FIFA, World Cup - Qatar '2022'

[sylofox]

So we need to spend millions on a report that tells us something is wrong at the top and with the voting REALLY.

 

Going to jump on this bandwagon.

 

Merry World Cup

     And A

Happy New Year

 

 

[davieG]

Fifa lodge criminal complaint with Swiss authorities over conduct of individuals in bidding process for 2018 and 2022 World cup.

 

Sky breaking news.

[Blizzard]

FIFA are disreputable. After all that has been going on, that I have read recently about this organisation and the whole Qatar event.

 

Isn't it about time the England team actually boycotted this event?

 

As fan's and individuals, each of us actually does have freedom of choice, as do players and managers.

 

Is there are  space left in the game for 'morals' and 'principles' ?

 

 

[bovril]

http://undergroundmgzn.com/2014/10/08/islamic-state-host-2026-world-cup/

 

"FIFA President Sepp Blatter has defended the selection, noting that ISIS government policy, while ‘not perfect’, meets FIFA’s required ethical standards."

[davieG]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30491135

 

Fifa dismisses complaint from lawyer Michael Garcia over report

[Guest ttfn]

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30491135

 

Fifa dismisses complaint from lawyer Michael Garcia over report

 

I love how the corruption is so widely accepted that something this ridiculous ("Orwellian farce" as Owen Gibson put it in the Guardian) hasn't been commented on by anybody.

[davieG]

In Qatar, migrant workers paid to be sports 'fans'

Updated December 17, 2014 3:46 AM
By The Associated Press  By JOHN LEICESTER (AP Sports Writer)

 

A man whips up a crowd which included migrant workers from Africa and Asia who said they were paid to be there, at the Qatar Open of international beach volleyball at the Al Gharafa Sports Club in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 8, 2014. Migrant workers said they regularly are paid to make up numbers at sports events in Qatar, host of the football World Cup in 2022, plumping up meager “home” crowds. (AP Photo/John Leicester) Photo Credit: AP

 

DOHA, Qatar - (AP) -- The men grappled with each other to board the quickly filling bus. Others wriggled in through the windows, scaling the outside, using the large wheels as footholds and leaving scuff-marks on the white exterior with their shoes.

These weren't refugees fleeing disaster. They were migrant workers in 2022 World Cup host Qatar, fighting to earn a few dollars. The job: Pretend to be a sports fan.

Qataris boast they're mad for sports. The ruling emir of the oil-and-gas rich Gulf nation is so fond of football he bought Paris Saint-Germain, now France's powerhouse team. Lobbying World Cup organizer FIFA in 2010, his royal mother said: "For us, football is not just a mere game or a sport among many. It is THE sport."

Pitching successfully in November to track and field's governing body to host its world championships in 2019, Qatar bid presenter Aphrodite Moschoudi said: "Qatar has a true passion for sports. Everything in our country revolves around sport."

Or, when passion is lacking, around money.

When the world's second-richest people per capita can't find time or be bothered to fill their sports arenas, migrant workers are paid to take their place.

Thirty Qatar riyals -- equivalent to $8 -- won't buy a beer in the luxury waterside hotel in Doha, the capital, where Qatari movers-and-shakers unwind. But for this pittance, workers from Africa and Asia sprint under blinding sun in the Doha industrial zone where they're housed and surround a still-moving bus like bees on honey. They sit through volleyball, handball and football, applaud to order, do the wave with no enthusiasm and even dress up in white robes and head-scarves as Qataris, to plump up "home" crowds.

The Associated Press squeezed aboard one of three buses that ferried about 150 workers, through dense traffic of luxury cars and past luxury villas they'll never be able to afford, to be fake fans at the Qatar Open of international beach volleyball in November.

The FIVB, volleyball's governing body, trumpeted on its website that the tournament, part of its World Tour, "brought out the crowds." But migrants from Ghana, Kenya, Nepal and elsewhere, who work in Qatar as bus and taxi drivers for the state-owned transport company and for other employers, told the AP they were there for money, not volleyball.

Word of payment filtered around their crowded dormitories. At 2:30 p.m., clumps of men on their off-day gathered outside, inhaling dust stirred up by passing forklifts and trucks.

