while the organisation's president, Sepp Blatter, is being investigated for knowing about alleged bribery. Bin Hammam's decision to pull out of the election means Blatter is unopposed in his attempt to secure a fourth term as the head of world football in Wednesday's vote.
Bin Hammam said: "I pray that my withdrawal will not be tied to the investigation held by the Fifa ethics committee as I will appear before the ethics committee to clear my name from the baseless allegations that have been made against me.
"I promise those who stood by me that I will walk with my head held high and will continue to fight for the good of the game.
"I have a special thank you to my friend and colleague Jack Warner for his unlimited support. I am sorry to see that he has to suffer because of me, but I am promising him that I will be with him all the way through thick and thin.
"I look forward to working closely with my colleagues to restore Fifa's reputation to what it should be &#8211; a protector of the game that has credibility through honesty, transparency and accountability. It saddens me that standing up for the causes I believed in has come at a great price &#8211; the degradation of Fifa's reputation. This is not what I had in mind for Fifa and this is unacceptable.
"I cannot allow the game that I love to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first. It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election."
Bin Hammam's withdrawal is only one hurdle for Blatter to overcome in his attempt to extend his tenure into a fourth term. The corruption allegations that have engulfed world football and destroyed Bin Hammam's candidacy also threaten him: like the Qatari challenger, he faces an ethics committee hearing on Sunday.
​

Today's order of play, as it were:
&#8226; Starting this morning: Fifa's ethics committee meets in Zurich.
&#8226; At 5pm there will be a press conference where the committee's findings will be revealed.
As a grandiose Fifa statement today explains:

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, executive committee member Mohamed bin Hammam, as well as Caribbean Football Union officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, have been invited to attend a hearing by the Fifa ethics committee at the home of Fifa in Zurich on the same day.
The meeting, which starts in the morning, will be followed by a press conference in the auditorium of the home of Fifa, planned for 6pm CET [5pm BST] (time subject to change). The press conference will be attended by deputy chairman of the Fifa ethics committee, Petrus Damaseb and Fifa secretary general Jérôme Valcke.
​

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Fifa kinachoendelea ni ufisadi tu hakuna hadithi nyingine..........

 

[Sijali]

Kimbunga kinachoikumba FIFA sasa kitaondoka na kichwa cha Sepp Blatter. Huyu mzee nadhani ameiweka FIFA mahali pabaya.
Inawezekana vipi kuwa madai ya kutolewa kwa rushwa kwa wanachama huko Carebbean ili wasipinge uchaguzi wake hayamhusu? Eti, hakujua na wala hakushiriki!
Jamani, rushwa ni unyonge unaowakumba binadamu wote. Labda kwa Tanzania ni mbaya zaidi kwa vile madhara yake yanasababisha vifo vya watu moja kwa moja, wanaokufa kwa kukosa huduma za msingi za matibabu na kwa njaa.

 

[Manumbu]

Blatter hatokifurahia kipindi chake cha uongozi kijacho. c ajabu wala akishindwa kukimaliza. tuhuma za rushwa zimemkalia vibaya sana na hawezi kuziepuka asilani

 

[BelindaJacob]

Nimeona press conference yake sasahivi@CNN, Blatter anajibu kwa hasira/ghadhabu maswali na hajibu kwa usahihi..yani he was very moody! waandishi nao hawakumbakishia mara wengine wamcheke, he was only insisting on 'respect' my foot!!..
Mind you jumatano hii ni uchaguzi kwa nafasi aliyonayo na yeye ni only candidate..so where's democracy hapo??! jamaa hafai kabisa!!

 

[Shakazulu]

Zitabaki kuwa tuhuma tu mpaka pale ushahidi utakapotolewa. What are people waiting for? si wepeleke huo ushahidi kama upo? As for being the only candidate ulitaka ajitoe kwa vile hakuna mpinzani? kwani watu wengine wamezuiwa kugombania hiyo nafasi?

 

[Papa Mopao]

Nilishangaa sana kuzipata hizi habari za bribes za FIFA, dah basi ni tatizo la dunia nzima kama ni hivyo.

 

[Rutashubanyuma]

Fifa in crisis live blog: FA calls for Fifa elections to be postponed

• Click refresh for latest updates and post below the line
• Fifa must postpone election, says FA chairman
• Matt Scott: 'Blatter: Crisis? What Is a Crisis?'

