Updated at 14:35 to include more information about the US indictment.
Already besieged by criticism, Qatar’s right to host the 2022 World Cup faces its biggest challenge to date following today’s arrest of several FIFA executives and the beginning of criminal proceedings in Switzerland.
The executives were taken by authorities from a hotel in Zurich this morning and are being extradited to the US to face racketeering and other charges there.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, where FIFA is headquartered, said in a statement this morning that it had seized electronic data and documents from the offices of football’s governing body.
The move is part of its investigation “against persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering” in connection to the World Cup tournaments being awarded to Russia and Qatar.
The Swiss AG had first opened its probe in March on suspicions that “irregularities occurred in the allocation of the FIFA World Cups of 2018 and 2022.”
US charges
The Swiss AG said that while it was co-ordinating with US authorities, its investigation was separate.
Indeed, a lengthy statement from the US Department of Justice makes no mention of the 2018 or 2022 World Cups, although it mentions in passing a “scheme” related to the selection of the 2010 World Cup host country, South Africa.
The US investigation primarily concerns more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks paid or agreed to by US and South American sports executives for media and marketing rights to international football tournaments.
The US Department of Justice said that nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives have been indicted on racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, “in connection with the defendants’ participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.”
“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” stated Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”
Two current vice presidents and former vice president Jack Warner – who denied the charges – are among those facing charges, but FIFA President Sepp Blatter is not on the list.
Most of the schemes alleged in the indictment relate to matches and tournaments held in North and South America. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, better known by its acronym CONCACAF, is headquartered in Miami, and several of its current and former officials are among those facing charges.
The Department of Justice said the South American confederation, called CONMEBOL, is also a focus of the indictment.
While the US charges appear to be unrelated to the allegations of bribery that have tainted Qatar’s bid to host the World Cup for years, some of the individuals targeted have previously been named in connection to the Gulf country’s efforts to host the tournament.
In March 2014, The Daily Telegraph reported that Warner received $1.2 million from a company owned by disgraced Qatar football executive Mohamed Bin Hammam in 2011. Warner was one of the 22 voters who collectively decided that Russia and Qatar would host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
In today’s statement, US officials left the door opening to widening their probe.
“This indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly Currie.
FIFA’s response
The investigation into FIFA comes two days ahead of the presidential election, which officials said in a press conference today would not be postponed despite recent developments.
Fielding questions from reporters, FIFA spokesman Walter de Gregorio said the leadership had no prior warning of the arrests.
“We were as surprised as you guys were,” he said, later adding that FIFA has no plans at this time to rerun the voting process for either the 2018 or 2022 World Cups.
“This is what is the fact today. I don’t go into speculation what may happen tomorrow. The World Cup in 2018 and 2022 will be played in Russia and Qatar,” he said.
The Swiss AG noted that it had received a complaint from FIFA on Nov. 18, 2014, a point that de Gregorio underlined several times during his midday press conference.
“FIFA is the damaged party,” he said.
Thoughts?
“FIFA is the damaged party”…wow, just wow.
Poor old FIFA. What a terrible thing to happen to them after their own report cleared them of any wrongdoing
Garcia’s 350 pages of report did always seem like a lot of words to say that there was nothing untoward going on. The report has probably been shredded by now so we’ll never know. Unless of course a copy was leaked to the FBI…
Wouldn’t have to be leaked. He has repeatedly said that his non-disclosure agreement prevents him from ‘publicly’ releasing it. NDAs don’t apply to criminal investigations. He could easily have walked into an FBI office and said ‘Here you go’ without any fear of repercussion. Equally, he could have been instructed to hand a copy over. Worse that FIFA could do is fire him, and that isn’t a concern.
… the rest of the story from the daily mail…..
