Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/foo...l#ixzz1XUSrt11D


Was Australia's bid corrupt? No.

Those involved should be shouting it from the rooftops. But they're not. Instead we get the all-clear buried in a report this week to a Senate committee, followed by a press release from Ben Buckley. In case you missed it, Australia's World Cup bid actually came in more than $3 million under the $46 million budget. Line-by-line, all items of expenditure were reconciled. Yes, more than $2 million was handed over in donations to charity organisations in Asia and Africa and football bodies in Oceania and the Caribbean. That's pork barrelling, but it's not corrupt. Almost $7 million was given to consultants Peter Hargitay and Fedor Radmann - that's dumb, but it's not corrupt. True, about $50,000 worth of pearl necklaces and cufflinks were gifted to FIFA executives and their wives. That's called shameless lobbying, but it's not corrupt. FIFA said so when it cleared Australia's bid last year. The federal government agreed when it signed the final reconciliations this week. Those who have spent a year casting aspersions will find it tough to swallow, but Australia played by the rules. Whether those rules are the right ones is a different issue altogether.

That's not to say Australia's bid was a good one. It wasn't.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/championing-the-game-not-fifa-officials-20110913-1k7mu.html

When FFA chief executive officer Ben Buckley proclaimed last week that "FFA had complied with its obligations under relevant agreements, laws and regulations related to the World Cup bid", he was quite accurate - but he missed the point. He is also on record as saying that FFA "believe the bid process was flawed" - and this is the point.

Knowing the bid process was flawed, Australia ran a reputational risk with taxpayers' money in opting to play the bidding game in such an environment.

The campaign to introduce greater transparency and accountability to FIFA, spearheaded by ChangeFIFA and British MP Damian Collins, is an initiative everyone interested in good governance and/or soccer should support. Their view is that FIFA should be reformed by an interim time-limited administration, led by an eminent person with a mandate to develop a new constitution and conduct elections because FIFA is not capable of reforming itself.

Without reform, the same flawed environment will continue to exist, spawning and rewarding international consultants, such as those Australia engaged at a cost to taxpayers of about $8.3 million.

Players and fans have a right and responsibility to shape the local as well as international soccer environment, and Australia should be championing reform, rather than passively accepting FIFA's flawed governance.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/championin...l#ixzz1Xu2DOANI

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/...net&cc=5901

Sepp Blatter is seriously considering a motion to quit as FIFA president in two years rather than serve his full term in office, according to ESPNsoccernet sources.

"These are the rumours that are now circulating within Europe's corridors of power. Should Blatter step down early, there is only one creditable candidate to take his place, and that is Platini."

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2011/09/14/sp-fifa-blatter.html


FIFA president Sepp Blatter used Twitter on Wednesday to dismiss suggestions he will stand aside early to let UEFA counterpart Michel Platini take over the governing body of world football.

"The existence of a reported 'deal' between me and Michel Platini for the FIFA Presidency is pure nonsense," he tweeted, adding "the suggestion that I intend to stop my four-year mandate before its end is simply ridiculous."

The story was dismissed as untrue and unworkable under FIFA statutes.

http://www.aroundtherings.com/articles/view.aspx?id=37869

German financial analyst Nicola Ritter told an investment summit last week in Munich that $169 billion would be invested in stadiums and facilities throughout Qatar. She claimed another $49 billion would go to transport infrastructure and $44 billion to creating the new city of Lusail, site for the final match.

Qatar 2022 organizers tell Around the Rings reports suggesting the cost of staging the FIFA World Cup will be in excess of $200 billion are misleading and inaccurate.


Nasser Al Khater, director of communications for Qatar 2022, tells ATR a different story. The host country plans to keep within its $4 billion budget to develop the 12 stadia needed to stage FIFA’s showcase tournament, he says, confirming there are no changes to Qatar's bid book plans.

"A lot of people are confused with the country's development plan [costs]," Al Khater says, adding that additional infrastructure costs – the new city, metro lines and airport – were already part of Qatar's growth strategy.

http://www.aroundtherings.com/articles/view.aspx?id=37770

Doha (Qatar) proposes to hold the (2020 Summer) Olympics sometime between Sept. 20 and Oct. 20 after the IOC Executive Board ruled that the city could set dates outside the mandated July-August window.

Doha is also in the running for the 2017 World Championships in athletics with expected dates in mid-September.

Bin Hammam loses FIFA appeal against life ban

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/15/us-soccer-fifa-binhammam-idUSTRE78E4QS20110915

"The appeal made by Mohammed Bin Hammam has been rejected and the decision of the FIFA ethics committee confirmed," said FIFA in a statement.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/957100/fifa-confirms-mohamed-bin-hammam's-life-ban?cc=5901

It is expected that Bin Hammam will next take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Three other FIFA Executive Committee members - Amos Adamu, Amadou Diakite and Ahongalu Fusimalohi - have already set up appeal hearings with CAS for October 19 and November 7 after their bans for corruption.

This could be an interesting couple of weeks before the October Executive Committee meeting.

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/...ry-case-hearing

ZURICH -- Caribbean official Colin Klass has been summoned by FIFA to answer charges this week relating to $40,000 in bribes allegedly offered by former presidential candidate Mohamed bin Hammam.

FIFA says its ethics committee will hear Klass' case on Friday.

"Ethics Committee" and "FIFA." That is an oxymoron if I ever heard one!