Spain, Qatar were the Vote Riggers

[Sir Rols]

Mind you, this IS the Daily Fail, but ...

England's 2018 World Cup bid rivals Spain in rigging probe

England's 2018 rivals Spain have been confirmed as one of the two World Cup bidding countries, along with 2022 candidates Qatar, facing a FIFA inquiry over alleged vote rigging.

The ethics committee, who on Tuesday voted unanimously to suspend the two FIFA executive members at the centre of the Sunday Times cash-for-votes corruption allegations, will investigate over the next month the separate allegations that Spain and Qatar have been trading votes between their 2018 and 2022 campaigns in breach of FIFA regulations.

High-level FIFA sources revealed that Spain and Qatar were the countries concerned, although they were not named during the press conference that announced that Nigeria's Amos Adamu and Oceania football chief Reynald Temarii had been provisionally suspended until the next ethics committee meeting makes a final decision next month.

That summit will also decide whether Spain and Qatar will be removed from the December 2 vote in Zurich that will decide the venues of the next two World Cups.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said: 'They have enough time to see if there is more than rumours of collusion, which are not allowed, and whether there are facts.'

The suspicions surrounding the Spanish bid can only help England's 2018 campaign.

It now looks like a two-horse race between England and Russia, while Qatar's problems point to 2022 going to either the United States or Australia.

Along with Adamu, who was caught on film by a Sunday Times investigation team asking for £500,000 earmarked for artificial pitches in Nigeria to be paid to him directly, and Temarii, who demanded £1.5million to build a sports complex in Auckland, four other FIFA officials were also suspended. They are Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite, Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Ismail Bhamjee.

Tonga's former FIFA ExCo member Fusimalohi's comments included his claims that England might not win the 2018 bid because they didn't do deals.

The bans came as a result of the ethics committee being given full access to the English newspaper's findings.

Ethics committee chairman Claudio Sulser said: 'This is a sad day for FIFA and football. We have a zero tolerance for any breach of ethics to protect FIFA's image, but we need to guarantee that the individuals affected are able to defend themselves. We do not want a public trial and respect their rights.'

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: 'Society is full of devils, but we have to fight for the ethics of FIFA. Confidence will be restored.'

Daily Mail

[LuigiVercotti]

Well here's hoping that the report is true and both nations (which would therefore include Portugal) get their bids canned. It's not just good enough for FIFA to censure their own members, they need to punish the offending bid committees.

Plus getting rid of the Qataris would be a damned fine result for Australia 2022

[Sir Rols]

Plus getting rid of the Qataris would be a damned fine result for Australia 2022

Here's hoping!

[Kenadian]

Even if these are not true or if they are not kicked out, a lot of damage has been done by this. If FIFA selects Spain/Portugal 2018 and Qatar 2022, the two events will almost forever be tarnished with the "but they cheated/bribed their way to it" brush.

[Sir Rols]

The thing is, looking back, Hammam all but confirmed the Qatari vote trading himself a few weeks ago:

Senior Fifa figure criticises bidding formats for 2018 and 2022 World Cups

One of Fifa’s most senior figures has criticised the bidding format for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and suggested that all bids will breach the rules by striking vote-trading rules.

The Qatari president of the Asian Football Confederation Mohamed Bin Hammam said that the lack of clear criteria for bids means that the bids with the best marketing, rather than the best bids, will win when Fifa votes on Dec 2.

"Whether the best candidates for 2018 and 2022 are going win or not I'm not 100 per cent sure because this depends more on public relations and how as a marketing person you sell your product,” he told the Leaders In Football Conference in London.

"There is also a lack of clear written criteria. All the nine candidates today have their strong points and their weak points and you have to make a judgement yourself."

He said vote-trading among Fifa executive committee members would be taking place. "I will be naturally looking to the interests of Qatar because that is the bid for me. All the bidders are telling 'okay if you vote for me I will vote for you.'

