FIFA's fantastic fantasy farce

[SuperFruitland]

So, I suppose with #FIFAlogic (we should get that trending) 2026 is going to Greenland/Iceland/Antarctica?

[Bombadil]

FIFA are genius, they really just don't care at all, and why should they?

They could make the criteria 'the country that stuffs the most amount of money in this big bag' if they wanted to, not only are they not bound by any country, they can even bend the rules, change the law, within countries.

They had a special FIFA court in South Africa if I remember correctly.

I think it was an Australian who most harshly criticized them around the bidding process, and England always do.. and who's pointed out as corrupt.. England and Australia.

FIFA don't care, they're do what they like, they only conducted the report for a laugh as it is.

Anyway, fool England and Australia for complying, they should have followed Russia who basically said 'what? emails? umm.. we deleted them all, sorry, were they important?'

[Tsaraine]

I'm surprised that - after even FIFA has acknowledged that they got the bid by nefarious means - the Qataris still get to host the World Cup. I'd have expected them to be stripped of host status ... if FIFA weren't so laughably corrupt, that is. Honestly, they make the NSWC look clean, and they once hosted a cup in a nation undergoing explosive deconstruction by malevolent deity!

[Czechanada]

Why the hell would anyways even think of condoning the World Cup after the use of slave labour?

[The Nihilistic view]

I thought it was hilarious, they did not even get through half a day before Garcia made them look like corrupt fuckmuppets again.

[The Nihilistic view]

At this point, UEFA nations should seriously consider withdrawing from FIFA. FIFA is beyond saving, IMO.

Not going to happen - UEFA president Michel Platini is far too desperate to be Sepp Blatter's successor.

Also, one of the Qatar bid's main supporters was... Michel Platini. Blatter is widely believed to have voted for the United States.

Platini has admitted voting for Qatar and lobbying for the move to winter, but has insisted that a much scrutinised meeting with the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the now Emir of Qatar and the Qatar prime minister did not result in pressure being put on him. "I knew Sarkozy wanted the people from Qatar to buy PSG," Platini told the Guardian in May. "I understood that Sarkozy supported the candidature of Qatar. But he never asked me, or to vote for Russia [for the 2018 World Cup]. He knows my personality. I always vote for what is good for football. Not for myself, not for France."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... -world-cup


So UEFA are hardly going to withdraw from FIFA here given how heavily implicated the head of UEFA is in the whole Qatar disaster to begin with.


I instead suggest we disband all formal football governing structures and return to grassroots sport; small boys in the park... jumpers for goalposts...

Isn't it, you know?

[Herskerstad]

At this point I hope international bodies will start raiding some offices.

[Risottia]

1) Should FIFA continue to try and stop the release of the full Garcia report?

2) Can FIFA possibly do anything even more incompetent to make this increasingly uncomfortable farce any worse?

The answers, incidentally, are "no" and "oh, probably".

The real question is "if the ISIS were to kidnap Sepp Blatter and ask for a ransom, would it be on the lines of 'pay us or we'll kill him' or 'pay us or we'll free him' "?

[Risottia]

So, I suppose with #FIFAlogic (we should get that trending) 2026 is going to Greenland/Iceland/Antarctica?

Greenland and Antarctica are ruled out. Neither is a FIFA member.

[Laerod]

2022 to Eire.

What about Canada? D:

Canada 2015.

[The Archregimancy]

FIFA are genius, they really just don't care at all, and why should they?

They could make the criteria 'the country that stuffs the most amount of money in this big bag' if they wanted to, not only are they not bound by any country, they can even bend the rules, change the law, within countries.

They had a special FIFA court in South Africa if I remember correctly.

I think it was an Australian who most harshly criticized them around the bidding process, and England always do.. and who's pointed out as corrupt.. England and Australia.

FIFA don't care, they're do what they like, they only conducted the report for a laugh as it is.

Anyway, fool England and Australia for complying, they should have followed Russia who basically said 'what? emails? umm.. we deleted them all, sorry, were they important?'

