What shall FIFA do now?

[baron-pierreIV]

I hope that'll make Emirates flights a little cheaper.

Edited November 6, 2014 by baron-pierreIV

[olympiaki-agones]

It sounds that the UAE will give Qatar Airways such privilege to sponsor Qatar's FIFA World Cup.

[Michelle]

The English Football Association has been accused of damaging the image of Fifa in its attempt to win the right to stage the 2018 World Cup.

A Fifa report says the FA behaved improperly when trying to win the backing of a key voter.

However, Qatar have been cleared of any wrongdoing during their successful bid to stage the 2022 World Cup, thus ending talks of a possible re-vote.

Source BBC News website

As always, with FIFA, you couldn't make it up.

[Rob2012]

So we know...

Most of the Exco who were in place at the time refused to co-operate

Spain/Portugal 2018 refused to co-operate

Russia lost all its information and email trail when rented computers were returned

2 whistleblowers who had evidence against Qatar were dismissed

Ignores Bin Hammam's payment of $450,000 to Warner before 2022 vote

Fifa investigator Michael Garcia cleared #Qatar2022 without looking at any of the evidence from the #FifaFiles revealed by The Sunday Times

https://twitter.com/heidiblakeST

[StefanMUC]

Maybe time to pull out of FIFA altogether for the FA? I know it would mean huge losses of money, probably a ban on players etc, but could send a strong message.

This is such an absurd farce it makes North Korea look like a beacon of freedom.

[yoshi]

I would totally support the FA pulling out of FIFA now. The thing is, we might well pull others, like Germany & other Western Countries, & if we do, we'll take sponsors & money with us. If that happened, we could bring FIFA to its knees within a couple of years. There'd be turmoil for a while, but it'd be worth it.

[Olympic Fan Darcy]

FIFA is beyond a joke.

[Rob2012]

So FIFA's lead investigator says FIFA is misrepresenting his own report.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30037729

So what we've had is an investigation where the investigator had no powers to compel anyone to give evidence, and a FIFA appointed judge who won't publish the aspects of the report which will damn FIFA itself!!
http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-futbol/2014/11/12/fifa-garcia-report-2022-world-cup-qatar-russia-corruption

Garcia is appealing to FIFA to publish the full report (and I hope he suceeds) but Ahmad Darw, member of the Fifa appeal committee Garcia hopes will overturn J. Eckert's 'erroneous' decision, took Bin Hammam's cash in 2010.
https://twitter.com/heidiblakeST/status/532880942084653056

Edited November 13, 2014 by Rob.

[StefanMUC]

I would totally support the FA pulling out of FIFA now. The thing is, we might well pull others, like Germany & other Western Countries, & if we do, we'll take sponsors & money with us. If that happened, we could bring FIFA to its knees within a couple of years. There'd be turmoil for a while, but it'd be worth it.

DFB is very FIFA-friendly, so I'm afraid the FA shouldn't count on German support...

[Michelle]

The findings of Fifa's inquiry into allegations of corruption during bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups have been questioned - by the man who conducted the two-year investigation into the claims.

In an unexpected twist, lawyer Michael Garcia says the report "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions".

source BBC news website.

Can't. Make. This. Up.

[Rob2012]

FBI moves ahead with FIFA corruption probe

U.S. investigators are stepping up the pace of a corruption investigation into senior leaders of FIFA, even as the world soccer body is giving itself a clean bill of health, according to U.S. law enforcement officials.

The FIFA ethics committee announced Thursday that it was closing its investigation into alleged corruption in the 2018 and 2022 bidding process that awarded the World Cup to Russia and Qatar, respectively.

FIFA said its investigation found no corruption and has no reason to reopen the bidding process.

But the FBI, which is leading the U.S. probe, isn't ready to do the same. Investigators are moving ahead with their probe, which could result in charges against senior FIFA officials, the U.S. law enforcement officials said.

FBI agents based in New York are moving ahead with their 3-year-old investigation, which will likely benefit from the findings of a former U.S. prosecutor, Michael Garcia, who was hired by FIFA to do an internal probe. The FBI plans to seek access to Garcia's report, which FIFA hasn't yet released.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/13/politics/fbi-fifa-corruption-probe/index.html

[Tony E Loves Architecture]

They need an unbiased and non-Fifa People to investigate this. Fifa are too corrupt.

[Rob2012]

Yep, FBI will do nicely I think

[baron-pierreIV]

FIFA = FBI, they at least share two letters.

Edited November 13, 2014 by baron-pierreIV

[Alexjc]

In the end, we may just have to suck it up and just live with it, at least for Russia 2018.

I just wanna see top end football being played.

...of course I'd have no problem if an alternative tournament being hosted but only if the top twenty nations are involved.

[zekekelso]

Anyone want to entertain the possibility that FIFA actually didn't do anything wrong?

[arwebb]

When I first heard the report I posted a link to in the other thread last night, I was furious, but not surprised. During the course of today, my mood has gone from anger to hilarity and now resides somewhere near despair. For the whole investigative process to unravel in little more than three hours from the moment of the summary report being published has taken FIFA to new depths of failure and, as far as I can see this evening, leaves us no further forward at all.