Migrant workers promised a payment of 30 Qatar riyals (equivalent to $8/6.5 euros) to act as sports “fans” ride aboard a bus to the Qatar Open of international beach volleyball at the Al Gharafa Sports Club in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 8, 2014. Workers said they regularly are paid to make up numbers at sports events in Qatar, host of the football World Cup in 2022, plumping up meager “home” crowds. (AP Photo/John Leicester) Photo Credit: AP

Someone spotted the first bus far down the street that cuts through the bleak-scape of construction and piled dirt. The bus filled instantly. A second and third bus -- and more frantic scrambling -- followed.

@Newsday

Breathing heavily, men squeezed into seats, three on one side of the aisle, two on the other. There were no safety belts and the ceiling fans didn't turn. One man without a seat squatted on the floor. To shouts of "get down!" he made himself small when a policeman was spotted on the journey.

One by one, from memory, the men reeled off their employee numbers -- no names -- to a man who methodically shuffled down the aisle, jotting down the details on a crumpled piece of paper. This ensured he'd later know who to pay, workers said.

At the Al Gharafa Sports Club, we disembarked and formed a line. An official in Qatari robes counted us in, with taps on the shoulder. French volleyballers Edouard Rowlandson and Youssef Krou were winning their bronze-medal match as we filled seats, making the arena appear almost full.

"Bizarre," Rowlandson said when told of the hired spectators. "But we prefer that to playing in front of nobody."

Ahmed al-Sheebani, executive secretary of the Qatar Volleyball Association, rebuffed the AP's questions, reaching over to switch off this reporter's voice recorder.

Reached later by phone, FIVB media director Richard Baker thanked the AP for making it aware of the fake fans and said the federation will "seek clarification" from Qatari organizers.

"It's news to us," he said.

But not to Qatar's government. A survey of 1,079 Qatar residents published this January by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics suggested that paid fans may be turning Qataris off sport. The ministry said two-thirds of Qataris surveyed did not attend any football matches during the previous season and two-thirds of respondents cited "the spread of paid fans" as a "significant reason" keeping audiences away.

At the volleyball, some for-hire spectators were offered less than others. Security guards and office boys from Kenya said a promise of 20 riyals ($5.50) each drew 40 people onto their bus. A Nigerian manservant said he, too, was getting just 20.

Numerous workers said they regularly make up numbers at sports events. Qatar league football games pay 20 or 25 riyals, they said. A Kenyan said he made 50 riyals at handball.

An added bonus: the volleyball arena had free Wi-Fi, allowing workers to get news and emails from home. They pulled out smartphones, ignoring a crowd organizer waving a plastic hand who urged them to clap to Daft Punk's "Get Lucky."

Thirty riyals buys food for three days when you're eating just once a day to save money for families back home, workers said. And watching sports, some said, is less tedious than whiling away off-duty hours in Doha's back-of-beyond industrial zone.

"Shaking my body all over ... being in the crowd and shouting and dancing" was great fun for Adu, a trainee bus driver from Ghana who gave just his first name.

"Being there and getting paid is a plus for me."

Afterward, the transport company workers waited nearly three hours in the dark, on barren land near the arena, for return buses. Contacted separately later by phone, three of them confirmed they got 30 riyals each in cash, either on the bus back or in their dormitories.

On an hourly basis, that came out at just over $1 per hour.

[davieG]

17 December 2014Last updated at 17:18

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Michael Garcia: Fifa investigator resigns in World Cup report row

Fifa's independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia has quit in protest over the handling of his report into bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The American lawyer cited a "lack of leadership" at the top of football's world governing body.

Garcia said he lost confidence in the independence of judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, an ethics committee colleague.

Uefa president Michel Platini said: "We wanted all transparency but this is a new failure for Fifa."

The head of European football spoke out as Garcia resigned a day after Fifa's appeals panel rejected his challenge of Eckert's summary of his report.

Garcia said: "It is the lack of leadership on these issues within Fifa that leads me to conclude that my role in this process is at an end."

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: "I am surprised by Mr Garcia's decision. The work of the ethics committee will nonetheless continue."