Speaking at the same conference Fifa vice-president Chung Mung-Joon said that he is considering standing against Sepp Blatter for the presidency next year.

"I have not thought of doing so before seriously but now I will think about it. It's still too early to say there will be no contender next May. In order to keep a large organisation like Fifa healthy you need healthy

Telegraph

[LuigiVercotti]

Even if these are not true or if they are not kicked out, a lot of damage has been done by this. If FIFA selects Spain/Portugal 2018 and Qatar 2022, the two events will almost forever be tarnished with the "but they cheated/bribed their way to it" brush.

Which is why these bids must now be if not dead in the water they must be damned close to it. FIFA like any organisation with a PR image needs to keep the spin alive to protect their branding and both the Iberian and Qatari bids will be seen now as too big a risk in tainting the World Cup brand. Of the two I suspect the Iberians might get away with it thanks to the importance of Spain as the current WC champions and that Portugal would arguably be separate from the kerfuffle. Qatar on the other hand has little bar petrodollars in their favour and the problems inherent in their bid (already picked up by the inspection team's visit a few weeks back) must mean that this will be a risk too far for the Blather crowd. Hopefully voting will now solidify behind Australia or for those of you from North America the US.

[Detroit]

All this does it shift votes from Spain/Portugal out east to Russia, and the 1 vote for Qatar(they cannot do it, they have 1.6 million people, nation too small) is now probably going to Australia

[Sir Rols]

Yeah, I agree with Ken and Seb, whatever the final outcome is, I think the damage has been well and truly done for both the Iberia and Qatar bids (assuming, of course, the Mail got it right).

That said, while I won't pretend I wouldn't be extremely pleased to say tah-tah to Qatar, both for the Oz bid's sake and also as one in the face for Hammam, I can't really say I can muster much outrage at the mere notion of vote-swapping deals. If it's not a decision based purely on technical criteria - and the fact that it is going to a decided by secret ballot tacitly underlines that it isn't - then of course it's a political decision based on whatever factors are important to individual bidders. And garnering favour for your own bid's chances by agreeing to support another's bid for the other round seems to me a rather innocuous, indeed pretty obvious, strategy and not necessarily inherently malign. To my mind, it's a basis for how just about any decision making is done in a pluralistic democracy. Bribery - as in the case of Adamu and Temarii - is one thing and understandably beyond the pale. But a bit of horse-trading? Well, not much would ever get done in the world without it normally.

If FIFA were so concerned about the possibility of such deals, then I do have to agree that they left themselves open for it by having the two hosting campaign and decisions run side-by-side. And considering the way they have been shifting the ground rules of the campaign continuously at each whim of Sepp's during the race, they can hardly be surprised that the group of nine bidders will do what they can to gain any advantage.

[LuigiVercotti]

Yeah, I agree with Ken and Seb, whatever the final outcome is, I think the damage has been well and truly done for both the Iberia and Qatar bids (assuming, of course, the Mail got it right).

That said, while I won't pretend I wouldn't be extremely pleased to say tah-tah to Qatar, both for the Oz bid's sake and also as one in the face for Hammam, I can't really say I can muster much outrage at the mere notion of vote-swapping deals. If it's not a decision based purely on technical criteria - and the fact that it is going to a decided by secret ballot tacitly underlines that it isn't - then of course it's a political decision based on whatever factors are important to individual bidders. And garnering favour for your own bid's chances by agreeing to support another's bid for the other round seems to me a rather innocuous, indeed pretty obvious, strategy and not necessarily inherently malign. To my mind, it's a basis for how just about any decision making is done in a pluralistic democracy. Bribery - as in the case of Adamu and Temarii - is one thing and understandably beyond the pale. But a bit of horse-trading? Well, not much would ever get done in the world without it normally.

If FIFA were so concerned about the possibility of such deals, then I do have to agree that they left themselves open for it by having the two hosting campaign and decisions run side-by-side. And considering the way they have been shifting the ground rules of the campaign continuously at each whim of Sepp's during the race, they can hardly be surprised that the group of nine bidders will do what they can to gain any advantage.

