FIFA World Cup decision: clean or corrupt?

The Onion's grim barb:

http://www.theonion.com/article/rep...lMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:1:Default

Loved Blatter's 'just because I'm in charge doesn't mean I should take responsibility' speech yesterday. He's going to stand. He's probably going to win. It's going to be a right old mess.

UEFA--unsurprisingly--looks to be going balls to the wall to unseat Blatter.

And I noticed an old editorial by Jack Warner has been dredged up:

He wrote: “I will talk about the racism that is within Fifa. I will talk about the levels of religious discrimination which I sought to correct.
“I will talk about the Zionism, which probably is the most important reason why this acrid attack on Bin Hammam and me was mounted.”

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robeiae said:

UEFA--unsurprisingly--looks to be going balls to the wall to unseat Blatter.

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UEFA aren't the skilled operators like Blatter, and their case is undermined by (head of UEFA) Michel Platini's bizarre support for the Qatar bid - allegedly at the order of Nicholas Sarcozy to sweeten a Qatar-France trade agreement. But money in football is flowing inward to the big European leagues, not outward to the rest of the world. The big European clubs don't need the World Cup anymore, as the Champions League has become so big. Moving 2022 Qatar to the winter - blatantly against the terms of its bid - gives European clubs an excuse (and possibly a legal one) not to release their players for the competition. UEFA could order them to, but not if it's at war with FIFA. That would remove almost all the stars of world football.

Every piece of logic says the FIFA delegates should sacrifice Blatter in order to save FIFA and its World Cup. But I'm not sure they will.

Priene said:

The big European clubs don't need the World Cup anymore, as the Champions League has become so big. Moving 2022 Qatar to the winter - blatantly against the terms of its bid - gives European clubs an excuse (and possibly a legal one) not to release their players for the competition. UEFA could order them to, but not if it's at war with FIFA. That would remove almost all the stars of world football.

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Part of me would like to see this happen.

Every piece of logic says the FIFA delegates should sacrifice Blatter in order to save FIFA and its World Cup. But I'm not sure they will.

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Yeah, I think he has the votes to stay in power.

Why Sepp Blatter Deserves Our Support

robeiae said:

Why Sepp Blatter Deserves Our Support

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The man with the fast right hand. Damn.

In any case, Blatter is still atop the ladder.

Well, I reasoned that Blatter would win but I didn't believe it. His victory speech couldn't have been more bizarre if he'd been on drugs. FIFA had its chance to play a (possibly literal) 'Get Out of Jail Free Card' but they all appear to be living in a fantasy world. They are now in terrible trouble. The US Government is not going to drop this. The Swiss are going through their bank records. The UK government is in on it as well.

Incidentally, big props to the Americans on this. It's always fun to knock the big guy, but they've done everyone a huge favour. It's a pity the governments of the football-loving world didn't have the courage to take them on years ago.

Priene said:

Well, I reasoned that Blatter would win but I didn't believe it. His victory speech couldn't have been more bizarre if he'd been on drugs. FIFA had its chance to play a (possibly literal) 'Get Out of Jail Free Card' but they all appear to be living in a fantasy world. They are now in terrible trouble. The US Government is not going to drop this. The Swiss are going through their bank records. The UK government is in on it as well.

Incidentally, big props to the Americans on this. It's always fun to knock the big guy, but they've done everyone a huge favour. It's a pity the governments of the football-loving world didn't have the courage to take them on years ago.

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I always knew America's indifference to soccer would come in handy some day. On behalf of The United States of America, you're welcome.

Diana Hignutt said:

I always knew America's indifference to soccer would come in handy some day. On behalf of The United States of America, you're welcome.

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It's a big help that there's no votes for the Republicans or Democrats in securing a World Cup for the USA, so there's no need to suck up to Blatter and his cronies. There's also another possible explanation - I think what the USA is doing is great but it doesn't harm to think about whether they have other motives - which is Qatar's alleged support for the Islamic State. The Americans may be quite keen on - how shall I put this? - shitting on the Qataris' Corn Flakes.

As corrupt as a nine bob note. This one will end in tears.

