Day -978. WorldCup2018.
Fifa: a couple of attempted steps forward, one staggering step kind-of
backwards. The Fifa Executive Committee met today to discuss reforms and
the way forward. One of the decisions was that the Ethics Committee
will be more trasparent by publishing details of any ongoing
proceedings. The ExCo also confirmed that the presedential elections
will go ahead on February 26th, despite suggestions they may have been
postponed due to Platini, one of the candidates, currently serving a ban from Fifa.
An interesting story, which leads to another story, was a little
addition at the end of Fifa's report on the ExCo meeting: "Due to the
frequency and the high volume of qualifying matches for the 2018 FIFA
World Cup (851)(no kidding, they've been underway since last spring!),
the committee agreed to establish a specific bureau and an emergency
bureau for the preliminary competition. The bureaus will be chaired by
Sheik Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa."
Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al
Khalifa has been a man in the news, if you follow the news about
characters of suspicious backgrounds who seem to find their way into
football. He has announced that he will stand for the Fifa presidency,
and is seen as favourite now that Platini's bid has hit a bit of a bump,
or a huge pothole. The Sheikh is currently the president of the Asian
Football Confederation. And now for the bit which brought about this
assessment by Nicholas McGeehan, the Gulf researcher at Human Rights
Watch:
"If a member of Bahrain’s royal family is the cleanest pair
of hands that Fifa can find, then the organisation would appear to have
the shallowest and least ethical pool of talent in world sport." Mr.
McGeehan, do you know Fifa? It sounds like a good case for the Ethics
Committee's new powers then. (see link below for very interesting read
about how the eithics committee was indeed asked to investigate Sheikh
Salman, but this didn't happen)
Why the outrage? Sheik Salman Bin
Ebrahim Al Khalifa, then president of the Bahrain Football Association,
was alleged to be "involved in identifying athletes involved in
pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011, some of whom were then allegedly
imprisoned and tortured." Human Rights organisations have written to
Issa Hayatou, acting president of Fifa, asking that the Sheikh is barred
from the presedential elections.
This just keeps getting better
and better. And again, I say, let it be a toss up between the former
players: Zico, Vega, Nakhid and......Ginola?
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/16/sheikh-salman-al-khalifa-fifa-president-bahrain-human-rights
Friday, 6 November 2015
Ramon Vega
Day -979. WorldCup2018.
The race for Fifa president is getting interesting. If the National Football Associations decide to ignore anybody who might have any connections with the Blatter regime they have some fun options: former Brazilian superstar Zico, fomer Trinidad and Tobago captain David Nakhid and today, maybe, Swiss former Tottenham player Ramon Vega. Give it to one of them!
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34574585
The race for Fifa president is getting interesting. If the National Football Associations decide to ignore anybody who might have any connections with the Blatter regime they have some fun options: former Brazilian superstar Zico, fomer Trinidad and Tobago captain David Nakhid and today, maybe, Swiss former Tottenham player Ramon Vega. Give it to one of them!
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34574585
"The Shiekh", again.
Day -980. WorldCup2018.
More about Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who seems to have burst onto the scene as somebody who makes things happen in the world of sport, including football. How positive is this involvement? Very, if you ask Sepp Blatter and Vladimir Putin. Which for the majority of the rest of the world is not a very good thing.
This is from The Guardian, on the subject of Putin questioning the reasons for the American-led investigation into Fifa. The Shiekh has his opinion and it leaves no doubt as to who's side he is on:
“Is it because they want to kill Fifa? Is it because they didn’t win the election?Is it related to the Ukraine-Russian war? A lot of questions [have been] raised. Maybe not a lot of people can say it.”
The Sheikh endorsed Blatter for re-election this year: “He is the best from the names we are seeing on the list.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/28/us-russia-fifa-corruption-investigation
More about Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who seems to have burst onto the scene as somebody who makes things happen in the world of sport, including football. How positive is this involvement? Very, if you ask Sepp Blatter and Vladimir Putin. Which for the majority of the rest of the world is not a very good thing.