• Comments (180)

This page will update automatically every minute: On | Off

FIFA President Sepp Blatter displays the FIFA booklet 'My Game is Fair Play' as he addresses a news conference at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich. Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/REUTERS

2.18pm: Another for the Blatter camp - the Latvian FA, reports Bloomberg's Tariq Panja.
Panja adds via Twitter that the Welsh FA has not yet decided whether to follow England and Scotland's call for a delay.
2.10pm: Does the head of the Lithunia FA speak the honest truth...? Check out this tweet from Bloomberg's Tariq Panja.

Head of Lithuania FA latest to back Blatter. Why Blatter I asked. His answer: 'Because he's superman.'
2pm: There is more from Matt on Twitter

Hearing anecdotally that some African federations — including non-English speaking ones — support #theFA 's initiative against @SeppBlatter
If correct will they actually act?
1.52pm: The "whistleblower" press conf scheduled for 2pm might have been the hacks in Zurich's Jeremy Beadle-moment, Matt Scott reports.

Just got back from a scheduled "press conference" with a "mystery ex-Fifa employee" blowing the whistle on fresh corruption at Fifa. The "press conference" did not in the event take place, with 100 journalists having chased down there in search of a great story.
If the email that called the "press conference" was a hoax, my bet is on it having been the Union of Zurich Taxi Drivers. 100 x CHF60 fares!
1.44pm: The Scottish FA has joined its English counterparts in demanding that the Fifa presidential election be postponed. Its website has the following:

Statement on FIFA Presidential election
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan:

"The Scottish FA can today confirm its position that the FIFA Presidential election be postponed in light of recent uncertainty.
"We believe the election should be rescheduled to facilitate a period of consultation to deal with the issues that have arisen in recent weeks. The events of the last two days, in particular, have made any election unworkable. The integrity and reputation of the game across the world is paramount and the Scottish FA urges FIFA to reconsider its intentions, and calls on other member associations to consider the long-term implications for the game's image.
"We also propose the following actions:
· FIFA should appoint a wholly independent Ethics Committee
· A significant comprehensive plan should be formulated and presented by FIFA to its members regarding essential changes to its governance, decision-making processes and transparency
· A new date is set for the Presidential election, giving suitable candidates time to prepare and present their plans for a more transparent and accountable FIFA."
​

1.12pm:
Main points today

So this is what is new so far today -- ahead of the "whistleblower" who will hold a 2pm press conference in which further "universe shattering" revelations will be offered.
• The FA releases a statement calling for the Fifa presidential election to be postponed - and calls for a 'genuinely independent' external party to look into how to improve Fifa.
• Emirates joins Adidas and Coca Cola in criticising the recent goings-on at Fifa, although its choice of verb - 'disappointment' - and the gruel-like blandness of its statement suggests that the organisation is not going to be first charging the barricades of Fifa HQ.
• The Guardian's Matt Scott says that Fifa has refused to respond to the FA's call for Sepp Blatter to postpone Wednesday's elections beyond pointing out the process.
• Mark Field, the vice-chair of the All Party Group on Football, and Transparency International, the global anti-corruption organisation, join Coca-Cola, Emirates, addidas, and the FA in voicing their disquiet.
• Andrew Warshaw, a veteran of the Fifa/Uefa/Men-in-Suits circuit, reports that Michel Platini will not back the FA
'
12.34pm: Field's mention of the Premier League is the first time the "world's most glamorous/richest/powerful" domestic football competition has been mentioned during this whole affair. Should Richard Scudamore, the chief executive, discuss with his clubs drafting a statement to support the FA's stance? The main problem in this happening may be -- aptly, given the shenanigans in Zurich -- political: the PL and FA are hardly great friends.
According to Andrew Warshaw, a veteran of the Fifa/Uefa/Men-in-Suits circuit, Michel Platini is one who is not currently planning to back the FA.
He has the following scoop:

May 31 - UEFA President Michael Platini today refused to back calls by the English Football Association to call off tomorrow's FIFA election and said he doubted there would be enough support to do so.
Speaking within minutes of the FA urging FIFA to postpone the election in the wake of the unprecedented bribery scandal that led to the suspension of Sepp Blatter's only rival, Mohamed Bin Hammam, Platini said he not heard anything from the FA and thought the election would still go ahead.
"I don't know anything about this," Platini told insideworldfootball outside a downtown Zurich hotel where most of the top FIFA delegates are staying and which has been staked out by reporters and cameramen.
"No-one has contacted me.
"Anyway I am only the [UEFA] President and I don't have a vote."
"It would need 75 percent support from the [208-nation] Congress to support the English – who knows if that many would back them.
"I have my doubts."
​