If Mr Garcia truly believes that his findings have been misrepresented, then it is his duty, in my opinion, to clearly set out his reasons for that and publish his report in full. Challenging the current situation through FIFA's channels is pretty well worthless. Furthermore, given the remarks made by one of their senior journalists on the BBC a couple of hours ago, he also needs to explain why he did not consider the evidence uncovered by the Sunday Times and any other parties. I don't doubt that he was hamstrung and hindered by many parties privy to this process but he can be a much greater part of the solution by opening up everything he has to the widest possible public scrutiny.

Let me now turn to the published findings, for what they're worth. There can be very few people left outside FIFA, Russia or Qatar who seriously believe that these votes were conducted properly. While I find myself holding my nose at some of what the England bid team did, it is impossible to avoid using words like whitewash and stitch-up in relation to this. And to say the FA damaged the name of FIFA is like being lectured in sobriety by a drunk.

What of the future? Barring some sort of mass prosecution of FIFA bigwigs or bid officials, I see no way these elections will be re-run. But that's almost secondary to the much bigger fight we have to ensure that the governance of this sport is overhauled once and for all. It's not enough for the FA to get angry, reject all criticism and say it won't bid for FIFA tournaments under the current leadership. Let's not forget they got involved with the process when they wanted to bring the World Cup to England and criticised those who exposed its shortcomings in the run-up to that vote.

So, as much as I agree with much of what has come out of the FA today, I don't want to just hear words from them anymore. I want to see meaningful action. I want to see Greg Dyke at the heart of a reforming agenda to clean up the governance of football once and for all. Governments need to be brought on board. All the means at our (those of us who believe in reform, that is) disposal must be brought to bear on FIFA to reform itself. We can't afford to wait for Blatter and his cronies to retire or die. There is now a clear dividing line between the football that I still love, the game of the grassroots, and that of the elite as represented by FIFA that now so reeks of the filth of fraud. The message must be simple. Reform or we will go on without you.

[Fox334]

Anyone want to entertain the possibility that FIFA actually didn't do anything wrong?

If FIFA didn't do anything wrong they would release the full report and Michael Garcia wouldn't be publicly criticising FIFA for misrepresenting his report.

FIFA condems itself with it's actions.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Fox334

[Quaker2001]

Anyone want to entertain the possibility that FIFA actually didn't do anything wrong?

They awarded the World Cup to Qatar. Even if there was no bribery or no shady goings on behind the scenes, that still qualifies as doing something wrong, IMO

[Alexjc]

Anyone want to entertain the possibility that FIFA actually didn't do anything wrong?

Upset England and it's "sure fire"bid? (And now questions are surrounding some misdeeds in their bid too)

[StefanMUC]

Anyone want to entertain the possibility that FIFA actually didn't do anything wrong?

Yes: Sepp Blatter and his gang.

[Olympic Fan Darcy]

I am just gobsmacked that the FIFA report has said Australia violated bidding and ethical rules. And yet clear Qatar?? Way to piss off a potential future bidder. I feel like this is just a giant joke. They got cleared of any misconduct but I'm just so shocked.

The official FIFA report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has cleared the respective successful bidders, Russia and Qatar, of any wrongdoing, but has slammed Australia's bid for attempting to win favour with certain members of the FIFA executive committee.

Football Federation Australia's bid was slammed for funnelling money into CONCACAF development projects that appeared to be linked to disgraced former confederation president Jack Warner, now banned from football for life. England's 2018 bid was also heavily criticised in the report for attempting to curry favour with Warner, said to control a bloc of influential votes on the executive committee

"There are indications that the Australian 2022 bid team attempted to direct funds the Australian government had set aside for existing development projects in Africa towards initiatives in countries with ties to FIFA executive committee members with the intention to advance its bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup," the report said.

However, while aspects of Australia's application were described as "potentially problematic", the bid – which garnered just one supporter at the final vote in December 2010 – was cleared of any overall misconduct.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/australias-world-cup-bid-team-violated-bidding-and-ethics-rules-20141113-11mczr.html

[StefanMUC]

The lesson any "democratic" bidders should learn: Don't join playing dirty tricks. The others do it better anyway.

[yoshi]

The message being sent to democratic countries from FIFA is much simpler than that: it's 'don't even bother'

[stryker]

In the aftermath of this mess, I cannot say I am not surprised. Garcia turned up lots of dirty evidence that definitely would've proven without a doubt that at least the Qatar bid was tainted. While I doubt the Russian bid was clean either, this probably wouldn't have received as much attention if it did not involve Qatar. Had the full report been published, FIFA would've had no choice but to strip the tournament from Qatar.

Frankly, that wasn't going to happen and FIFA knows they are backed into a corner regarding Qatar. The political fallout would be massive and for one reason that I stated a while back. Qatar is a Muslim country. No matter how damaging the evidence was, the Qataris know they could spin the decision and play the race card. They would claim FIFA pulled the tournament not because of corruption but because Qatar is a Muslim country. More than likely, they'd have the backing of the entire Arab world on this. It was back in the summer I think when the head of the Olympic Council of Asia, Sheikh Fahad Al-Sabah stated that questions about Qatar's hosting were based on racism. Remember when the Qataris stated the IOC "closed the door on the Arab World" after Doha's 2014 bid wasn't even shortlisted? Imagine the reaction if FIFA were to strip the tournament. Qatar would do everything they could to take FIFA down with them. It would probably start with a FIFA boycott by all the Arab countries.

The best thing Michael Garcia can do right now is publish his findings independently. Heck write a book about it and go on a book tour. He needs to get his findings into the public domain.