FIFA is corrupt...

[mori]

FIFA has to be nuked from orbit. Just a quick look at the candidates for president to replace Blatter, they are all as crooked as he is. One has even been accused of torturing pro-democracy protesters and imprisoning athletes.

[AWS260]

The Jordanian seems OK.

[tru1cy]

Another predawn raid and more arrest.

[El Guapo]

At the same hotel. I'm sure it's an *amazing* hotel and all...but maybe book someplace else next time.

[Isgrimnur]

16 indictments

Federal prosecutors in the United States on Thursday announced criminal charges against 16 FIFA officials, alleging they were part of a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves while overseeing the world governing body of soccer.

The 93-count indictment, which includes charges of racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud, expands a corruption case that began in May with charges against 14 officials associated with FIFA and related sports marketing companies.

The announcement came the same day Swiss police arrested two FIFA officials on suspicion of accepting "millions of dollars" in bribes, according to a statement from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice.

Alfredo Hawit, the president of CONCACAF, the governing body for North and Central America as well as the Caribbean, and Juan Angel Napout, president of CONMEBOL, which presides over South America, were the two latest arrests in what is proving a miserable year for the organization in charge of running one of the world's most popular sports.
...
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice confirmed the identities of Hawit, a Honduran citizen, and Napout, who is from Paraguay, in a statement and revealed they are both opposing their extradition to the U.S.

The arrests in Zurich early Thursday were part of an operation requested by U.S. authorities, as the U.S. Department of Justice prepared to announce a new round of charges against multiple officials and executives tied to alleged corruption at FIFA.

[LawBeefaroni]

Soccer/football is so corrupt everywhere. I was just reading about Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino. He's a convicted embezzler and fraudster. But the Italian can buy some property in Leeds, buy the team, install his sons as directors, and mismanage it into the ground.

Most recently, since they can't increase ticket prices after announcing them, they decided to just make a food voucher a mandatory purchase with each ticket. For the mandatory 5 pounds you get a meat pie if you redeem the voucher at the game. If you don't, you get nothing.

And I thought PSLs were criminal.

[Pyperkub]

No - it's not an Onion article: FIFA - those bribes belong to US!, give them back!:

FIFA acknowledged Wednesday that past World Cups were awarded based on bribes, and the organization wants U.S. prosecutors to give it "tens of millions of dollars" seized from the former FIFA officials who took the cash.

FIFA submitted a 22-page claim to the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York on Tuesday that seeks a big share in restitution from more than $190 million already forfeited by soccer and marketing officials who pleaded guilty in the sprawling corruption case.

[Isgrimnur]

Ballsy.

[El Guapo]

I'm sure their argument is that they are *shocked*, *shocked* that FIFA employees would engage in bribery, and that that is certainly not authorized by FIFA procedures (there is presumably FIFA language prohibiting bribery)! Since these rogue employees dispensed FIFA money totally outside of their granted authority, that grant of money is void and that money properly belongs to FIFA.

I am sure that the response will be that since they were acting under colorable FIFA authority, even accepting the comical assertions that FIFA didn't know what they were doing, the money was still lawfully transferred.

[Pyperkub]

All your Bribes are Belong to us!

[Moliere]

Top FIFA Officials Allegedly Paid Each Other $80 Million

A small group of FIFA’s top officials, including ex-President Sepp Blatter and his former second-in-command, Jérôme Valcke, allegedly paid each other bonuses and other incentives worth tens of millions of dollars, according to a cache of contracts disclosed by internal investigators on Friday.

The contracts, previously unknown to most of the top brass at soccer’s world governing body, also allegedly show bonuses for former Deputy Secretary-General Markus Kattner. Mr. Kattner was fired by FIFA last month for allegedly paying himself millions in secret bonuses. He didn’t respond to requests for comment at the time.

“The evidence appears to reveal a coordinated effort by three former top officials of FIFA to enrich themselves through annual salary increases, World Cup bonuses and other incentives totaling more than 79 million Swiss francs [$79.7 million]—in just the last five years,” said Bill Burck, a partner with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the U.S. law firm that has run an internal probe over the past year. The firm shared details of the contracts in a statement.

[AWS260]

The internal report on bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has been released (by FIFA, because it had been leaked and was about to be published by a German newspaper).

[Isgrimnur]

Have fun watching games in Yekaterinburg:

[Cortilian]

That makes me queasy just looking at it.

[Moliere]

Russia Fined by FIFA over Racist Chants at Paul Pogba During France Friendly

In April, Simon Parkin wrote in the Guardian how violent football-supporting factions have become a breeding ground for ideologies based on discrimination and prejudice:

"For two decades, Russia’s firms have been a machine for recruiting and radicalising young men to the far right, which has seeded racist ideology at the centre of the country’s football culture."

[Isgrimnur]

news.com.au

THE high number of deaths that have resulted from the ongoing construction of stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has put the Gulf state under harsh global scrutiny.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling for new laws to protect construction staff from working in life-threatening conditions, with over 800,000 migrant workers potentially being subjected to working outside in scorching heat.

The current regulations prohibit outdoor work from 11.30am to 3pm between June 15 and August 31 but the HRW says that due to the region’s climate, these procedures aren’t sufficient.
...
According to a report published by the International Trades Union Confederation (ITUC) approximately 1200 workers have already died since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010.

To put that number in perspective the ITUC also revealed the amount of workers killed in the lead up to other major sporting events around the world.

The next highest number of deaths were from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics with 60 people killed and the 2004 Athens Olympics with 40 killed.

Ten workers died before the 2010 Beijing Olympics and seven were killed while working in construction for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

There were zero construction fatalities for the 2012 London Olympics and one death for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The ITUC predicts that there will be at least 4000 worker fatalities by the time the 2022 FIFA World Cup begins.

[mori]

Is FIFA really going to go ahead on this? Call it off already before it is called off because European clubs will not release their players in the middle of their seasons. And Russia 2018 is going to be a goddamn disaster for any English speakers. Stay far away or violence will be visited upon you. Soccer violence we have not seen since the 1980s is about to happen. Thank you Russia and FIFA.

[Isgrimnur]

AP News

FIFA has officially eradicated corruption. All it took was pressing the delete key.

Soccer officials and players who bother checking out the new code of ethics governing their conduct will find the word “corruption” missing. They also will discover how to avoid being banned for paying and receiving bribes.

Corruption was scrubbed as an official misdemeanor during secret meetings where executives executed the first overhaul of the code since a wave of scandals left soccer’s governing body “clinically dead” by 2015. That was the hyperbole used by Gianni Infantino during a speech at the World Cup in June boasting of his own apparent achievements cleaning up FIFA.

But in two years as FIFA president, Infantino has been accused of violating governance rules and forcing out officials who threatened his position.

It will be even easier now for FIFA to banish critics.

A new offense has been introduced in the ethics code — defamation. There are no specific examples, providing flexibility for the ethics committee to decide on the burden of proof — as with all cases.
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Those found to have defamed FIFA will be banned from any football-related activities for up to two years and they can be booted out for five years for repeated “serious cases.”
...
Bribery is still prohibited in the ethics code, but the ability to prosecute cases has been weakened.

The 2012 code said “prosecution for bribery and corruption” was not subject to a “limitation period.” However long it took investigators to uncover offenses, you could still be sanctioned.

But section 12.1 of the new code states, “Bribery, misappropriation of funds and manipulation of football matches or competitions may no longer be prosecuted after a lapse of ten years.”
...
Ethics prosecutors now only have five years to complete cases into other general breaches of the code — half the previous time permitted to uncover wrongdoing.