Blatter Control Problems and Why it Matters to the US
Posted on February 19, 2010 11:21 am
In an extraordinary gesture from normally imperial and aloof FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who quite literally sees himself as the equivalent of a head of state, he suddenly appeared yesterday in one of the press lounges in the swanky, luxurious FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
Media representatives, stunned to see the old boy make an unscheduled and unstaffed appearance, proceeded to be rendered speechless when he told them that “It seems obvious that there will be a candidate from Asia” running for his position in the elections later this year.
Blatter and Bin Hammam
Blatters’ appearance followed close on the heels of the statement made earlier in the day – from Seoul, Korea (which matters here – stay with me) – by Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed bin Hammam that he intends to introduce a proposal at the March ExCo meeting that FIFA presidents be limited to two terms in office.
(Note that Blatter was first elected in 1998, and that his candidacy this year is for a fourth term)
While the proposal would be in effect only for future presidencies and thus have no regulatory effect on Blatter, it is clearly a statement of a principle which bin Hammam wants the members to accept immediately and, whats more, despite his assurances that there are “other candidates” he made very little effort to hide that he sees himself as taking Blatters’ job, and doing it starting in 2011.
Of course it also makes the pledge that, if he is elected, he’ll only serve for eight years.
On the face of it, it’s a simple case of one guy wanting another guy’s job but, given that this is FIFA we’re talking about, nothing at all is as it seems, and at the end of the day this could very well mean big trouble for the USSF World Cup bid.
Mohamed bin Hammam has been a loyal Sepp Blatter ally for many years.
Back in 1998 when Sepp was running for the FIFA Presidency and was getting a strong challenge from UEFA President Lennart Johansson, bin Hammam, then the President of the Qatari Federation, was quite literally Blatters’ bag man.
One delegate who declined to be bribed was Somalias’ Farah Addo (the CAF had collectively agreed to vote for Johansson). He later described how he was approached in a sworn statement:
“I have a friend who you know, who wants to offer you $100,000 to switch your vote. Half cash and the rest in sports equipment. They would send the cash or I would go to the Gulf State to collect it.”
Addo rejected the offer, choosing to honor his promise to his fellow African nations. But when he arrived in Paris for the Congress he discovered, to his astonishment, that he had not been accredited for the election, and his place taken by another Somali official who had pledged his vote to Blatter.
Two months later, at an extraordinary Congress called by the Somalia Association, two officials admitted they that they had taken a $10,000 bribe to forge a letter taking Addo’s vote away from him. One of them, Hassan Ali, a vice-president of the Somalia Federation, signed a statement to the effect that he took the money in return for allocating Somalia’s vote to Sepp Blatter.
The money was handed to him by Mohamed Bin Hammam
It was said at the time that bin Hammam had funneled $US 5 million for Blatters’ election, a claim he vehemently denied, saying that it was only about $50,000 (as if there was some acceptable level of bribery) but he does admit to paying Hasan to forge the letter.
Addo further testified:
“The night before the election, I saw people lining up in Le Meridien Hotel to receive money. Some of these people told me they got $ 5,000 before the vote and the same next day”(after Blatter won).
“I made my own inquiries and discovered that 18 had gone over to Blatter”
Let it be noted that if the 18 bin Hamman-bribed members of CAF had not changed their votes to Blatter, Lennart Johansson would have been elected President of FIFA.
And when Blatter ran for re-election in 2002, bin Hammam was the man assigned to sign up voters in return for $400,000 “development grants”. Tiny nations like Monserrat quicly signed on, although subsequent “development” is hard to discern.
And since Sepp Blatter is nothing if not loyal, in the way all true mobsters are, bin Hammam was elected – with substantial help and arm twisting from Blatter – President of the Asian Football Confederation the following year.
Which election, of course, allowed him to proceed, very Jack Warner-like, to engage in, yes, World Cup TICKET SCALPING, among other things.
Fast forward to last Spring when bin Hammam, having apparently tired of Malaysian hospitality, decided to move the AFC headquarters to his home country of Qatar.
