FIFA Fallout
June 14th, 2011 by Titan BetSepp Blatter won an uncontested election for the FIFA Presidency, but this was a lot more stressful for him than may seem. He was the best bet to win which was no surprise as his was the only name on the ballot!
The fallout from Qatar winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup is still ongoing and as a result, people are convinced that there is corruption deep within FIFA.
When Mohammed Bin Hammam of Qatar announced he was going to challenge Blatter for the Presidency, rumours, accusations and allegations began to fly. Bin Hammam was called before FIFA’s ethics committee, following which he promptly withdrew his name from the running.
Senior FIFA member, Jack Warner was also called before the ethics committee and was found guilty of impropriety.
When there is so much money involved, as well as a power struggle, issues such as this are bound to arise. The moment FIFA announced the votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups would be done together; allegations of vote swapping began. Before the announcement of the results there, many bets had already been placed on a Russia-Qatar win.
The whole debacle was embarrassing for FIFA who in turn have ignored the more pressing issues in world football such as introducing live video replays to assist officials in making tough calls.
The important thing now is that the game’s honour is not brought into disrepute for the personal gains of however many or few individuals at HQ.