12.22pm: To Coca-Cola, Emirates, addidas, and the FA we now have Mark Field, the vice-chair of the All Party Group on Football, and Transparency International, the global anti-corruption organisation, voicing their disquiet.
Field emails Matt Scott to say:

"I believe it is time for Sepp Blatter to step down as he is fast turning FIFA into an international laughing stock. While I also agree with the FA's call that tomorrow's election be delayed, we should also use this crisis as a timely opportunity to reflect on the many problems swirling around our own national football bodies. The FA and Premier League should now pledge as a matter of urgency to put their own houses in order – the true fans of the national game have become increasingly dismayed at the cynical culture of illegal payments, opaque ownership and disregard for the grassroots of the game over recent years as global TV money has dominated."
​

And Matt writes:

Transparency International, the global anti-corruption organisation, has joined the Football Association in demanding Fifa postpone the uncontested election that will extend Sepp Blatter's presidency to a fourth term.
Sylvia Schenk, a lawyer and former senior executive of the International Cycling Union (UCI) has called for a full investigation of the corruption allegations that have beset football's world governing body.
"Free and fair elections cannot take place when there is a suspicion that voters may have been swayed," said Schenk, who acts as TI's senior advisor on sport, in a statement. "Two major figures in football politics have been suspended recently for alleged vote-buying. Fifa delegates know that they must clean house if their vote is to have legitimacy.
"All eyes in world football are upon the Fifa delegates. Fifa should be setting a better example to its billions of supporters and especially to young fans that look to the sport for inspiration and role models.
"Because the proceedings of Fifa's ethics committee have thus far been shrouded in secrecy, the investigation should be carried out externally to guarantee impartiality, transparency and accountability."
Like the FA's chairman, David Bernstein, TI has called on Fifa to set up an "empowered ombudsman" to oversee its activities from an independent perspective. Schenk believes there should also be strengthened auditing and transparency regulations, while reviewing its existing ethics code.
TI clearly understands how the lack of accountability required of associations in receipt of Fifa's central development funds can be a powerful electioneering tool. Yesterday at Fifa House Blatter came under fire from international media for handing US$1m to the Concacaf confederation for development projects of its own choosing only four weeks from the presidential election. At that time it was due to be contested by the Asian Football Confederation president, Mohamed Bin Hammam, who has since been suspended.
TI has also called for "compliance clauses for all contracts, including FIFA's financial support for member federations," as well as a "review [of] the tender and awarding procedure of events as well as TV-rights and sponsorship contracts."

​

12.03pm: Lots of readers have been calling for the FA to quit Fifa, but as Matt Scott says, that ain't going to happen:

#TheFA will not quit #Fifa to set up an alternative governing body for football, despite the calls of some fans for the extremest protest. A measure of what support #theFA will receive from other federations: the 21 surviving #Fifa ex-co members urged @SeppBlatter to stay on. But Asian Football Confederation officials are upset over the events leading to @Bin_Hammam 's suspension. There may be some support there.
12.01pm: Good afternoon, Jamie Jackson here. According to Fifa's website Castrol, Budweiser, Sony and Mcdonalds are also among their title sponsors. So will they feel emboldened by Coca-Cola, Emirates and addidas to join suit and criticise them? As many of you have mentioned below the line, this could be the only way Sepp B and his merry band actually start to listen and engage with any of this...

11.43am That's it from me for now. Thanks for all your tweets, posts and emails. Time for Jamie Jackson to take over ...
11.36am Our reporters David Conn and Matt Scott are pressing the flesh in Zurich to find out what the reaction has been to the FA's call for the elections to be postponed. As has Sky's Ian Dovaston, who tweets:

Senior Exco member tells me FA's call for postponement of election may reinforce their isolation in FIFA.
Perhaps that's true, but I think it's fair that the FA aren't best buddies with most ExCo members given the 2018 vote.
11.30am An interesting tweet from Steve Wilson, AP's European sports editor, which shows that the widespread coverage of Fifa in the UK press isn't reflected everywhere else:

FIFA scandal makes p. 11 in L'Equipe and p. 15 in Gazzetta dello Sport. #fifa
11.22am Thanks for all your comments below the line, where an interesting discussion is taken place about how Fifa can be changed. Many of you point to boycotting the sponsors - by hitting the likes of Coca-Cola, Adidas and the rest in the pocket. However Arkadiev has a different take:

We're not a key market for many of these brands. The UK has a mature market and a fairly competitive one - profits can only really grow by increments as most people are aware of these brands. If you look at where the world cup has been and is going then it's often towards developing markets where the sponsors have the most to gain in developing their businesses. Get the russians, brazilians, indians, chinese and south africans to boycott coke and then there'll be pressure. In some of those countries though they have higher priorities when it comes to political reform than football though. Pressure can still tell but it would have to be significant - a few 1,000 people on twitter tweeting about how rubbish coke is, without significantly changing their purchasing or getting others to follow their lead won't do much. And if you haven't moved from Sony after their recent problem I really doubt this will tip you over the edge - it's peripheral.
11.12am More from Matt Scott in Zurich:

Fifa has refused to respond to the FA's call for Sepp Blatter to postpone Wednesday's elections beyond pointing out the process. Fully 75% of all national associations (that is 154 of the 205 who have a vote at Wednesday's congress) calling for a change to the agenda. Naturally Fifa do not believe this will happen.
​

11.05am Emirates has joined Adidas and Coca Cola in criticising the recent goings-on at Fifa, although its choice of verb - 'disappointment' - and the gruel-like blandness of its statement suggests that the organisation is not going to be first charging the barricades of Fifa HQ. Anyway, here's their statement:

Emirates, like all football fans around the world, is disappointed with the issues that are currently surrounding the administration of the sport. We hope that these issues will be resolved as soon as possible and the outcome will be in the interest of the game and sport in general.
​

10.50am: Looking below the line, avidfan writes:

Can someone tell me what happened with the sworn testimony in the Sunday Times from some FIFA whistleblower??? I saw Sepp's press conference yesterday and he suggested that no such person existed?!
​

Think I'm right in saying that the Sunday Times' whistleblower was advised by his/her lawyers not to attend Fifa's ethics committee hearing. However, most of the UK reporters in Zurich are going to press conference this afternoon from someone promising further whistleblowing revelations. We'll see what that throws up ...
10.42am More reaction from Matt Scott: "The Football Association has taken the initiative by calling for the immediate postponement of Sepp Blatter's coronation as president," he writes. "It is an incendiary move that will incense Blatter, who thought he would serenely assume the role for his fourth term after the challenger, Mohamed Bin Hammam, was suspended amid renewed corruption allegations at the heart of Fifa."
The question now is, is the FA a lone voice, whistling in the corridors of Zurich? Or is the organisation reflecting a wider view among the individual associations?
10.32am Here's Matt Scott in Zurich's reaction to the FA's statement:

Naturally this will be a futile measure from #theFA but is bold. Bravo chairman David Bernstein for having courage to confront @seppblatter
Of course, as Paul Kelso on Twitter notes, Bernstein is part of "the same FA facing a Parliamentary review of its own corporate governance...". Still, at least the FA is taking a lead for a change ....
10.25am The FA has released a statement calling for the Fifa presidential election to be postponed - and called for a 'genuinely independent' external party to look into how to improve Fifa. Here's the full statement:

The Football Association Chairman David Bernstein said: "On 19 May 2011 The Football Association announced it would be abstaining in the forthcoming election for the Fifa Presidency.
"There were two main reasons for this decision. First, a concern, that a series of allegations relating to Fifa ExCo Members made it difficult to support either candidate. Secondly, a concern about the lack of transparency and accountability within the organisation, contributing to the current unsatisfactory situation.
"Events of the last few days have reinforced our views, and we call on FIFA and ask other national associations to support us with two initiatives. First, to postpone the election and give credibility to this process, so any alternative reforming candidate could have the opportunity to stand for President. Secondly, to appoint a genuinely independent external party to make recommendations regarding improved governance and compliance procedures and structures throughout the Fifa decision making processes for consideration by the full membership.
"This has been a very damaging time for the reputation of Fifa and therefore the whole of football. To improve confidence in the way the game is governed at the very top, we believe these requests would be a positive step forward and the minimum that should take place."
​

Good morning and welcome to day three of our Fifa in crisis live blog, writes Sean Ingle. Over the next 10 hours or so we will bring you the latest news and reaction ahead of tomorrow's Fifa presidential election, with our reporters David Conn and Matt Scott scurrying around the corridors of Fifa HQ in Zurich to assess the fallout from Sepp Blatter's extraordinary press conference yesterday. Yes, the "Crisis? What is a Crisis? one. There's plenty else to go at, of course, including:
• Will Jack Warner add to his so-called "tsunami" of claims?"
• Will any other Football Associations join the English FA's lead and abstain from backing Blatter?
• Coca Cola and Adidas have already expressed their disquiet at the shabby revelations of the past few days; will the other Fifa partners (Hyundai, Emirates, Sony and Visa follow suit?