Well yes, it does seem that England and Australia were singled out for criticism because they made the mistake of actually complying fully with the investigation and sharing any and all documentation, including the embarrassing bits (in England's case) about Jack Warner.

Maybe next time they won't make the mistake of actually thinking that FIFA's idea of a fair and transparent independent investigation will actually result in a fair and transparent independent investigation.

Though in fairness, it looks like Garcia also believed he was undertaking a fair and transparent independent investigation instead of compiling a document that FIFA would then selectively cite in the hope that the problem would just go away.


I do think Garcia is making a mistake by attempting to appeal FIFA's decision via FIFA's own internal appeals process.

He should just leak his full report himself, and damn the consequences.

[Vassenor]

They could make the criteria 'the country that stuffs the most amount of money in this big bag' if they wanted to, not only are they not bound by any country, they can even bend the rules, change the law, within countries.

They had a special FIFA court in South Africa if I remember correctly.

Yup. They got the Brazilian "no alcohol sold at sporting venues" law overturned so that Budweiser, the OFFICIAL BEER OF THE 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP™, could be sold there.

[Laerod]

I do think Garcia is making a mistake by attempting to appeal FIFA's decision via FIFA's own internal appeals process.

He should just leak his full report himself, and damn the consequences.

Speaks more for his integrity and the validity of his original report though. Which is worthless if it never gets published or leaked, but then again what would truly happen if it were?

[Risottia]

Yup. They got the Brazilian "no alcohol sold at sporting venues" law overturned so that Budweiser, the OFFICIAL BEER OF THE 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP™, could be sold there.

I don't have a problem with the anti-alcohol law being overturned or suspended.
I have lots of problems with Budweiser being considered beer.

Anyway, I can't bring myself to believe that anyone could think that FIFA was going to allow the complete publication of an actual internal investigation.

[The Archregimancy]

Not directly related to the thread topic, but an interesting tangent broadly relevant to Qatar's bid.

With Morocco pulling out of hosting the African Cup of Nations only two months before the event is held over fears of visiting fans from nations with an Ebola outbreak, it looks like Qatar is offering to step in to act as an emergency host (despite very obviously not being in Africa) "because of its strong relation with Issa Hayatou, president of the Confederation of African Football".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ear ... -think-so/

As that Washington Post link points out, it's more or less a win-win situation for everyone.

The African tournament is saved.

Qatar gets to demonstrate it can host a major international football tournament, but not one involving pesky nations with media that are going to complain about the setting or are going to send lots of visiting fans.

The tournament will be in January-February when the weather is actually really rather nice.

Qatar strengthens its links with the CFA, and - more importantly - makes sure that much of African football owes them a massive favour.

[Laerod]

Yup. They got the Brazilian "no alcohol sold at sporting venues" law overturned so that Budweiser, the OFFICIAL BEER OF THE 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP™, could be sold there.

I don't have a problem with the anti-alcohol law being overturned or suspended.
I have lots of problems with Budweiser being considered beer.

I don't have a problem with Budweiser being considered beer.
I have lots of problems with Bud bein considered Budweiser.

[Laerod]

With Morocco pulling out of hosting the African Cup of Nations only two months before the event is held over fears of visiting fans from nations with an Ebola outbreak, ...

I thought they wanted it delayed and then got booted for asking as much?

[The Archregimancy]

I do think Garcia is making a mistake by attempting to appeal FIFA's decision via FIFA's own internal appeals process.

He should just leak his full report himself, and damn the consequences.

Speaks more for his integrity and the validity of his original report though.

It does, and I can understand why he wants to follow due process, and go out of his way to exhaust the internal legal avenues. I do respect him for holding the line.

But we all know that FIFA doesn't give a rat's arse about due process; so at this point he should probably bite the bullet and leak. If there's a confidentiality clause in his contract - which there almost certainly is - I doubt he'd have too much difficulty finding people to offer him legal and financial support.