Senior officials from the notoriously corrupt organization, which is getting ready for a presidential election in the coming days, have been under investigation since at least 2011.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice, which arrested six of the officials in Zurich, issued a statement saying the officials are suspected of having received or paid more than $100million in bribes. The governors of the world’s most popular sport are seen as secretive, with FIFA’s executive committee making policy changes with little input from others.
One FIFA official was led by plain-clothed authorities to a side exit of the hotel. Others were covered in bedsheets to hide themselves from the public and press. Blatter has declined to enter into US territory since 2011, possibly due to fear of arrest, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap.
‘The report has probably been shredded by now’.
Nah – those pesky computers, all the data was somehow lost, so could not be passed on. (Just like Russia claimed with all their bid docs).
Its Fooball and the people who love football who have been made a mockery of by this Sepp Blatter and his greedy cronies. Its a shame that he wants to stick to his chair as FIFA president forever and ever and the guys below him know very well that if he goes they will all have to go with him
If Qatar hosts the WC i’ll start wearing a burka
It’s ok for Qatar’s officials as they won’t be extradited to the U.S. Or Switzerland if sufficient evidence is found especially as the head of 2022 bid was the Emir’s brother
No, if any Qataris are found to have committed crimes jail is unlikely, but international travel outside the Arab world could get very difficult.
Has anyone seen Mohammed bin Hammam lately?
Yeah, he was in a Costa Coffee in Abu Dhabi just last weekend.
A senior role in Belgium beckons!
fan.hit
I want to know the Arabic for “What is our exposure on this?”
check the money channels and you’ll get an idea – http://www.cnbc.com/id/102708937
How about OH F@#k!
Brill!!!
Well if you are talking financially, and using the figures cited by the US Department of Justice: $150 million in bribes and kickbacks
No, I mean the actual phrase. Any bilinguals out there know?
Oooh, ooh, I saw that Mythbusters episode – it was memorable.
As if Qatar hasn’t done enough work to keep themselves IN the headlines, now this. Things gonna get interesting now.
FIFA are corrupt? In other news Elvis is dead.
“For the good of the game!”
Is Elvis really dead?
I understand FIFA arrests relate to strange betting patterns immediately prior to Diana Ross’ penalty attempt in USA ’94.
Mmm, well, after ‘Touch Me in the Morning’ is was all downhill, wasn’t it?
he voted for Qatar 2022 !
More people believe that Elvis is alive than that FIFA is not corrupt
Mordor.. hehe nice one
FIFA spokesperson says Blatter is currently ‘quite relaxed’ about the whole situation….
you could not have said it/shown it better 🙂
Looks like FIFA and Sepp Blatter have dug their own graves. They had face saving investigations in their corrupt practices but then they just covered things up but now things have gone out of their hands and Sepp Blatter is finally staring in the face of justice. He kept on dragging his feet on everything, including the labour issues and now things have finally gone out of his hands. He Knows he is a wanted man though the investigators have not named him yet.
Dunno why FIFA spokesman repeats ad nauseum that they will not revisit 2018 and 2022 bids. If there are new n compelling evidence why not?
Meanwhile, in one of the many promised football development projects in Africa…
*Breaking News*
FIFA relocates HQ to North Korea and claims racist, islamophobic west is behind a campaign of an unjustified witch hunt. Sepp “Bellend” Blatter said, ‘North Korea shares FIFA’s values and vision and will allow us complete freedom to manage the game we all love without political interference. People forget that FIFA and its employees are the victims in this conspiracy but with our new base we can take the game to new money, er… I mean, new markets. Sorry have to go my caviar is getting warm”
I thought that FIFA were already getting ready to move into new offices at Lusail City !!!
Pass the popcorn…
Can’t help but think that ths is simply gross misreporting by the Racist and bigoted press of the UK!
They are simply jealous that Qatar’s 2022 bid beat the UK’s 2018 bid, how embarrassing must that be!
Everyone knows that these high level officials are just using their Thanq reward points for a nice holiday to the USA. And the US officials are simply fast tracking them through immigration, as their status requires.