Nicely put Rols. Of course where it gets particularly pointed or beyond the pale when it comes to vote swapping is when you have bids which are demonstrably technically deficient and run mostly on "not just will we scratch your back we'll stuff the petrodollars in your wallet while you're here".

I guess what we are talking about know is some kind of bastardised system that was almost where the IOC was after the SLC scandals blew up in their face. Having an exec committee vote in secrecy with an autocratic president in power is where FIFA is at now and where the wily old Falangist could have taken the IOC (thanks feck it didn't go down this path). I know this is almost unheard of but perhaps FIFA should look to the IOC for bid processes and ethical standards.

Sad to say FIFA is about 15 years behind the IOC when it comes to corporate and political ethics. which must place it somewhere between the Mussolini's fascist regime and Enron

[Scotguy]

Didn't the England bid team a while back, give designer handbags to the members wives? It may not be vote rigging as such but it still smells of slight bribary

[Sir Rols]

Didn't the England bid team a while back, give designer handbags to the members wives? It may not be vote rigging as such but it still smells of slight bribary

Oz got rapped over the knuckles for something similar (a goody bag) too. I think it was small enough, like England's incident, that it just got us a warning and meant we had to be a bit more careful afterwards.

Small gifts and tokens are commonplace in the corporate world. Bribes in the six figures range are a whole different ball game.

[NYCD 2012]

Pfft, I knew it just had to be Qatar, only they would be that money-minded to do such a thing. BOY, I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE REACTION OF THOSE QATARIS IN SSC

[Faster]

Vote swamping has happened numerous times before. I know of examples involving Canada and China and Germany and France.

[Rob2012]

Didn't the England bid team a while back, give designer handbags to the members wives? It may not be vote rigging as such but it still smells of slight bribary

Yeah, and Jack Warner made a big deal of it, publically undermining our bid, despite only a few weeks earlier complaining that he hadn't received an expensive "goody bag" from Australia 2018 which a couple of other members had received. Sums the whole thing up for me. When you have Jack Warner - a man who is still one of FIFA's VPs despite being involved in no fewer than three financial scandals - talking about fair play it shows what state your organisation is in.

I wouldn't want to see Qatar kicked out. I'm fascinated to see firstly what the technical report (if there is one) says about their bizarre one city bid, and secondly, how they fare in the voting.

[!VamosSochi!]

'Rigged vote' for Spain threatens England bid

24/10/2010 The Sunday Times

THE England bid for the 2018 World Cup is in danger of being beaten by a close rival that has allegedly used underhand tactics to secure a block of eight votes.

The claims that the joint bid by the reigning champions, Spain, and neighbouring Portugal has already secured a third of the votes emerged during undercover filming by The Sunday Times.

Michel Zen-Ruffinen, the former Fifa general secretary, told our reporters at a meeting in London 11 days ago about an alleged alliance formed by supporters of Spain/Portugal. Rumours had been swirling for weeks that bidders for 2018 were making reciprocal arrangements with countries hoping to win 2022 by swapping votes. Under Fifa rules, this practice is forbidden.

According to Zen-Ruffinen, such a deal had already been struck between Spain/Portugal and supporters of the 2022 Qatari bid in which seven of the 24 executive committee members would vote for both countries.

The allegations have been dismissed as "entirely false" by the Qatari bid, and Spain/ Portugal has so far declined to comment.

The conversation with Zen-Ruffinen was as follows: Zen-Ruffinen: Basically people expect a battle between Russia [a 2018 contender] and England but at this stage they are very, very much disturbed by the alliance with Qatar, because if Spain starts with seven votes, which nobody was expecting ... Reporter: So Spain have seven votes because of the alliance with Qatar, they're doing a swap. Okay.

Zen-Ruffinen: And that's a real alliance.