This is from The Guardian, on the subject of Putin questioning the reasons for the American-led investigation into Fifa. The Shiekh has his opinion and it leaves no doubt as to who's side he is on:
“Is it because they want to kill Fifa? Is it because they didn’t win the election?Is it related to the Ukraine-Russian war? A lot of questions [have been] raised. Maybe not a lot of people can say it.”
The Sheikh endorsed Blatter for re-election this year: “He is the best from the names we are seeing on the list.”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/28/us-russia-fifa-corruption-investigation
"The Sheikh"
Day -981. WorldCup2018.
Fifa has suspended the Kuwait Football Association over governemnet interference. This has happened quite often, usually with African countries, suspended by Fifa or the IOC. Amid the threats of permanent suspension, the ban is usually overturned by the time the next Olympic Games or World Cup qualifying matches come around. So do not be surprised to see the suspension revoked and all the reasons for the suspension resolved by November 17th when Kuwait play their next match.
The more interesting side story to this is that Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, of Kuwait, is a member of Fifa's executive committee and his position has "not been effected" by the suspension. "The Shiekh" as he has come to be known, is described as an "influential sports power broker". He is the president of the powerful Association of National Olympic Committees, he also heads up the Olympic Council of Asia and is in charge of the IOC’s solidarity commission.
From The Guardion, June 2015:
"In Buenos Aires (at the IOC meeting in 2013 to decide the hosts of the 2020 Olympics) he scored a hat-trick by helping Thomas Bach ascend to the IOC presidency, successfully backing his chosen host, Tokyo, for the 2020 Summer Games and ensuring wrestling retained its Olympic slot."
And, very interestingly with all the recent going-ons at Fifa: "Before the recent Fifa election he acted as Blatter’s muscle in the region, part of an attempt to out manoeuvre the president’s challenger, Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein".
No conclusion to write yet because the story about The Shiekh is not over.
Fifa has suspended the Kuwait Football Association over governemnet interference. This has happened quite often, usually with African countries, suspended by Fifa or the IOC. Amid the threats of permanent suspension, the ban is usually overturned by the time the next Olympic Games or World Cup qualifying matches come around. So do not be surprised to see the suspension revoked and all the reasons for the suspension resolved by November 17th when Kuwait play their next match.
The more interesting side story to this is that Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, of Kuwait, is a member of Fifa's executive committee and his position has "not been effected" by the suspension. "The Shiekh" as he has come to be known, is described as an "influential sports power broker". He is the president of the powerful Association of National Olympic Committees, he also heads up the Olympic Council of Asia and is in charge of the IOC’s solidarity commission.
From The Guardion, June 2015:
"In Buenos Aires (at the IOC meeting in 2013 to decide the hosts of the 2020 Olympics) he scored a hat-trick by helping Thomas Bach ascend to the IOC presidency, successfully backing his chosen host, Tokyo, for the 2020 Summer Games and ensuring wrestling retained its Olympic slot."
And, very interestingly with all the recent going-ons at Fifa: "Before the recent Fifa election he acted as Blatter’s muscle in the region, part of an attempt to out manoeuvre the president’s challenger, Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein".
No conclusion to write yet because the story about The Shiekh is not over.
Oh joy, Fifa!
Day -982. WorldCup2018.
I was in the mood for a feel-good story today so what better place to look then fifa.com. And they came up trumps with the wonderful tale of Bhutan playing and winning the first ever world cup qualifying match, and making it to the second round. And for a glimpse of the most interesting football stadium fast forward to 3.20-3.30. Those are some crazy stands.
