FIFA officials arrested in Switzerland on corruption charges

[The Larch]

Up to 18 European countries voted for Blatter, including France and Spain.
So much for a UEFA boycott.

A UEFA boycott was wishful thinking, many European FAs are Blatter's partners in crime.

[Syt]

And it's not like Platini is the most believable "rebel" himself. Before the Qatar vote he had dinner with the French president and the ruler of Qatar, and his son soon had a job with a Qatar company ...

[Duque de Bragança]

It's obvious Platini was promised the FIFA presidency, and Blatter did not keep his word.
Platini even said so.

[Norgy]

Elegant playmaker. Less eloquent politician.

My summary of Platini. He needs Giresse and Tigana to perform.

[Duque de Bragança]

Elegant playmaker. Less eloquent politician.

My summary of Platini. He needs Giresse and Tigana to perform.

Elegant playmaker? I remember hearing he got the referee of the Euro 1984 final to end the game sooner than expected (no stoppage time basically) by agreeing to give his jersey for the referee's son.

[Norgy]

You're Portuguese and a sore loser, I get that.

I seem to remember the 1984 Euros were pretty great. Denmark was on fire. France was very good.
You have to agree Michel Platini was a pretty amazing player. But you never saw him track back, mark or tackle anyone.

[jimmy olsen]

They're getting closer!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/sports/soccer/sepp-blatters-top-fifa-deputy-jerome-valcke-is-said-to-have-transferred-money-central-to-bribery-case.html?_r=0

Blatter's Top FIFA Deputy Is Said to Have Transferred Money Central to Bribery Case


By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and MATT APUZZOJUNE 1, 2015

Federal authorities believe that Sepp Blatter's top lieutenant at FIFA made $10 million in bank transactions that are central elements of the bribery scandal engulfing international soccer, United States officials and others briefed on the case said Monday. The revelation puts the money trail closer to Mr. Blatter, FIFA's president, than had been previously known.

Jérôme Valcke, the soccer organization's secretary general, is the unidentified "high-ranking FIFA official" who prosecutors say transferred $10 million in 2008 from FIFA to accounts controlled by another soccer official, Jack Warner, the officials said. The payment is a key piece of last week's indictment accusing Mr. Warner of taking a bribe in exchange for helping South Africa secure the right to host the 2010 World Cup.

The indictment does not say that the high-ranking official knew that the money was being used as a bribe and, unlike many other FIFA officials and marketing executives, Mr. Valcke is not identified as a co-conspirator in the document. Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of South Africa's World Cup bid and the current president of its soccer federation, has said the money was not a bribe but a legitimate payment into a soccer development fund in the Caribbean.

Mr. Valcke, who said in a brief email that he had not authorized the payment and did not have the power to do so, has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing.

Mr. Valcke and Mr. Blatter are the two top officials in FIFA, an organization that has more than $1 billion in the bank and generates billions more each year. Mr. Valcke's involvement is sure to raise more questions about what Mr. Blatter knew about the money transfer. The officials and others who identified Mr. Valcke spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Mr. Valcke's statement that he did not authorize the wire transfer does not directly address whether he was involved. The indictment says the unidentified official "caused" the payments to be made. And a spokeswoman for FIFA, Delia Fischer, said the chairman of the finance committee at the time, Julio Grondona, authorized the payment. Mr. Grondona died last year. Ms. Fischer said the payment was "executed in accordance with the Organisation Regulations."

Those regulations say the secretary general is responsible for maintaining the organization's accounts and has the authority to make transactions.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn brought charges last week against 14 soccer officials and marketing executives accused of corrupting FIFA, the governing body of international soccer. United States authorities have said more charges are expected and have promised to rid the organization of corruption.

The $10 million payment, made in three wire transfers in January and March 2008, is described in the indictment in paragraph No. 192 and has prompted questions about which top FIFA executive was responsible. "Definitely that is not me," Mr. Blatter said last week after he was re-elected as FIFA's president and reporters asked if he was the unidentified official. "I have no $10 million."

The charges, which were unsealed last Wednesday morning in United States District Court in Brooklyn, coupled with the arrests at dawn of several high-ranking FIFA officials at a luxury hotel in Zurich, were stunning even by the standards of international soccer, which has been dogged by allegations of corruption for years. Swiss authorities also raided FIFA's headquarters as part of a separate investigation into how FIFA chose the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Mr. Valcke, of France, has previously been involved in financial controversy. He joined FIFA in 2003 as its marketing director but was fired in December 2006 after a New York judge ruled that he and others lied repeatedly in negotiations with MasterCard and Visa over a sponsorship deal.