Reporter: Yeah. Zen-Ruffinen: It's [whistles] bound, tacked with a nice gift ribbon and that's really problematic. This is the most problematic thing. And I was informed about it last week. And this is not just a rumour. That's a fact.

Zen-Ruffinen went on to name the members of the alliance: four brought in by Spain/ Portugal and three by Qatar. There is no suggestion that there has been any payment offered for their votes.

Despite having been so definite at the meeting, Zen-Ruffinen said last week that he was just recounting "well-known rumours".

The allegations were included in a letter sent by The Sunday Times to Fifa last week. The Fifa ethics committee opened a formal investigation into an alleged alliance on Wednesday. Although the countries have not been identified by Fifa, it has been widely reported that this involves Spain/ Portugal and Qatar.

Jérôme Valcke, the current Fifa general secretary, said Fifa had been aware of allegations about alliances for several weeks.

Champions to host jointly It also emerged during our undercover interviews that Spain may have secured an eighth vote using underhand tactics that may be a breach of the rules.

England had been hoping to win the vote of Reynald Temarii, the Fifa executive committee member for Oceania who was provisionally suspended after our investigation last week.

However, a member of the Oceania executive committee, which has a say in how Temarii votes, told our undercover reporters a different story.

Ahongalu Fusimalohi claimed Spain had made an arrangement with South American supporters to offer a deal that was attractive to Oceania.

Fusimalohi: Oceania have indirectly said they might support England ... but they are not.

Reporter: Who are they supporting? Fusimalohi: Spain ... Reporter: Have they struck a deal with Spain? Fusimalohi: That's what it's all about.

Spain want in 2018 Under the alleged deal, Spain's South American supporters had offered to finance and host free training camps for Oceania teams. Both the Spanish bid team and Oceania declined to comment on the allegations last week.

[olympian]

FIFA widens World Cup bids probe

ZURICH -- FIFA widened its probe into alleged World Cup bidding corruption on Monday after a former leading administrator reportedly claimed two candidates have colluded to trade votes.

FIFA said it has "immediately requested to receive all ... potential evidence," from Britain's Sunday Times newspaper regarding its reporting of comments from Michel Zen-Ruffinen, who was general secretary of soccer's world governing body for four years until 2002.

Zen-Ruffinen was secretly filmed saying Spain-Portugal and Qatar have struck a deal giving each seven votes from the 24-man FIFA executive committee which is choosing World Cup hosts in December. Spain and Portugal want to co-host in 2018 and Qatar is a 2022 candidate. Both need 13 votes to guarantee victory under existing rules.

"So they start with seven [votes] which ... was not expected by the other candidates. And this is not just a rumor, that's fact," Zen-Ruffinen was quoted as saying to undercover reporters who posed as lobbyists claiming to work on behalf of one bidder.

FIFA said it will refer the evidence to its ethics committee which last week officially launched an investigation into alleged illegal collusion between bidders, which it did not name. Officials from the Spain-Portugal and Qatar bids have not confirmed they are being investigated.

"FIFA has immediately requested to receive all the documents and potential evidence that the newspaper has in relation to this matter, and will in any case analyze the material available," it said in a statement.

"FIFA and the ethics committee are committed to have zero tolerance for any breach of the Code of Ethics and the Bid Registration. FIFA and the ethics committee are determined to protect the integrity of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process."

The ethics panel also is investigating two current and four former members of FIFA's ruling executive following Sunday Times allegations that the bidding process was shrouded by corruption.

Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii from Tahiti were filmed seeming to offer their votes in exchange for funding for soccer projects. They were provisionally suspended from all duty after appearing last Wednesday before FIFA's ethics court, which used videos and transcripts provided by the newspaper to render its decision.

Adamu and Temarii will miss a two-day meeting of FIFA's executive chaired by Sepp Blatter starting Thursday and which is scheduled to finalize voting rules for the secret World Cup ballot on Dec. 2 in Zurich.

