21 replies to this topic

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

Quote

Paris and Munich could never win Olympics after upsetting Africa, claims Blatter

January 24 - FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured left) has revealed why Paris lost out to London for the 2012 Olympics and why Munich never stood a chance of upsetting Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Games: the African factor.

Blatter says failure to secure strong African support was a critical blow for Paris and Munich – the latter having a direct link to football.

In an interview with Kicker magazine, Blatter disclosed that German complaints about the 2010 World Cup in South Africa led to Munich's hopes of staging the 2018 Winter Games being scuppered when the vote took place at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Durban last year.

"Allow me to reveal something to you which I predicted to Lord Mayor of Munich Christian Ude prior to the award of the 2018 Winter Olympics," said Blatter. a member of the IOC since 1998, the year he was elected as the head of FIFA.

"In the build-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, [Bayern Munich President] Uli Hoeness and company griped and moaned to the point where it couldn't get any worse.

"I advised Ude that Paris lost the 2012 Olympics to London because they failed to court the African votes.

"In the case of Munich, Issa Hayatou (pictured right), President of the African Confederation (CAF), clearly told Franz Beckenbauer before the award in Durban, 'you can't count on a single African vote for the Olympic Games in Munich.

"'We've not forgotten the way you tried to destroy the African World Cup.'

"And so it came to pass.

"You will never host the Olympic Games without the 12 African votes."

Insidethegames

Well, well, well! Not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, great story. On the other, I notice a comment after the story from "IOC insider" refuting the claim. And it IS Sepp ... I wouldn't put it past him to be stirring the Olympics pot after the IOC criticisms of him lately.

Edited by Sir Rols, 24 January 2012 - 06:03 PM.

[RobH]

Munich mayor hits back at Blatter over jibe at Bayern’s Hoeness

Munich mayor Christian Ude has dismissed as “absurd” an assertion from FIFA president Sepp Blatter about his city’s defeat in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games bid race.

Blatter, in a major set-piece interview earlier this week with the European Sports Magazines group, had suggested that Munich lost because of negative comments about Africa from Bayern Munich boss Uli Hoeness.

Those comments, said Blatter, meant that Munich did not pick up any of the 12 African votes in the International Olympic Committee and opened the way for the South Korean resort of PyeongChang to win in the first round of voting at the IOC Session in Durban last year.

Ude has not always been onside with Hoeness who is now president of Bayern and was formerly a World Cup-winning (and Olympic) footballer.

However, asked for his reaction to Blatter’s comment, Ude said: “I think that is a very misleading suggestion. FC Bayern were deeply committed to out Olympics bid. The same applied to TSV 1860Munich and the entire German league – and Uli Hoeneß brought was very committed and involved on a personal level. That was clear during the visit of the evaluation commission of the IOC which they could not fail to have noted.

“Certainly Hoeness did make one little undiplomatic statement about which we were not very happy. Yet to link his comment about the staging of the World Cup in South Africa to our voting defeat in Durban by Pyeongchang would be incorrectly: an absurd accusation.

“You only need look at only the voting result [PyeongChang 63, Munich 25]. Even if we would have picked up all 12 African votes, Pyeongchang would still have been a clear winner.

“For me this is just a battle between football officials, using the Olympic bid as a weapon.”

http://keirradnedge....r-games-defeat/

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

Yeah, Rob, as you said in your comment in Insidethegames, with such a landslide to PC, the African votes wouldn't have changed the result. In a tight race, the African votes are surely valuable - but I fail to see what evidence Sepp gives for Paris losing on the back of upsetting the Africans.

[Gangwon]

Someone please enlighten me... what the hell does the prez of Bayern Munich have to do with Munich 2018? Was Hoeness in any way majorly involved with the bid team, or is this purely Sepp's way of getting back at Hoeness for some past football-related antagonism between the two?

Not only that, but could African IOC members even conceivably be that petty to not vote for a quality bid because of the words of one individual about a particular country on a huge continent? Do the North African IOC members take offence to something said about a country 10 000 km away?

[RobH]

Quote

Yeah, Rob, as you said in your comment in Insidethegames, with such a landslide to PC, the African votes wouldn't have changed the result. In a tight race, the African votes are surely valuable - but I fail to see what evidence Sepp gives for Paris losing on the back of upsetting the Africans.

Unless there are some quotes missing from the article you posted, he doesn't does he? I think the article's headline is misleading and actually confuses matters. Blatter claims the French failed to court African voters. It's only the Germans he believes upset them.

Edited by RobH, 24 January 2012 - 06:46 PM.

[intoronto1125]

They screwed the Toronto bid as well!

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

intoronto1125, on 24 January 2012 - 07:34 PM, said:

They screwed the Toronto bid as well!

Yep, you sure lost the cannibal vote!

[deawebo]

Ok, the African vote is perhaps the strongest one, there i agree... Paris lost cuz of that... Agree... But come on! The fact that only cuz Germany defated South Africa in the 2006 made Munich loose on 2018? Naaa South Africa still obrained the world cup so i dont know why should they still be amgry with Germany... Anyways that maybe something more intresting in 2024 if Casablanca and Durban bid the african vote wont be strong now, that's intresting

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

deawebo, on 24 January 2012 - 08:16 PM, said:

Ok, the African vote is perhaps the strongest one, there i agree...

You reckon? I thought Europe still had more than half of the IOC member votes. And I'm pretty sure Asia also has more than Africa.

Actually, I'm surprised Sepp didn't blame England's WC 2018 defeat on Africa as well - I seem to remember the South Africans also whining at the British press about "negative publicity" in the lead up to the 2010 WC.

[intoronto1125]

Sir Rols, on 24 January 2012 - 07:37 PM, said:

Yep, you sure lost the cannibal vote!

LOL! Tell that the former mayor. African IOC members should expect a city to support their countries more then ever (because majority of the continent cannot afford tickets, but third generation ppl from those countries reside in Toronto).