Qatar’s 2022 bid beat UK’s 2018 bid. Can’t see how that is even possible!
Help him out Turbo!
🙂
Come on Baldrick, it was my poor attempt at some of Blackadders finest sarcasm
that doesnt stack up – this is the UK press which is accessible, reporting on uS actions, just as the German Press, Japanese Press etc have done
Help her out, Turbo!
“They are simply jealous that Qatar’s 2022 bid beat the UK’s 2018 bid”
uhmmmm, Jealous because Qatar 2022, beat their 2018 bid? … uhh hmm, hold on… so, UK is jealous of Qatar because Qatar won a bid that UK was not competing for??
I am jealous of you! Your logic is truly something to brag about 🙂
I can see many people are rejoicing at this, not because they hate corruption and want the corrupt officials anywhere to be arrested, but because they want to see Qatar in trouble, and if possible, stripped of the right to host the WC2022. That’s quite mean and low from people who are earning their living here.
Schadenfreude is a natural human emotion, but you are right, it is unseemly.
Is it that or is it seeing the decision to award the hosting rights of WC to Qatar is probably one of the most controversial decisions ever! It was inevitable that people would question the decision and despite reference to FIFA’s own report labelling Qatars bid as “High Risk” and many of legitimate points, they were simply accused of being “Racist”.
Now that it seems the authorities may possibly have evidence to prove such, is it really a surprise the same people are happy they may possibly have been proved correct!
Or maybe people who care about the million or so who are shamelessly exploited, and see this as a potential catalyst to make Qatar take industrial relations out of the middle ages? That’s irrespective of any consideration of how or why Qatar came to be nominated for a summer WC in the first place.
You are care about the millions or so who shamelessly exploited should be diverted to Palestine. What did you do to help the people of Palestine? Double standards, don’t expect anything more from the West and Westerns.
Absolutely!
People should not question corruption and theft when Palestinian-Israeli conflict exists. Also, murders and rapists should not be prosecuted because the roman empire did worse centuries ago.
Perfect logic!!!
If you cared that much about them, you would have ceased working for a nation that you believe supports and promotes human enslavement.
I agree
Or work to change it while doing so..
You do realize most westerners here tithe half their pay to either amnesty international our human rights watch?
Yes of course almost all of them give half their salaries to them…as I am sure you know what all westerners in Qatar spend their money on. Just a bunch of saints aren’t you all.
Aren’t you all? Who said I’m a westerner?
My mistake sorry
As a non-Westerner I can spend all the easy money I earn in Qatar on Bentleys, Lamborghinis, condos in London and shopping sprees in Paris if I wish. However, I love Doha and I find visiting London and Paris to be a pain in the behind, especially during the balmy Doha summer. Going on official government duty visits to Paris, London and New York is a huge sacrifice on my part, but I do it for the greater good of the country.
Just like the Qatari government employees who run their private businesses from the government office during official business hours and go on official government duty visits so that they don’t have to pay for private business travel. I am sure they send all the proceeds to Gaza and the West Bank.
Indeed that would be an admirable and honorable thing to do. However when you loiter on DN and spend your days basking in anti-Qatar vitriol it reveals a lot about the true nature of your character.
Or loiter on DN and spend your days basking in anti-American/European vitriol it reveals a lot about the true nature of your character.
No one here does that unless in response to you and your kind, go on most articles on DN you find people such as yourself disrespecting the customs, religion, and people of Qatar, and when confronted it becomes “just criticism”, a sad bitter bunch whose only respite from their realities is circle jerking around anti-Qatar posts.
A summer WC which was changed to suit after the award, without other bidders being given the same opportunity.
Your company’s office was built by those you care about, and everyday some of them come to do the maintenance and other tasks. You live and work in a place built and maintained by exploited labour yet you seem to enjoy it and you do not seem to be rushing to leave the place. And then when you sit on your computer you start lecturing us about how humane and civilized you are? Seriously, are you schizophrenic?