Zen-Ruffinen, who left FIFA after alleging financial mismanagement under Blatter's leadership, also was recorded suggesting FIFA voters could be bribed with offers of money or women.

The Swiss lawyer later told the newspaper he exaggerated his claims to help gain a consultancy fee and had only offered to assist reporters contacting FIFA officials.

Zen-Ruffinen's claims will heap more work onto the FIFA ethics committee, which is scheduled to deliver verdicts on its separate investigations -- into officials and bidders -- at a meeting in mid-November, less than three weeks before polling day. He could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

The four former executive committee members also provisionally suspended are Tunisian lawyer Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite of Mali, Botswana's Ismail Bhamjee and Ahongalu Fusimalohi from Tonga.

The 2018 contest is between England, Russia and the joint bids of Belgium-Holland and Spain-Portugal.

The 2022 race involves the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Qatar.

[BTHarner]

What a mess this has become. Let's get it over with.

[Rafa]

Its only a mess because people have been caught. None of this is new.

[Sir Rols]

Its only a mess because people have been caught. None of this is new.

Like I said earlier in this thread, I don't have a problem with vote trading per se. But it is a mess that FIFA, well Blatter, decided to run both votes together, then decided vote trading wouldn't look good, and then figured 2018 should be for Europe but didn't want to explicitly spell that out. It's like the rules were made up on the fly while on the go, with the3 goal posts changing every few months. Ridiculous.

Oh well, I suppose they've got eight years after this vote to try and figure out how to do the next one more transparently. Can't really see them doing the double whammy vote again, though.

[Athan]

You know I'm not really interested in the FIFA World Cup (in fact, I think if we host, we'll have it even more difficult for the Olympics), but I hope Spain will not be eliminated before the voting. I'd rather Spanish media calm and quiet until then than complaining and insulting everyone. That can get really annoying

PS: If FIFA doesn't want us to host, then don't vote for us - that would be a better solution for me...

[Rafa]

Outsource the process to Nawal and Felli and others.

[!VamosSochi!]

THE CONTENT OF THE VILLAR LLONA'S NOTE IS REVEALED!

The Spain-Portugal and Qatar World Cup bids could escape censure over allegations of collusion after Fifa executive committee member Chuck Blazer confirmed that no hard evidence had been passed to its ethics committee.

The lack of evidence is unlikely to ease concerns among the two bids’ rivals that they have struck a deal however, as Blazer also confirmed the existence of a note passed between Ángel María Villar Llona, of Spain, and Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam at the last executive committee meeting.

The note, written by Villar Llona and widely discussed in bidding circles in the last week, said: “CONGRATULATION, VAMOS A GANAR”, which translates as “We are going to win”.

The note, which was seen by four other executive committee members and translated for Bin Hammam by Blazer, has heightened suspicions of a vote-trading deal between the two bids among their rivals, but Blazer believes Villar Llona was referring to the prospect of being cleared by the ethics commission.

“It is more than likely that the note referred to the subject that the previous conversation had been about,” he said. “That discussion had been about the ethics committee and the fact that nobody had provided any hard evidence [of collusion].”

Blazer’s benign interpretation of the note’s meaning is not shared by rivals of the Iberian and Qatari bids, with several of them believing it stands as further evidence of a deal.

The apparently blatant way in which Villar Llona passed the note through the hands of executive committee colleagues, including one direct rival, Michel D’Hooge from Belgium, has infuriated some bids. It has also undermined faith in Fifa’s ability to police its own rules.

[Rob2012]

I haven't had any faith in that for a long while; there's nothing to undermine.

[!VamosSochi!]

The issue seems to be officially closed now - no evidence was found.

FIFA: "There are always rumors to sell more newspapers"...

[Rob2012]

Typical FIFA spiel. The "rumours" came from a very well connected ex-FIFA general secretary.

If they found no evidence, that's fair enough and they should say so, but it's not as though the newspaper made this up or heard it down the pub.