FIFA Corruption

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Geektastic

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# 173578 28-May-2015 10:26

I am no fan of soccer (or indeed of any game that involves grown men wasting 90 minutes running around in a muddy field chasing a ball) and neither am I remotely surprised to read that the whole thing is as bent as a nine bob note.

What I am surprised to read is that the Swiss police were "acting on behalf of US authorities. Since the US barely registers on the soccer radar it seems odd that they should take so much interest in it. Or have any jurisdiction. So why are the US involved? FIFA is not even domiciled in the US.

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# 1313311 28-May-2015 10:32

google fifa scandal: first result
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32889845

Fifa scandal: Why the US is policing a global game

To prosecute cases that involve foreign nationals, US authorities need only prove a minor connection to the United States. But in the case of the charges made public on Wednesday, the alleged corruption hit right at the heart of the game in the US.

Fifa and the confederations under it make money by selling the marketing and media rights to the World Cup and other tournaments that they organise.

The charges largely relate to "the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks" that were paid by marketing executives who wanted to increase their chances at winning contracts for the rights to market and sell media access to tournaments.

These bribes were at times organised during meetings in the US, and some of the money was transferred through US bank accounts.

Geektastic

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# 1313313 28-May-2015 10:35

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Hmm. And can anyone prove that the game was in any way worse because of the bribery? Was something not delivered?

Ronsoak

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# 1313316 28-May-2015 10:38

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John Oliver explained this last year for those who don't quite understand Football/FIFA,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I

Your welcome

Sideface

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# 1313332 28-May-2015 10:56

Geektastic: Hmm. And can anyone prove that the game was in any way worse because of the bribery? Was something not delivered?

Bribes have to be paid for - indirectly by all soccer fans in the price of their tickets.
And matches are held at unsuitable locations like Qatar.

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MikeB4

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# 1313334 28-May-2015 11:01

Geektastic: Hmm. And can anyone prove that the game was in any way worse because of the bribery? Was something not delivered?

Yep, they use a round ball. No one uses a round ball, that is just silly and clearly something under hand as been at play

Mike
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Klathman

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# 1313336 28-May-2015 11:02

Sounds like some of the bribery money was also used to buy property in the US which they won't be happy about.

Sepp Blatter has said that it's related to information that they releases to the authorities. Interesting timing that it's right before another vote for president. I seem to remember the same sort of thing happening last election too.

andrew027

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# 1313356 28-May-2015 11:29

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Sideface:
Geektastic: Hmm. And can anyone prove that the game was in any way worse because of the bribery? Was something not delivered?

Bribes have to be paid for - indirectly by all soccer fans in the price of their tickets.
And matches are held at unsuitable locations like Qatar.

This.

FIFA should be developing, promoting and managing the game for the benefit of players and fans around the world. Awarding a World Cup to a particular country should raise the profile of the game in that country, as well as pay dividends in the millions for grassroots football and to the economy of the host nation generally. Admittedly, football is popular in Qatar, but awarding a competition to a nation who certainly don't need the money, and is a totally unsuitable place to play football, is a ridiculous idea and money that lined FIFA executives' pockets could be used much better elsewhere.

groynk

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# 1313358 28-May-2015 11:33

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The US were one of the losing bidders in last round of WC host voting too I believe...
There's some motivation if needed.

Will some of the Fifa officials be setting up camp in Coatesville while here for U-20 WC?

Batman

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# 1313377 28-May-2015 11:49

about time. why is Blatter not involved in all these? hard to believe ... they only arrested all the third world bosses ...

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

Klathman

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# 1313400 28-May-2015 12:09

joker97: about time. why is Blatter not involved in all these? hard to believe ... they only arrested all the third world bosses ...

If it is based on the information that FIFA released then I'm sure that all the Blatter related information magically disappeared. I wonder if the South American conference were going to vote for the other candidate.

jonb

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# 1313401 28-May-2015 12:12

Geektastic: Hmm. And can anyone prove that the game was in any way worse because of the bribery? Was something not delivered?

The world cup being awarded to Qatar in 2022 would be under this catagory. Somewhere with barely any football culture, incredibly high temperatures when the world cup is held (northern hemisphere summer), deaths of migrant workers building stadiums in poor workplace safety, expensive for fans to travel to, and the opportunity cost of it not being somewhere better that lost to corruption - England. Coincidentally Qatar has lots of oil money sloshing around and opaque accounting.

Ronsoak

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# 1313402 28-May-2015 12:16

jonb:
Geektastic: Hmm. And can anyone prove that the game was in any way worse because of the bribery? Was something not delivered?

The world cup being awarded to Qatar in 2022 would be under this catagory. Somewhere with barely any football culture, incredibly high temperatures when the world cup is held (northern hemisphere summer), deaths of migrant workers building stadiums in poor workplace safety, expensive for fans to travel to, and the opportunity cost of it not being somewhere better that lost to corruption - England. Coincidentally Qatar has lots of oil money sloshing around and opaque accounting.

This was the most obvious one, it was predicted that about 1600 construction workers would die before the first kick-off and it turns out that the construction bosses had confiscated their workers passports, if you want to leave the country you need your passport.

The more covert stuff was in brazil. Brazil has a no drinking policy in their stadiums for safety but Fifa is sponsored by alcohol so Fifa forced Brazil to change their rules.

It goes on and on