Since the AFC has always had to strike a careful balance between Asian and Middle Eastern interests, this proposal was met with dismay in far eastern football circles, who put up their own candidate for the FIFA Executive Committee position from the AFC, one Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain (yes, he too is middle Eastern, but they already had the Asian votes; they needed an agreeable Muslim Arab to pry some votes out of the Gulf States and also to convince them that this wasn’t all just an Asian power play).
Thus ensued perhaps the ugliest election FIFA has ever seen, complete with rampant bribery and accusations of criminality, all of which culminated in bin Hammam telling reporters that he was going to “chop off the head” of the President of the Korean Football Federation.
He later said that was, you know, just an “expression”, but a number of people commented that a Muslim Arab really ought to choose his “expressions” a bit more carefully.
It got so ugly that even Blatter was appalled, and he ordered everyone to play nice or else. Then he sent his prized, world class fixer and hatchetman, the appalling Peter Hargitay, to run a despicable smear campaign on Bin Hammans’ behalf.
Bin Hamman, who began the campaign with almost no supporters, won re-election by a vote of 17-15
Interestingly, in the months before the election, bin Hammam, confident in his position, had been making noises about how his old pal Sepp “ought to consider” that maybe it was time for him to step down, and making no secret of the fact that he saw himself as a prime candidate to take his place.
But when the whole election thing blew up, he backed off, announced that he would of course never, ever run against his “dear, dear friend” Sepp, and that he had offered the man his “eternal loyalty”.
So last Fall, when Blatter began hinting that his “mission” is not complete and he, of course, needs a fourth term in office to “complete” it, there was no one on the horizon who looked likely to offer a serious challenge. Bin Hamman had been tamed and Jack Warner is simply too tainted even for FIFA (and anyway, the opportunities for open theft are much greater where he is).
The only possible challenger (pay attention here) would be UEFA President Michael Platini, who acts like he’s not really interested, which is an excellent stance. Blatter is not a man it pays to challenge openly.
Then came the fateful Robbin Island meeting in December, where the Executive Committee met two days prior to the World Cup draw to deal with several administrative matters and, out of nowhere, a 100,000 megaton bomb dropped on Sepp Blatters’ world.
The tickets weren’t selling. Sponsors – the biggest source of money – are getting restless, even hostile. $30 million in missing funds from the U17 tournament in Nigeria. South African hotels and air fares have been jacked up by tour companies desperate to make back the enormous fees FIFA charged them for the privilege of being official agents. Blatter’s nephew was awarded the TV contracts. On and on it went.
It was widely reported that Blatter was “visibly shaken” afterwards. His only official response, however, was to fire than man whom many considered “the last honest man in FIFA, deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne. FIFAs’ spinners gave the media lurid tales of Champagne building a power base in order to challenge Blatter for the Presidency, an accusation so ludicrous that it was hard even to repeat with a straight face.
What Champagne had done was worse: he let the federations look at the books.
Blatter has seemed increasingly desperate ever since. His ridiculous comments about how Latin American players don’t care about teammates sleeping with their wives aside, he’s begun engaging in angry, even frantic tirades accusing people who want to mention the problems in South Africa as “colonialists” and “racists”.
And it’s become apparent that unless South Africa, which was Blatters’ brainchild from the very beginning, is an enormous success on a scale that is now almost impossible to conceive, when it comes time to vote for the Presidency he won’t have a freind in the building.
Which brings us back to Bin Hammam:
The key to understanding what happened is not in his words; they’re vague enough to mean anything.
Rather, the key was in the two guys sitting next to him, grinning ear to ear: Sheikh Salmon and Korea’s FIFA VP Chung Mong-joon who is, not coincidentally, the CEO and largest shareholder of Hyundai Heavy Industries, a man who told reporters less than 12 months ago that bin Hammam was “a serious criminal” who “probably needed hospitalization” for “mental problems”.
The same man who bin Hammam was threatening to dismember just last Spring.