[Risottia]

I don't have a problem with the anti-alcohol law being overturned or suspended.
I have lots of problems with Budweiser being considered beer.

I don't have a problem with Budweiser being considered beer.
I have lots of problems with Bud bein considered Budweiser.

That too. Although I prefer to call the beer "Budějovický Budvar", as most people use "Budweiser" for the diluted piss.

[Risottia]

Speaks more for his integrity and the validity of his original report though.

It does, and I can understand why he wants to follow due process, and go out of his way to exhaust the internal legal avenues. I do respect him for holding the line.

But we all know that FIFA doesn't give a rat's arse about due process; so at this point he should probably bite the bullet and leak. If there's a confidentiality clause in his contract - which there almost certainly is - I doubt he'd have too much difficulty finding people to offer him legal and financial support.

If I were him, I'd make a covert deal with Anonymous - so I could claim my report was leaked as a consequence of those pesky hackers.

[The Four Taxmen of the Apocalypse]

Fuck it. All future World Cup events are to be held on Mars. Teams not present will be instantly disqualified, and if no Earth teams attend then the host team will be declared the winner, even if the host team does not exist.

[The Archregimancy]

With Morocco pulling out of hosting the African Cup of Nations only two months before the event is held over fears of visiting fans from nations with an Ebola outbreak, ...

I thought they wanted it delayed and then got booted for asking as much?

The specific set of events was:

1) Morocco asked for a postponement until 2016.

2) CAF decided not to grant a postponement, and on the 2nd of November sent Morocco a letter asking for clarification on whether they still wanted to host, setting an 8th of November deadline for a reply.

3) Morocco failed to reply to the letter from the CAF.

4) Following Morocco's failure to reply to the request for clarification, CAF then confirmed that Morocco would not act as hosts, and couldn't participate in the tournament.

There's some room for semantics over whether Morocco pulled out or were booted out, and much depends on who's arguing the point - but the Royal Morocco Football Association's failure to reply to CAF's request for a clarification was a de facto withdrawal from hosting.

[Laerod]

Fuck it. All future World Cup events are to be held on Mars. Teams not present will be instantly disqualified, and if no Earth teams attend then the host team will be declared the winner, even if the host team does not exist.

I for one look forward to England complaining about how they lost because of the lack of an atmosphere =P

I thought they wanted it delayed and then got booted for asking as much?

The specific set of events was:

1) Morocco asked for a postponement until 2016.

2) CAF decided not to grant a postponement, and on the 2nd of November sent Morocco a letter asking for clarification on whether they still wanted to host, setting an 8th of November deadline for a reply.

3) Morocco failed to reply to the letter from the CAF.

4) Following Morocco's failure to reply to the request for clarification, CAF then confirmed that Morocco would not act as hosts, and couldn't participate in the tournament.

There's some room for semantics over whether Morocco pulled out or were booted out, and much depends on who's arguing the point - but the Royal Morocco Football Association's failure to reply to CAF's request for a clarification was a de facto withdrawal from hosting.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of the details, I'd just picked it up in passing and now I see where that came from.

[The Four Taxmen of the Apocalypse]

Fuck it. All future World Cup events are to be held on Mars. Teams not present will be instantly disqualified, and if no Earth teams attend then the host team will be declared the winner, even if the host team does not exist.

I for one look forward to England complaining about how they lost because of the lack of an atmosphere =P

Also home team advantage. Zero fans is 100% of the Martian population, but 0% of the England population. Blame the hosts for not providing accomodation.

[The Archregimancy]

Not directly related to the thread topic, but an interesting tangent broadly relevant to Qatar's bid.

With Morocco pulling out of hosting the African Cup of Nations only two months before the event is held over fears of visiting fans from nations with an Ebola outbreak, it looks like Qatar is offering to step in to act as an emergency host (despite very obviously not being in Africa) "because of its strong relation with Issa Hayatou, president of the Confederation of African Football".

It looks like Qatar don't always get their way.

The 2015 African Cup of Nations will be hosted by Equatorial Guinea.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30053859