So AEC, Saleem, and Yummykarak, I assume you all believe that the employment laws in Qatar are fair and equitable and humane. It must all be normal to you and you can’t understand why we might highlight the issues.
Not only that, I assume that Saleem and Yummykarak find it puzzling that the West has not adopted Qatar’s world class employment laws and practices, or modelled its human rights bodies after the NHRC.
No, I have never said such a thing. I merely highlight the faux outrage by a lot of you who are perfectly comfortable working and contributing to the same system that you apparently find so morally repulsive.
Deleting this thread for irrelevance to the article.
Paranoia strikes deep
I support Qatar’s right to host the WC. Although i think the event is pointless and way to expensive, why shouldn’t they do it? It’s called a World cup. If it were up to me it would just be hosted by the countries who can afford it. Outside of the Gulf, at the moment, I can’t think of any. Maybe China and India.
think you’re missing the point.
I respect your right to be wrong. 🙂 Do share, what is the point?
The point of the story is that very serious offences were conducted by FIFA members and please don’t be naive to think they do not taint the Russian and Qatar bids. whether the ME deserves to have the WC is not the issue. the issue is how it was won and anyone who can straight faced say it was on the up and up must be from Mars.
Agree.
I too don’t think it is worth it at all.
Sadly it may be so. I agree with many of the comments you’ve posted on this article,not all, don’t have an account to upvote so I will just leave it here.
This isn’t Schadenfreude. This is potentially the hope that millions if not billions of people have had for a long time that football can be rescued from the cesspit it has fallen into and become a half-respectable sport again, managed by people who’s only interest isn’t to line their own pockets at the expense of the fans. Coca-Cola, Sony, and all the other WC sponsors – we now expect you to speak.
So FIFA tried to clear itself from corruption charges, but that didn’t work. I guess there’s a lesson in that of sorts.
With 10 FIFA officials arrested who are available to vote for Blatter on Friday?
Blatter
Very fact that investigations extend back to 90s prove that central issue is corruption of FIFA and not in anyway Racism or Qatar bashing. Lots of bad things happening in FIFA “really damaged party”. Qatar bid is collateral damage.
Exactly. Russia and Qatar get a lot of mentions because it’s the most recent of all Fifas problems.
Today the media are not bashing Qatar or Russia, they are bashing Fifa for ruining the game we love, and rightly so.
True, as I mentioned in another post of mine here, this time it seems the allegations and evidence has been substantial enough to act on. Only time will tell what will be uncovered and who will be made accountable.
150 million over 20 years to start off with
Switzerland is bashing them
I cannot see that election being held on Friday…but then its FIFA and they will try.Hopefully major sponsors will begin to bail out clearing some overinflated heads. Even though Blatter isn’t named, he is in charge of the Organization and cannot claim ” I see nothing” like good old Sgt. Shultz on Hogans Heroes.The house of cards will have to fall a long way to assume they will change Russia and Qatar bids but the house will fall, how far is anyones guess.However some of the charges seem quite extreme—racketerring and money laundering against a sports organization — were originally designed for oganized crime and groups like the Teamsters.
Perfect for FIFA then?
Apparently so!
In the past he has claimed to have been unaware despite the nature of the allegations being ones where his position would leave one naturally presuming he would have known what was occurring under his nose, this of course giving him the benefit of the doubt of not actively participating in it too.
He has gotten away with that, but lets se how far that carries from here on in.
FIFA has been rotten to the core many years before anyone even knew where Qatar was.
I don’t think there will be a revote for 2018/2022 but I am just happy that someone is finally standing up to this corrupt corporation and will hopefully take them down.
They are ruining the game we love
I belive you are correct about not revoking.After all with this group of Pirates,why would they stop at enriching themselves at just two Countries when there are 150+ more out there? Timing,especially for 2018 is an issue and potential lawsuits against FIFA if they revoke could be huge.The two bidders ,especially Qatar are pouring $$$ into things.