Bottom line: AFC is united. They’re 100% behind Bin Hammam. They’ve got votes, they’ve got money and they’re coming after Blatter.
Oh, and in case you’re missing the man behind the curtain here: Bin Hammam is a long time, very close personal friend of Peter Lowy, the Australian billionaire who is head of Australias’ World Cup bid.
Any of these dots starting to connect for you?
Which explains why Blatter is now pushing for one of next two World Cups to be held in Europe in return for European support. Some people say the deal with Platini has already been cut.
So if we do the math here, we have two World Cups being awarded: if Europe (read: England) gets one and Australia gets the other, which one does the US get again?
Oh. I see.
What about Warner and CONCACAF?
Well, as Andrew Jennings brilliantly out it recently:
“The North American and Caribbean franchise, tightly controlled by the bubble-bearded Fatman, with his homes in Trump Tower, Paradise Beach in Nassau and the farm in Lenior, North Carolina, and his gold-encrusted partner in crime from Trinidad have been given freedom by (Blatter) to misbehave as they wished.”
But without Blatters’ protection, he predicts:
“…life bans on them and suspension of 35 subservient nations pending forensic audits”
Well, perhaps.
On the other hand, earlier this week Dr. Chung, purportedly moved by the scenes of devastation in Haiti, decided to send a contribution.
Did he send it to the Red Cross? UNICEF? Doctors Without Borders?
No, he “entrusted” Jack Warner with his $500,000, saying that Warner would know where it would do the most good.
And we all know where Warner thinks a half million bucks will do the most good.
There’s a new wind blowing and I for one would gladly, eagerly, lose a US World Cup if it means this swamp full of snakes and thieves gets cleaned out.
Watch carefully: this is going to get interesting.
Eh………..we’ll just end up swapping one swamp of snakes to another.
(On the other hand………could they be worse?)
FIFA is the model for one world government… Scary, isn’t it kids?
Yeah, I know it i just soccer, but it’s also the largest sport on the planet. Soccer is the sport that ties everybody together – the world over. FIFA is the largest legal entity of its kind. And it is a government unto itself. Absolute power and all of that…
I don’t mind Australia getting a world cup bid, I would love an excuse to go there, and that country will be one massive party. I am, however, very disappointed that the USA will most likely get screwed out of a world cup for many years, if not decades, not because of “being the best candidate” but rather because of complete corruption in FIFA. The more I learn about FIFA the less I want to give them money. It is not the players I dislike, its the top men, the so called “leaders” or representatives of certain countries and their agendas.
Truly sad the more I learn about FIFA and how they are laundering money. Blatter is a fool to be sending the world cup to a country that can’t possibly guarantee safety, transportation, or even hospitality. South Africa, for all its problems, is a country on the rise. That said it is FAR from being ready for such a prestigious event. If you compare Germany’s 2006 preparation to that of South Africa it is literally night and day, no pun intended, as to how ready each country was and will be.
I almost have NO DOUBT we will be hearing horror stories out of South Africa about hotel problems, transportation problems, food problems, and last but not least… crime. This is the main reason why people are afraid, staying away, or just simply watching it on the tv when it happens. I am not happy about Blatter and his brainchild because in the long run it will happen but it will be far far less an event than it should be. Who knows, maybe South Africa will be an incredible event that move mountains and makes everyone happy… somehow though I doubt it.
We would have a pretty good shot at 2026 I imagine (assuming the current ban on bidding for a World Cup for 2 cycles after your federation hosted it is intact)
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
There’s no question Blatter is bad, but Bin Hammam sounds downright scary. I might be confused here, but he was able to get support from one of the wealthiest men in the world who he threatened to kill.
As a side note, it’s interesting to see the window title at the bottom of the screen: “Blatter Control Problems…” Makes it seem more like a medical problem I don’t want co-workers to see
I’m afraid it would be “this swamp full of snakes and thieves gets cleaned out” and is replaced by the next swamp full of snakes and thieves.
Great article, Bill, and thank you for writing it. Unfortunately, by your own admission, this:
is just wishful thinking, even if Blatter and bin Hammam end up competing in terms of regulation and transparency to try and one-up each other in elections.
