UEFA president Michel Platini has once again called on FIFA and Qatar to move the 2022 World Cup in from the summer to winter.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footbal...l#ixzz1Ym6xvTNK

http://www.tssonnet.com/stories/20111006505602400.htm

“It is a nice game but decided by people who are corrupt. I am not prepared to accept the current system and I am not alone. I am asking for transparency, balance and democracy in governing bodies like FIFA and UEFA. And I don't accept any longer that we should be guided by people who are not clean. Now is the moment to intervene.” -Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Chairman and Chief Executive of the European Club Association

“I am confident that FIFA recognise a totally new approach has to happen and UEFA have already started that process.” -Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, Chief Executive of the European Professional League

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/10/04/business-financial-impact-soc-fifa-corruption_8715597.html

LONDON -- Longtime International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said Monday that FIFA is not being transparent about the extent of corruption within the organization and lacks the will to clean up soccer.

Having led the IOC's inquiry into the Salt Lake City bidding scandal, Pound believes FIFA is in the midst of a deeper crisis that needs to be resolved to protect the integrity of the sport.

"When I compare (the Salt Lake City) firestorm of media attention to the relatively benign, again with certain exceptions, treatment of the remarkable conduct of FIFA and certain of its executives, I am astonished," Pound said. "This is a far more serious and far more extensive problem for the world's most popular sport than the relatively narrow conduct, improper as it was, of a few IOC members."

The ethics rules were rewritten by a panel that included former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Pound believes FIFA's reforms will only appear credible if outside parties are involved. Kissinger has been approached by FIFA

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-03...t-in-court.html

Mohamed bin Hammam... failed to block the appointment of his replacement as head of the Asian Football Confederation.

...the AFC said today on its website. Chinese official Zhang Jilong was named acting president when Bin Hammam was provisionally banned over corruption claims by FIFA.

Bin Hammam had claimed Jilong’s appointment as AFC acting president and nomination to FIFA’s decision-making body breached the confederation’s rules. The AFC said today it had “strictly followed” its statutes at all times.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2557/news...-appeal-against

Former Nigerian football chief Amos Adamu will appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday in a final attempt to overturn his three-year ban from football as a result of corruption.

He was found guilty along with Malian Amadou Diakite and Tonga's Ahongalu Fusimalohi.

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/world...orld-cup-100511

''Perception (of corruption) will always be a sense of frustration until we overcome how people view us,'' Hassan al Thawadi, the secretary general of Qatar's organizing committee, told the Leaders in Football conference.


''What we did not know or expect was the avalanche of accusations and allegations that we would face in the immediate aftermath of what was a historic day for sport in our country and for the wider region,'' he said. ''Baseless accusations were made against our bid. We were presumed guilty before innocent without a shred of evidence being provided.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/oct/05/england-2018-ridicules-fifa-corruption

"The whole world is watching and waiting in a way. There's a lot of people watching, a lot of people anticipating, but I have to say I think most people anticipating are not waiting for great results because Fifa have not had a track record of taking this issue seriously in the past."

Hassan al-Thawadi the secretary general of the supreme committee for Qatar 2022



Thawadi said Qatar 2002 were "completely independent" of Bin Hammam, who is appealing against his ban. He added: "Mohamed Bin Hammam is his own man. He and Qatar 2022 are completely independent and separate. The appeal is his decision and his steps. We have to ride it out as patiently as having to ride out the whistleblower allegations and others."
...........................................................................................................................

Of course the Qatar bid was "completely independent" of the member of the FIFA Ex Committee from Qatar who represented all of Asia and had plans to become the FIFA President where he was going to use all of his own money to... Yep, I get it. And Qatar is a free state with real elections and a second party where people can say whatever they want when ever thay want to. Yep, I get it.



Just riding it out ahe?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/...P=ILCNETTXT3487

Qatar's government-backed 2022 World Cup bid is threatening legal action against Fifa's general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, over his claims that it "bought" the World Cup.

Now Qatar is preparing to take action. "Qatar 2022 categorically deny any wrongdoing in connection with their winning bid, " it said in a statement released on Monday afternoon... "In the meantime we are taking legal advice to consider our options."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10...year-s-end.html

Chuck Blazer, the soccer official whose corruption complaints led to a senior FIFA colleague being banned for life, will step down as general secretary of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football at the end of this year.

...in a e-mailed statement that he’ll end his two-decade tenure with CONCACAF, one of soccer’s six regional confederations, on Dec. 31. He’ll continue as a member of FIFA’s executive committee...

Zurich-based FIFA has been dealing with corruption allegations for most of the past year. At one point, one-third of its executive committee, a 24-member decision-making panel, was either under investigation or suspended amid graft claims linked to the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and the presidential election.

‘We had a UEFA strategic meeting two weeks ago in Cyprus and there was great disappointment expressed there about the lack of progress Fifa are making in terms of governance.
‘There is a FIFA ExCo (meeting) this month and we are hoping something will come out of that but I wouldn’t hold your breath. It’s a difficult nut to crack, we will have to see what Mr Blatter will do.’-David Bernstein England FA Chairman


Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/87...n#ixzz1a4B6Fi8D