"The fact cannot be overlooked that FIFA's negotiations breached its business principles," FIFA said in its news release at the time. "FIFA cannot possibly accept such conduct among its own employees."

A federal appeals court threw out the ruling the next May. The next month, days after FIFA reached a settlement with MasterCard, Mr. Blatter chose Mr. Valcke to be secretary general, the organization's No. 2 post. Mr. Valcke was never charged with a crime in that case.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, a South African newspaper, Mr. Jordaan said the timing of the payment proved that it could not have been a bribe. "How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?" he said.

American prosecutors, however, say the bribery scheme played out over several years. In 2004, as FIFA's executive committee considered where to host the 2010 World Cup, South Africa's government agreed to pay Mr. Warner and others $10 million in exchange for their votes, according to the indictment.

Mr. Warner voted for South Africa, but in the months and years after the vote, South Africa was unable to pay. So rather than take a payment directly from South Africa, the indictment says, FIFA itself paid Mr. Warner in 2008, using money that would otherwise have gone to South Africa to support the World Cup.

In effect, the indictment says the bribe was paid on the back end of the deal, so South Africa received $10 million less from FIFA than it otherwise would have.

Mr. Jordaan said the money was sent to the accounts of Concacaf, a FIFA entity that oversees soccer in North and Central America, as part of South Africa's effort to support soccer there. Mr. Warner was Concacaf's president at the time and controlled the accounts. Prosecutors say he took much of the $10 million for his personal use. Mr. Warner has maintained his innocence and said the United States brought the charges because it lost the bidding to host the 2022 World Cup.

FIFA announced Monday that, "due to the current situation," Mr. Valcke would not attend the opening of the Women's World Cup in Canada next week. "It is important that he attends to matters at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich," the organization said in a news release.

[Duque de Bragança]

You're Portuguese and a sore loser, I get that.

I seem to remember the 1984 Euros were pretty great. Denmark was on fire. France was very good.
You have to agree Michel Platini was a pretty amazing player. But you never saw him track back, mark or tackle anyone.

You're a bitter Norwegian groupie of Platini with bad memory, it was against Spain. Nice try, though! 
Remember, the infamous Arconada game?

A Frenchman reminded me of this Platini feat, as a matter of fact. So keep your theory for yourself. Back to Platoche, remember Platini's classy actions at the Heysel? Very elegant to ignore the disaster...

PS: one of the great French players but I prefer the pioneers such as Kopa, Piantoni or Fontaine. I'll have Platini any day over a degenerate such as Ribéry, however. 

[Norgy]

 

[Duque de Bragança]

No foreseeable UEFA boycott of the next 2 World Cups I'm afraid, since FIFA wisely did not change Confederations' quota. Fifa says so:

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2015/m=5/news=current-allocation-of-fifa-world-cuptm-confederation-slots-maintained-2610611.html

Chaired by FIFA President Blatter, the FIFA Executive Committee held its first meeting in its new composition today at the Home of FIFA in Zurich.

In his opening remarks, FIFA President Blatter welcomed the new members of the FIFA Executive Committee. He reminded all those present that he was "the President of all member associations of FIFA". He underlined again the landmark step taken by yesterday's Congress regarding the situation in Israel and Palestine and, in particular, the handshake between the presidents of both associations, Jibril Al Rajoub and Ofer Eini, which he qualified as "historic". The FIFA President also reiterated that a professional football department would be created at FIFA.

The main item on the agenda of the meeting was the allocation of slots per confederation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™. The Executive decided to keep the current allocation:

- Africa: 5
- Asia: 4.5
- Europe: 13
- North, Central America and Caribbean: 3.5
- Oceania: 0.5
- South America: 4.5
- Host: 1

With regard to the bidding process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup™, the Executive confirmed that, in accordance with the FIFA Statutes – art. 80, par. 4 stipulates that "the right to host the event shall not be awarded to members of the same Confederation for two consecutive editions of the FIFA World Cup™" – member associations from the Asian Football Confederation would not be able to bid.

[Duque de Bragança]

Also, Blatter is making peace ouvertures to the US

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/dcunited/blatter-wants-new-rule-helping-us-bid-for-2026-world-cup/2015/05/15/d2d78318-fb05-11e4-a47c-e56f4db884ed_story.html

ZURICH — FIFA President Sepp Blatter wants to implement a rule that would prevent Europe from bidding for the 2026 World Cup, improving the chances of the United States to host the tournament.

The FIFA executive committee could agree this month to block continental confederations from bidding for the following two World Cups after hosting.

"It should be this way," Blatter said Friday, adding that the proposal is "more than an option."