But just to ask: if Uncle Jack is a casualty of this electoral process, who would take his place at the head of CONCACAF? “Captain” Burrell, or Rafael Tinoco (current President of UNCAF), or someone else?
“The North American and Caribbean franchise, tightly controlled by the bubble-bearded Fatman, with his homes in Trump Tower, Paradise Beach in Nassau and the farm in Lenior, North Carolina” — which one doesn’t belong?
And keep the snakes we know rather than trade them for new ones we don’t know.
“FIFA is the model for one world government… Scary, isn’t it kids?”
It more kind of reminds me of new-age “kingdoms” or maybe “fiefdoms” is the proper word, analagous to corporations and some countries where leaders are up for re-election but the result is known before the election takes place and the person in power never allows an open contest to occur using their influence behind the scenes. So he or she gets re-elected democratically but the democracy is a mirage, and any opponents that show up are dealt with swiftly behind closed doors, threatening their influence. In order to take down such people, you can’t be innocent, you have to become underhanded yourself, working behind the scenes and any switch in power pretty much resembles a straight-up coup.
If there were even the slightest chance of getting rid of Warner in the process, I’d be all for a FIFA regime change, even if part of the equation were the U.S. not getting a World Cup in the new future. That said, I don’t know if there would be any great change for CONCACAF. Just one thief shoving out another. Doesn’t really matter who’s running the thing when they are just a bunch of gangsters who happen to run a racket know as football.
Bill, I’m not accusing you of being racist, so, please, don’t take it that way.
Nevertheless, I think the point is that nobody should be threatening to, “chop off the head,” of anyone, whether they be a Muslim Arab or not.
Just as, I’m sure you’d agree, nobody should be threatening to, “lynch,” anyone whether they be a Christian Caucasian or not.
Point taken sir.
So, will you be removing the unnecessary racial and religious qualifiers from that part of the article?
It shouldn’t surprise anybody that with the way most football clubs are run around the world that FIFA should be a mess. Football is not a business run by the best or the brightest. It’s still run by men who rely on back door deals, cronyism, corruption and a shared sheer idiocy to keep most football leagues in the world running.
If any other business was run like a football clubs, it would have crashed and burned long ago and caused a major scandal and investigation. Governments tend not interfere or investigate because politicians actually worry about how a negative fan reaction might affect voting (perfect example of this is Spain, where the government actually covers up most of Real’s shenanigans.)
FIFA is even worse. The people who run FIFA and every regional football association make the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese Mafia families look like altar boys. Look at the election that replaced that walking cadaver, Joao Havelange. It was between his lap dog, Blatter, a man who every year strives to redefine stupid and corrupt and Lennart Johansson, a racist who basically saw the rest of the world as a feeder of second class citizens who’s sole purpose was to make European football rich and line his pockets. It basically came down to picking between the lesser of two very big evils. Blatter’s win wasn’t optimal, but at least it means we’ll see the world cup rotating venues, unlike Johansson proposal to only hold it outside of Europe every 2 or 3rd one, god forbid he’d have to eat strange foreign food or have to go stay for a month where brown or black people live.
It’s a quiet picturesque community in the mountains.
The U.S. Congress wouldn’t have that problem if it sought to investigate CONCACAF or FIFA’s dealings in this country…
As long as they vote USA to get the world cup in 2022, before the bafoon is elected out, i have no problem.
I agree, but that would be the equivalent of taking the USSF behind a shed and shooting it in the back of the head. It would basically kill any chance of the US hosting a world cup ever again and FIFA and CONCACAF would make it very difficult and unplesant for the US to qualify for a world cup.
you have to remember, the US is small potatoes in the world of FIFA. Besides that, what could the US justice system and senate really do to FIFA? They’re based out of Switzerland, ask the LA district attorney how that whole extradition of Roman Polanski is going to get an idea of how much pull the US has there.
As bad as FIFA and CONCACAF are, the IOC is worse.