Personally, I would be very happy to see the elections stopped,the house cleaned,Blatter go into hiding, perhaps in AntArctica,where no 5* accommodations exist.
To be fair, we ought to look at it from Qatar’s authorities perspective. They saw an opportunity and they grabbed it. They played it the way FIFA wanted it! If they were guilty, well, let’s revisit FIFA past records of awarding the even to other nations.
And maybe we should set the record straight, those same nations that accuse Qatar of being corrupt and evil, keep soliciting “financial favors ” from it and other Gulf nations.
Maybe the western press should focus on their own government instead. That will expose where the dirt really originate.
Let also say this to my fellow expats: if you want
Agreed. Even if Qatar is found guilty, it doesn’t mean Qatar was the reason that FIFA was corrupted, FIFA wasn’t operating as a pure and transparent body that suddenly went to the dark side when Qatar produced its bid. It would mean that the organization was endemically corrupt from the beginning, and it would bring into question all the WCs awarded since the time when the corrupt individuals were first in power.
Just because as a venue Qatar would be deemed by most to be least the suitable compared to other bidders, it does not necessarily mean that previous bidders who did have the “right” conditions and won the rights to host the game in the past, had won it fair and square based on sheer merit of their bid. The key difference is the unlikeliness of Qatar being awarded the games based on the negative factors is what this time really intensified the scrutiny on just how these WC awarding decisions are made.
Don’t you have a camel you have to be getting round to, ya pleb
Banning graffitipeanut for lobbing only racist attacks and not contributing to the conversation.
So you don’t think it’s anything to do with Russia invading Ukraine?
When you have the douchebag quotient under control (presumably after coffee) you can write sensible things.
I’ve never been a “douchebag” to anyone who has and does write sensible things. As for posters who have “douchebaggery” emanating from their posts, yes, I do adopt a different attitude.
Deleting for attack.
They are looking at past awards – South Africa.
If you want to stick to your principles, maybe you should let go of some the goodies that you grabbing from this region.
I always had said the same. These guys are loud online about unacceptable conditions and human slavery, yet have no problem continuing to work in the country that apparently rocks their moral foundations with its disregard for human rights.
Shabina – ‘Deleting for stereotyping’?
Where did I stereotype you little snitch? If you are not among those who claim to be shaken to the core by the “evil Qatari slave traders” then what I said would simply not apply to you, it’s that simple snitchhead.
Shabina – ‘Deleting for gratuitous insults’?
I labeled you a snitch for snitching, that is not an insult, it merely describes your character. Now run along tattle-tale snitchhead.
There you are again. Didn’t i tell you to get on ur camel?
The camel joke would be insulting if it wasn’t for the fact that I know my mode of transportation most likely costs more than your house, LOL.
Get your dad to buy you some more houses to make up for your complete inadequacy. Meanwhile i’ll sit in my beautiful European house away from your savage hordes
Your country is that broke dump that is about to tear the
European Union apart right? LMAO! You talk big for someone who is a
citizen of the toilet of the EU. Tell your country not to lie about the
state of their economy next time, it’s not a nice thing to do to your
neighbors.
Now run along and let your dad do to you what you guys are known for, the freaking activity is labeled after your people too! LMAO
I need some greek girls to service my drivers, do you have any available cousins or sisters? You can keep your favorite ones for you, I will settle for what remains, I will pay them an additional $ 5 on top of the EU handouts you’ll be receiving, $ 5 can buy you some good souvlaki my friend.
Is that misogynistic tone really necessary?
That’s just getting weird but you really should ignore trolls. It just encourages them.
Here I was talking about you living in the poor area of your country, presuming you were from a decent European country, I never realized your entire nation is comprised of dog kennels! Good luck finding a job this year. Too bad you don’t get paid for satisfying your families primal urges, otherwise you’d be a rich man!
Oh and I take back what I said about my mode of transportation costing more than your house, seeing where you are actually from….well that just means my watch costs more than your house! LMAO!