In a further hint at World Cup changes, Blatter pointed to increasing the number of intercontinental playoffs to give confederations more chances to qualify teams for the 2018 tournament in Russia. Blatter also said he wanted the World Cup to remain a 32-team tournament under his leadership.

Because Russia will host in 2018, a UEFA country would next be eligible for the 2030 World Cup if the continental rule is passed.

The United States is expected to bid for the 2026 tournament alongside CONCACAF neighbors Canada and Mexico. African countries could also join the contest, with speculation that Morocco is preparing a bid.

FIFA has said it will choose the 2026 host in a May 2017 vote. A shortlist of three candidates can first be presented by the executive committee.

Bid regulations for the contest — the first since December 2010 when a controversial joint process for the 2018 and 2022 tournament chose Russia and Qatar, respectively, as hosts — should be agreed to by the FIFA executive committee in Zurich this month.

The executive committee meets on May 24-25 and again on May 30, the morning after the presidential election which Blatter is strongly favored to win.

The May 30 meeting will confirm the allocation of 2018 World Cup qualifying slots open to each confederation.

Blatter has long encouraged smaller regions to seek more guaranteed places, potentially at the expense of Europe's 13 qualifying slots in the 32-team lineup.

On Friday, Blatter said the current intercontinental playoffs could be expanded. Currently, the playoffs do not involve European or African teams.

"That is a good idea and you are not so far away," Blatter said. "This gives a little bit more incentive."

[Syt]

Not a fan of the continental rule. Some continents are less able to host such an event. How many nations in Africa are capable of hosting a FIFA World Cup? How many in Asia? In South America?

Especially considering that they don't want two countries hosting together if possible.

[Norgy]

Let Nigeria host the World Cup. That would be a hoot.

"Dear sir, I am writing to you because your late uncle Sepp Blatter died and left a stadium in your name. If you transfer 500 USD to this account, we will ship you the whole stadium"

[Syt]

NYT review of the FIFA movie:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/sports/fifa-film-an-epic-fantasy.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

FIFA Film: An Epic Fantasy

First came an international roundup of several of its top officials on federal corruption charges, including a hotel sweep down the street from its headquarters. Close behind came the pageant of its autocratic president's re-election on a platform of: Eh, just a few bad apples.

What other drama could possibly await FIFA, the governing body of international soccer? Well, there is this movie: a star-dappled epic about FIFA, underwritten by FIFA and portraying FIFA's president, Sepp Blatter, as a resolute champion of ethics.

Its American premiere is on Friday, in the fresh wake of advance publicity conjured by last week's dramatic indictments. That's the kind of buzz you just can't buy.

The film is called "United Passions," but it is not, as the title might suggest, a lusty adventure in the way-too-friendly skies: a lonely flight attendant, a misunderstood pilot. ... No. This is about the succession of men in suits who nurtured the Fédération Internationale de Football Association from its idealistic creation a century ago to its current state of monstrosity.

The film claims from the start to be a work of "dramatic fiction," gleaned from actual events. And true to its word, the movie avoids most of the factual inconveniences that might reinforce the widespread impression of FIFA as a corrupt rogue state, operating in contradiction to the noble ideals of the sport it purports to defend.

The movie's director, Frédéric Auburtin, said in a telephone interview on Sunday that he did his best to provide as much subtext as circumstances would allow. A soccer fan from Marseilles, he knew that cries of FIFA corruption have resounded for years like so many vuvuzelas. But he also knew that FIFA was covering most of the cost, which came in around $30 million.

"I didn't have the freedom to do a Michael Moore movie at all," he said. "If I started the movie with flashlights and sirens coming to Zurich, like what happened last Wednesday — I knew if we would write any line like this, everyone would say: 'What are you doing, man? Come on.' "

Mr. Auburtin said he would have preferred to delve deeper into the FIFA darkness. "But I accept the job," he said. "I know FIFA is producing the film. As we say in France, don't be more royalist than the king: Don't be the king if you are not the king."

Speaking of kings, Mr. Blatter, who is 79 and looks it, is portrayed in the film by the actor Tim Roth, who is 54 and doesn't. After visiting the set and meeting Mr. Roth, Mr. Blatter allowed, "In this case the casting was well done."

What remains is a sports movie without sports: a sports management movie, actually, in which most of the "action" takes place not on the pitch but in a boardroom, on a private jet — at a desk!

Blatter, sitting in an upright position, opens the envelope. What dexterity. It's Blatter again, walking into a meeting, left foot first, then the right, knotting his necktie as he goes. A cool customer, this Blatter. Now sipping his drink, now negotiating with Horst Dassler of Adidas, back and forth and ...

GOOOOOL!!!