Respec' to the colony borrowers for outing the bribery. It needed to be said.

[h=1]Jack Warner -- Indicted Ex-FIFA Official -- Cites Article In 'The Onion' To Rip U.S.[/h]

FIFA is the most utterly corrupt organization in the world, possibly the most corrupt one in the last fifty years.

Possibly having reached the limit of the embarrassment he can cause FIFA, Blatter has just resigned.

Now that is surprising http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/football/fifa-sepp-blatter-presidency-successor-election/index.html

You think another indictment is in the air and he's trying to get out with a smidgen of dignity?

Here's a link, btw: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32982449

robeiae said:

You think another indictment is in the air and he's trying to get out with a smidgen of dignity?

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We can but hope.

*cues up the FFVII Victory Theme*

robeiae said:

You think another indictment is in the air and he's trying to get out with a smidgen of dignity?

Here's a link, btw: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32982449

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The Jerome Valcke business this morning was hugely embarrassing. FIFA issued a denial saying he (Blatter's Deputy) was not involved in the kickbacks paid by the South African government to Jack Warner via FIFA. Then this letter appeared, which if genuine totally contradicts it. FIFA may be waking up and realising just how many revelations are still to come.

(But I was overstating the case when I said he'd resigned. He's announced he'll be standing down at a point in the future which isn't entirely clear.)

The the question was never if FIFA as corrupt, it was how unbelievably corrupt were they? I don't think we know the half of it yet.

Anybody seen the Official FIFA movie, by the way? They've tragically taken the decision not to release it in the UK.

Priene said:

Anybody seen the Official FIFA movie, by the way? They've tragically taken the decision not to release it in the UK.

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Tim Roth noooooooo! For that matter, Sam Neill noooooöoooooo!

Must have really needed the paychecks, poor buggers.

Can somebody please enlighten me as to why in the H-E-double-toothpicks Blatter didn't stand down at the election? Was there some reason a faction didn't want the Jordanian guy? This just smacks of running interference somehow. I find it hard to swallow that after that election Blatter would have a sudden change of heart. He HAD to know the wagons were circling tighter and tighter. What gives?

ElaineA said:

Can somebody please enlighten me as to why in the H-E-double-toothpicks Blatter didn't stand down at the election? Was there some reason a faction didn't want the Jordanian guy? This just smacks of running interference somehow. I find it hard to swallow that after that election Blatter would have a sudden change of heart. He HAD to know the wagons were circling tighter and tighter. What gives?

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I guess we'll never know for certain, but the best guess is that FIFA has been unaccountable for so many years that Blatter no longer thought he could be brought down. The economics of football is that its power radiates outwards from Europe. For many years FIFA acted as a proxy for European power, but when Blatter came in he realised the power to allocate World Cups (which is also the opportunity to receive massive bribes) rested with federations outside Europe. He built a power block of the African, Asian and North American federations that meant he had complete control. By funnelling the World Cup money back to these federations (by no means all of it was siphoned off) he had a permanent grip on power. And not all his decisions were bad one: the South African World Cup may have been secured with bribes, probably all the recent ones have, but it was a fine idea.

Blatter couldn't shut Europe out entirely without FIFA collapsing - his insane plan to rotate the World Cup through each federation in turn was dropped many years ago - but as time went on the abuses of power by his clique (there's no evidence so far that Blatter himself is personally corrupt) became more extreme, culminating in the Qatar World Cup that sparked this thread. Despite a great bid, England got one vote (Japan), which proved important as our press realised we would never get a World Cup, so they've been going for FIFA in a big way. To some extent, this is Europe v Rest of the World, and Europe's compromise candidate was an uninspiring Jordanian prince. The vote came two days after the Feds arrested the FIFA executives and I don't think reality had sunk in. The Rest of the World backed their candidate.

The rumour is that Blatter's daughter has had a big part in persuading him to go. He seems to have been told over the weekend by multiple parties that the game was up. I guess in his mind he hasn't been driven out of power but chosen to relinquish it.

Also, people are tired of saying "Sepp Blatter."