Sepp Blatter doesn’t call it a “crisis”

That’s right, despite several previous posts (here, here, and here) noting the bribery and corruption issues which have hit FIFA, Sepp Blatter claims that the organization is not in crisis.  It seems with each passing day (or literally, a few passing hours since my previous post) that more details and news seems to make this FIFA bribery and corruption scandal look even worse.  Blatter said in a very lively press conference:

“Crisis? What is a crisis? Football is not in a crisis.  We are not in a crisis. We are only in some difficulties and these difficulties will be solved — and they will be solved inside this family.”

I think someone is in denial.  There is clearly a mass of issues here, but Blatter is most likely to be president for another couple of years, and probably his ego tells him he is in control, so nothing can go wrong.  But with all these issues which have come under his watch, how can anyone really trust FIFA in the future?

In more corruption news, FIFA cleared Nicolas Leoz, a FIFA member from Paraguay who had been charged with asking for favors in return for his vote for the 2018 World Cup host selection process.  Reading a report on the 2018 World Cup host selection process on FIFA’s website, you can see that it is alleged that Mr. Leoz’s assistant asked for the FA Cup to be named after him, and a knighthood and in return he would give a vote for the 2018 World Cup to be held in England.  You can read the full report: here.  It is full of great quotes and allegations, yet FIFA somehow is saying this really didn’t happen, or it isn’t serious enough to take into consideration.

The question arises: Why is Blatter and Leoz off with no charges, but Bin Hammam and Warner suspended?  It all points to FIFA keeping those who are currently in higher positions of power in their current place.  I don’t know how much damage control FIFA can do, but I’m thinking that this whole scandal could be costly.  I’m imagining countries are going to be less likely to pour money into World Cup bids with all of this news.  Of course, the counter-point could be that they might actually put in more money, knowing that a few well placed bribes could be the secret to being named a host.

In one other piece of news, I’d like to congratulate Swansea for their 4-2 win over Reading earlier today to secure promotion from the nPower championship up to the Premier League for next season.  The boost in revenue should be nice for them, but we’ll see if they will be able to hang around the top flight of English professional soccer for long.

$40,000 to “do what you want with”

See that picture to the right?  That is $40,000, brand new U.S. hundred dollar bills.  It is also supposedly a picture taken by Fred Lunn or another member of the Bahamas Football Association (FA).  Mr. Lunn, a vice-president for the Bahamas FA was at the meeting which Bin Hammam had with members of the various Caribbean football associations to try and make his case to become the FIFA president.  As noted in previous posts, Bin Hammam along with CONCACAF’s Jack Warner have both been temporarily suspended from football related activities by the FIFA ethics panel.

This morning, the picture you see to the right emerged, as part of the evidence which was given to the ethics panel.  Mr. Lunn noted that he went into a room to receive a gift from Bin Hammam and picked up the envelope and literally had a pile of hundred dollar bills spill out.  This seems more like a good mob movie, than a FIFA meeting.  Lunn contacted the head of his FA, and they agreed that the money was to be returned.  Of course, being smart, they snapped a quick photo of the money.  It is claimed that the money was for whatever each FA wanted to do with it.  They could use it for grassroots programs, training, development, or lining their own pockets.  Mr. Lunn went back to the room to give back the money, but found he had to wait in line, as others were queued up to get in.  He then texted his FA head saying:

“a lot of the boys taking the cash, this is sad given the breaking news on the TV CNN… I’m truly surprise its happening at this conference”

So it appears that a lot of people did take the cash.

In more FIFA corruptions news:

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has confirmed that he sent an email to the now suspended Jack Warner saying that the 2022 World Cup had been bought.

Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has called for FIFA to be “Red Carded” and for Australia to not spend any more money on World Cup bids until this whole process is straightened out.

And in a bit of positive news for FIFA, or possibly a well-timed release to try and make it look like they are actually fighting against corruption, FIFA has announced it has helped to break up a match-fixing ring in the UAE.  They claim that this ring has ties to both Asia and Europe, and is an important move against corruption in the game.

I think that FIFA has bigger corruption issues in house at the moment.