Mr. Auburtin's involvement in the project began in the fall of 2012 with a telephone call from his good friend Gérard Depardieu, the French actor. Explaining that he had just returned from a meeting in Zurich with Mr. Blatter and a first-time movie producer, the actor asked whether Mr. Auburtin wanted to direct a film about FIFA.

As Mr. Auburtin understood it, old plans for a movie about FIFA were being resurrected in advance of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil (and, perhaps, the FIFA executive election in 2015). The pressure was on, and Mr. Auburtin was known as an intelligent soccer fan who could also turn around a movie project quickly.

"I totally accept, and am very responsible, and I have no regrets," he said. "But I did not wake up in the morning and say, 'Let's do a movie about FIFA.' "

Mr. Auburtin and his co-writer, the novelist Jean-Paul Delfino, scrambled for a few months to develop a script that both covered a century of FIFA and balanced their art with the wishes of their FIFA overseers. "You know the FIFA," he said. "You cannot move a finger if they do not know the whole story."

What they came up with is a passing of the FIFA baton by three central characters: Jules Rimet, FIFA's president from 1921 to 1954; João Havelange, its president from 1974 to 1998; and Mr. Blatter.

The movie opens with a few Europeans envisioning an international soccer association that would foster good will among nations and elevate the level of play. The villains are the British, comically resistant to any intrusion in the game they invented.

One stiff-upper-lip twit asks, "What do foreigners understand of our beautiful game?" Another says: "Negroes? Playing football? Why not women while we're at it? That would be quite amusing, eh?"

(The movie, by the way, has not been well received in England.)

The film seeks drama in the building of a stadium in Uruguay before the first World Cup; in the creation of the World Cup trophy; in the ups and downs of executives during war and depression. Whenever Mr. Rimet, played by Mr. Depardieu, becomes discouraged, his daughter, played by Jemima West, raises his spirits with lines that echo another movie, about a woman called Scarlett, a plantation called Tara. ...

"Tomorrow's another day, Papa," she says. "Tomorrow's another day."

The narrative moves on to Mr. Havelange, who attracted developing countries into the FIFA fold and recognized the potential of commercial partnerships. As portrayed by Sam Neill, Mr. Havelange is a Machiavellian figure of the first order, brusque, cunning and ambitious — though he actually receives gentle treatment, with no spelling out of his implication in a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal.

Finally, there is Mr. Blatter, the St. Thomas More of soccer administration, saving the game from financial ruin, expanding the role of women, fighting corruption from within.

"From now on, we will be exemplary in all respects," Mr. Blatter announces to FIFA officials after his election in 1998. "The slightest breach of ethics will be severely punished."

As the film says at the start: "dramatic fiction."

A kind of anticipatory self-censorship was at play, Mr. Auburtin said. "Every time we are showing something about Blatter himself, it's very, very difficult because the guy is the boss," he said. "The guy is co-producing more than half the film, nearly 80 percent."

Still, Mr. Auburtin said, he and Mr. Delfino injected "a lot of subtext" that hinted at the corruption: an envelope in a fruit basket; a briefcase; a scene, entirely made up, of Mr. Havelange and Mr. Blatter alone on a ferry, speaking in FIFA code about how to win election.

And Mr. Roth told The Sunday Times of London last year that after noticing little mention in the script of corruption, "I tried to slide in a sense of it, as much as I could get in there."

In the director's eyes, the film lays out soccer — before and after money. "The sport became something else when the money arrived," Mr. Auburtin said.

Some people at FIFA "were not very happy with the film," he said, "even if it looks like an official film." He added that Mr. Blatter was moved by seeing 35 years of his life distilled in less than an hour but "had a lot of questions" after seeing it a second time.

"United Passions" — which, again, is not about love in the wild blue yonder — made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014, and both Mr. Blatter and Mr. Auburtin walked the red carpet.

FIFA recommended the film in a blurb of a letter to its members. "Open, self-critical, and highly enjoyable," wrote Jérôme Valcke, its secretary general, who is now suspected of being involved in a $10 million transfer that figures in a bribery case.

After Cannes, the movie appeared in a few countries, including Russia and Azerbaijan, but never in France, to its French director's puzzlement and dismay. "I don't know if this comes from FIFA or the producers," he said. "It's a shame. It's not such crap."

No matter. Mr. Auburtin has moved on. He was speaking from the west coast of Ireland, where he was researching a film of his own creation, one that has nothing at all to do with this morass called FIFA.

[Valmy]

I would comment on how sad it is that sports movies now feature the suits instead of the actual athletes but we already made Draft Day http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2223990/ and Moneyball http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/



Next we will see dramas about that courageous shoe executive who decided to fund the Oregon Ducks.