Curiously though, Fifa posted this beautiful story this week, after Bhutan had already played a few of their second round matches. Unfortunately it's not going so well: 0-15 and 0-7 against Qatar and Hong Kong just a couple of their 5 defeats. But I assume that Fifa just wanted to go looking for a Bhutan-esque story at a time when the boys in Zurich needed a hit of positivity.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/videos/y=2015/m=10/video=bottom-ranked-bhutan-s-world-cup-miracle-2711162.html
I was in the mood for a feel-good story today so what better place to look then fifa.com. And they came up trumps with the wonderful tale of Bhutan playing and winning the first ever world cup qualifying match, and making it to the second round. And for a glimpse of the most interesting football stadium fast forward to 3.20-3.30. Those are some crazy stands.
Curiously though, Fifa posted this beautiful story this week, after Bhutan had already played a few of their second round matches. Unfortunately it's not going so well: 0-15 and 0-7 against Qatar and Hong Kong just a couple of their 5 defeats. But I assume that Fifa just wanted to go looking for a Bhutan-esque story at a time when the boys in Zurich needed a hit of positivity.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/videos/y=2015/m=10/video=bottom-ranked-bhutan-s-world-cup-miracle-2711162.html
Pontus Wernbloom
Day -983. WorldCup2018.
I came across a wonderful, heart-warming (in a Fifa.com kind of way) story about Pontus Wernbloom, a Swede playing for CSKA Moscow. When Pontus, white and blonde, remarked that nobody in Moscow smiled CSKA supporters started a "flash mob" on social media through the hashtag #smileforPontus. Oh, those lovely people. Now ask Emmanuel Frimpong and Hulk, both not-white and blonde, what they think of Russian football supporters.....
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/25/racism-row-russia-world-cup-draw
I came across a wonderful, heart-warming (in a Fifa.com kind of way) story about Pontus Wernbloom, a Swede playing for CSKA Moscow. When Pontus, white and blonde, remarked that nobody in Moscow smiled CSKA supporters started a "flash mob" on social media through the hashtag #smileforPontus. Oh, those lovely people. Now ask Emmanuel Frimpong and Hulk, both not-white and blonde, what they think of Russian football supporters.....
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jul/25/racism-row-russia-world-cup-draw
Platini, not looking good.
Day -984. WorldCup2018.
This has more to do with Qatar 2022 but still a lot to do with the never ending mess at Fifa and the man everybody is unsure about, Michel Platini. The alleged facts are out there:
This has more to do with Qatar 2022 but still a lot to do with the never ending mess at Fifa and the man everybody is unsure about, Michel Platini. The alleged facts are out there:
- Platini met with Mohammed Bin Hamman, a Qatari football official who stood against Blatter for the Fifa presidency in 2011, just before the vote on the awarding of the 2022 World Cup
- Bin Hamman was banned from football for life before the election
- Platini told the Uefa member associations that he would stand against Blatter in 2011. Soon after he changed his mind and endorsed Blatter.
- It emerged recently that Platini received a 2m Swiss Francs disloyal payment from Blatter in 2011, at around the time of the elections
- Platini was at an event hosted by President Sarkozy at his official residence where Platini met the son of the Emir of Qatar
- A year after the Qatar vote, Qatar Sports Investment bough Paris Saint Germain
- Platini's son became the chief executive of a Qatar owned sports company
- Platini voted for Qatar to be awarded the World Cup
- The Qatar bid was based on a summer world cup with "outdoor air-conditioned stadiums". This all changed when Fifa became concerned about the heat and it became a winter world cup
- This change had the most opposition from the European associations, as it affected their big money leagues
- But who is the head of the European associations, and actually said that he supports a switch to a winter world cup? Michel Platini.
And just to link this all back to Russia 2018, the Chairman of the Fifa
2018 organising committee is Platini. For a bit of now typically
unintentional Fifa humour and irony he now has an asterisk by his name
on the Fifa website: provisionally banned.
http://m.fifa.com/a…/committees/committee=1928613/index.html
http://m.fifa.com/a…/committees/committee=1928613/index.html
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