The association said in a statement that an acting chairman of the committee would be appointed, pending the election of a successor to Garcia.

Qatar whistleblower Phaedra Al Majid said Fifa's rules are a "farce".

She added: "Not even an extensive, purportedly independent, two-year investigation and report could affect its culture."

Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, while Qatar was awarded the 2022 tournament. Fifa cleared both of corruption despite a series of allegations.

Analysis: BBC sports editor Dan Roan

"Having resigned in protest at Fifa's handling of his investigation into allegations of corruption, Michael Garcia has plunged world football's governing body into more turmoil. The American lawyer's probe into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was meant to restore some trust in an organisation plagued by years of scandal. His decision to quit does exactly the opposite, raising more questions over Fifa's ability to run the game. Last month Garcia disowned a summary of his investigation by Fifa judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who cleared Russia and Qatar as World Cup hosts. Garcia's appeal was dismissed by Fifa on Tuesday and now he has resigned, questioning the organisation's integrity and leadership in a damning statement. Some may question Garcia's motives, and wonder whether he is trying to distance himself from a discredited organisation to preserve his own political ambitions, but his move certainly piles yet more pressure on Fifa. The news broke as Fifa's top executives gathered here in Marrakech for a crunch meeting. On Friday they will vote on whether to publish Garcia's full findings. But the man himself has not waited for that, and for Fifa closure seems further away than ever."

Garcia's findings were released as a 42-page summary of the 430-page report.

He said the summary was "erroneous" and complained to Fifa, whichsaid his appeal was "not admissible".

In his resignation statement, he said: "No independent governance committee, investigator, or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organisation."

Garcia said his submission to the Fifa appeal committee outlined what he called "the most serious failings" of Eckert's response.

"Among other points, the brief explained why, when viewed in the context of the report it purported to summarise, no principled approach could justify the Eckert Decision's edits, omissions, and additions," he said.

Fifa meets in Morocco this week and will decide whether to release a full, redacted copy of Garcia's report.

Former diplomat Champagne, 56, worked for Fifa for 11 years as an executive before leaving in 2010

Jerome Champagne, the former Fifa executive who plans to stand against Blatter for the presidency, said: "Michael Garcia's resignation is a step backwards.

"We needed to know what happened before and after the 2 December 2010 World Cup vote. Today, more than ever, we need to know.

"When will the facts be known fully, transparently and above all without suspicion? When will we be able to start rebuilding Fifa's image?"

Fifa vice president Jim Boyce, Britain's most senior football official, said he was "totally shocked and disappointed" at Garcia's resignation.

"I have said on many, many occasions, the ethics committee was the most important committee formed by Fifa following its reform process," said Boyce.

Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, a Fifa vice president, said Garcia's decision to quite was "emblematic" of the challenges faced by the organisation.

"I have tremendous respect for people who take principled positions," said Prince Ali.

Four years of controversy

2 December 2010 - Russia and Qatar are chosen to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups

4 October 2013 - Fifa agrees to set up a taskforce to look into alternative dates for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

1 June 2014 - The Sunday Times alleges that former Fifa vice-president Mohamed bin Hammam paid £3m to football officials in return for support for the Qatari bid

5 September 2014 - The report into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process is submitted to Fifa by Michael Garcia

13 November 2014 - Fifa releases a 42-page summary of the Garcia report which clears Russia and Qatar of corruption

13 November 2014 - Garcia claims the summary of his own report is "materially incomplete" and contains "erroneous representations"

20 November 2014 - Garcia and Fifa ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert agree to release the full copy of the report to the organisation's compliance chief, Domenico Scala

16 December 2014 - Fifa deems Garcia's complaint against Eckert's summary of his report is "not admissible"

17 December 2014 - Garcia quits his role as independent chairman of the Fifa Ethics Committee's Investigatory Chamber

[LCFC Rennie]

Really hope they get some sense and move it out of Qatar. Went to Brazil but Qatar seems a step too far for me. Roll on France 2016.

[Dan]

The entire thing is just one complete and utter joke. Are the likes of Blatter just sat there laughing at all of this thinking how well they've wound everyone up?