Do you seriously care that much about what stuff costs?
Nah, but he does.
The fact that your mode of transportation and your watch are so expensive clearly show that you are a great human being. A pen and cufflinks costing more than your gardener’s entire home village would have reinforced the positive impression.
I checked with my gardener to confirm based on the value of his village against the value of my pen and cuff links, he said just one cuff link alone is worth his village times two. With the pen and other cuff link it becomes times ten.
LOL, if you sell your ghutra and مسبحة collections you can probably pay America’s foreign debt
Shabina – ‘Deleting for gratuitous insults’?
Snitchhead? Seriously?
It rhymes with what I actually wanted to call him, so it will have to do.
I know. That REALLY hurt! (From laughing!!)
What are you talking about? How does this make any difference? Does someone have to me not here to have views on the place? Or are you just indirectly suggesting people leave if they don’t like it?
Nope, you can be here and dislike the human rights record, the traffic, the policing of traffic, the painfully slow judicial system, etc. That is natural and nobody can really judge you for that.
However when you talk about how corrupt and despicable the country is, how the citizens support slavery, how unacceptable and inhumane this treatment is, how the international community need to act immediately on this, and all the while you’re making these comments when you are still waking up everyday to go to work for these “slave traders”, well what does it say about you and your willingness to adhere to your principles?
Adhere to your principles? What are you? 20? Most people just want to pay the bills. We’re not all rich enough to live out our principles. That doesn’t mean people aren’t entitled to opinions and sometimes may even have some pretty valid ones. Though it may come across otherwise I suspect plenty of people who comment on DN don’t actually hate Qatar in the way you picture. They may quite justifiably hate some of the policies though and the consequences of them.
I am merely echoing what is written on here by some, don’t shoot the messenger. Realistically no one can live to a set of principles, but when you depict yourselves as modern day Mother Teresas and portray Qataris as slave trading devils you do come across as laughably hypocritical.
Call it what you want but if people don’t have the right to leave their employer or the country what you have is state sanctioned slavery.
Well then, I guess every developed nation that has politcal/trade relations with GCC countries do support and contribute to systematic state sanctioned slavery. After all, they have subjected other nations to sanctions for much less.
Yup! For those from very poor countries I could have sympathy but, those from stable apparently “superior” nations…really don’t get it. It’s so hypocritical to preach about human rights but willingly work for companies and a country that apparently program into it. Meh.
Deleting because this thread is going way off topic.
Yeah no problem. Root out every one of the expats that has democracy, human rights, humanity, and compassion as it’s core values – and see how many people are left to build the castles in the sand. It stuns me when people say we should be grateful for being here. Do you think we’re getting something for nothing? We were all invited to come here by the Qatari government to supply the knowledge and skills that Qatar lacks, and for that we are paid a salary. That’s how employment works. The salary also compensates us for the heat, the stupidity of our employers, the corruption we see in daily life, the restrictions on our freedom of employment, of travel, of the right to speak our mind, even the right to show human affection in public to the person we love – and without that adequate compensation I can assure you that not one of us would be here.
Who said you should be grateful to Qatar? The point is if your principles are that violated by what goes on in Qatar, display this through action not through “online activism” which usually consists of petty remarks and sarcasm regarding anything Qatar related.
You’ve lost me there. How do you have any idea what this person does or does not do and how does where they reside or work make any difference to them doing so?
No need to be grateful.
So basically money can buy your morals, etc. I could understand this for people who come from very poor countries but those with relatively stable economies…don’t get it. Just seems like people preaching and then being hypocrites. If your morals and values are that insulted here I would suggest going elsewhere for money. It is a big world, I am sure one could find something else.
But apparently money is much more important than their so called values to some. Gotta agree with Saleem.
Unless of course they’re here as spies and the money is completely secondary.
GO HOME mf.
Deleting for attack.
Let the rating out begin 🙂
Right now, Blatter’s other cell phone has lots of missed calls with the (+974) area code followed by a series of very similar digits.
LOL! That was funny.
The only funny thing here is you, you muppet. Try learning proper English you rich boy cum-bucket
The irony of you talking about “proper English”. Find you a proper English teacher to read your posts, not the one who taught you in school, someone who earns a minimal of $500 a month, at least that way you can be assured they will be of a certain quality if they are unwilling to go under $500. LOL!
It’s a shame you might just end up going bankrupt trying to learn the language, so stick to your insignificant native crap.
My insignificant native crap is the only reason you’re still alive u peasant. We may or may not go bankrupt but we’ll bounce back. When you oil runs out you’re going to have start selling your sisters to make a living. Does that make you sad?
The difference between my comments about your dump is they are factual, you on the other hand rely on speculating. When was the last time your country has done anything significant? The Romans enslaved you like punks, so stop talking about how great you are when you were nothing but former Roman slaves then, and evolved to become the current slaves of Europe.
I thought s/he was American. When did the Romans get there?
You think a lot of things that are just plainly incorrect…
That’s quite contestable but at least I’m prepared to alter my thinking when presented with appropriate evidence.
Wow! Some pretty serious crap slinging going on, buddy! I’m a native English speaker and if he hadn’t already said he was Qatari, I’d assume he was too. You look like a fool.
Deleting this and subsequent thread for devolving into personal attacks.
Qatar have full rights to host the any sports event. The have ability to provide best facilities. These allegations only because some Countries are not choose to host 2022 World cup and they want ruin Qatar reputation. Yes, there are some issues specially related to the Labors law but that will be sort it out soon. I support Qatar because this is my second home.
At this stage the investigations are beyond FIFA and has nothing to do with “labor laws”, it is about what was done behind the scenes when it came to awarding the hosting rights, this among other things where favors could have possibly been “paid” for.
Good. The ironic comments are getting more common on this site.
I’m looking forward to playing FIFA 16 next year…..
At least the US has the guts to take some action. Sit back and relax. Some FIFA criminals must feel a bit nervous. Possibly ROLEX as well.
It’s not about “guts” as you put it, it’s about bringing to justice people who have violated USA laws.
They lost the bid.
I won’t laugh at them anymore for calling in soccer
Woo eer young ms. Shabina is going to be busy deleting in the morning!
I’m amazed that the (more than I’ve ever seen) vitriolic comments are still on here.
Perhaps the police are looking at them now.
Latest news from Sepp Blatter.Com- “I see nothing”,”I know nothing”Can someone send me a list of Countries that do not have extradition treaties with the USA and the other 150 UN Member Countries?
Hopefully the anti USA rhetoric will cease for awhile. Someone had the kahunas to stand up to FIFA and finally clean up the sport. This should bring us much love if you’re a real soccer fan. Now if we could only tar and feather Blatter in the town square.
If this was a movie, this would be the part where you tell your kids to go to their room, grab a beer (Not Budweiser), put your feet on the table and ENJOY the show! 🙂
This years Eurovision Song winner was sung by Sepp Blatter and written by Boy George.It was titled ” Sleepless in Zurich”.In other news an octogenerian was found in the streets of Zurich outside the FIFA election hotel.He was dressed like Gary Glitter and was mumbling “I am still the president” while holding a bottle of $2,000 champaigne and roasting fresh oysters over a burning American flag.
Whatever happened during FIFA 2022 world cup voting is already the past. With Qatar ready to host the 2022 World Cup, the best thing about it is that it is good for ensuring a job for many expats atleast till 2022. Hopefully if the sponsorship system is abolished and employees can change jobs, then it will be a blessing. Just earn your living and go back to your own country. This is their country and any expat like you or me are only here for earning our living. Try to think positively because you can benefit from it rather than being the other way. So let us support Qatar in this.
Thanks for the discussion guys – closing the thread now!