May certain high-falutin’ bamas stick it where the sun don’t shine.
What could the US gov’t do? Bar them from entering the country like they do DeBeers execs.
I would be happy if we never get another WC, as it only suits the purpose of fattening the wallets of Blatter and his ilk.
Why are these Euro sports organizations so corrupt? IOC, FIFA, FIA? Why can’t anyone overthrow these mafiosi?
A few thoughts here:
1) The US actually pays more for World Cup broadcasting rights than any other single country, between the Spanish and English (and now Portuguese on ESPN Deportes). And of course it’s a sponsorship and economic heavyweight. Visa, Coke, Budweiser, etc.
2) We’re not exactly alone here. FIFA’s coming real close to pissing off one too many countries’ governments at the same time. There was a Poland crisis not very long ago, a Spain one, there was of course the Togo decision. FIFA could actually miscalculate here.
Oh how I wish the CIA was still in the business of assasinations…Bin Hamman = public enemy #1
Spain, yes, but Poland and Togo don’t exactly strike fear into Uncle Seppy’s heart on either an economic or footballing level.
If you could somehow get us, England, Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, Russia, and a few others together, though, you might get somewhere.
I’m just not buying the link to the sponsors. Those companies really are “multi-nationals” and don’t really care one way or the other about FIFA-USSF relations.
Well first, we could investigate the finances of Concacaf, it’s not FIFA but it’s a start. The Gold Cup is held here every time and the Concacaf headquarters are in New York I believe, although technically based elsewhere for tax purposes. A clampdown on some of the Concacaf money flowing through here could put the squeeze on Warner, and if Concacaf can be cleaned up that’s 35 votes now freed to help clean up FIFA.
As far as why international sports bodies are all somewhat corrupt (I’m assuming this isn’t rhetorical by the way), understand that by their vary nature these organizations are not under the authority of the nations they regulate. FIFA for example is only under the jurisdiction of Switzerland, not the US, not the EU, not the UK. Same with the IOC and many others. FIFA gets to regulate soccer in the US, but is free of US financial and business regulations (to a great extent) because the USSF does the in-country legwork. I will also point out that there is a reason so many international sports organizations are based in Switzerland. The Swiss have notoriously business friendly financial regulations and tight secrecy in the banking industry. Switzerland is not a member of the EU either, so no help there. Again FIFA is based in Zurich, FIBA in Geneva, the IOC, FINA and IBAF are all in Lausanne. That’s not coincidental. Lots of power and little oversight with virtually no exterior checks and balances usually equals corruption.
They’re not “Euro” organizations. They’re “International” organizations based in Europe.
Do you consider the “United Nations” to be an “American organization”?
so that Chung guy is a doctor and a CEO?
I don’t know about that. Budweiser did manage to get their craptastic beer into German stadiums last time.
While it’s true that these sponsors are American companies, the bulk of the advertising they do during the WC is for markets outside the US. All the companies you named have heavy interests in Europe, Oceania, Asian and Latin America. The market share of WC watchers in the US pales in comparison to the places mentioned above.
The USA is far from done. The poison pill in all this was the sheer fact that the USA was the biggest cow FIFA’s ever seen. As they say, money talks, other things walk.
Let’s say that South Africa flops badly. Sepp may be out, but Brazil isn’t a sure thing- you can bet FIFA are going to need Cash. When rich people get together, it’s not about tossing money at each other, it’s about milking the hell out of a country’s hard earned greenbacks. With the money running out, FIFA will need a lot of cash in a flash- And you can bet your arse Jack Warner isn’t going to let go of it. To counter Asia, the Europeans may join with Warner and keep the World Cup out of the Middle East or Australia- They’d go for the easy money rather than the risk of a new venture. It’s a catch-22 for Bin Hammam- He’ll be in power but he will need to make a lot of investors happy and quickly. The US would do that.
I would bet that if SA fails, the 2018 goes to the USA and 2022 goes to Australia. If SA succeeds, Sepp gets his way, so he puts 2018 in Europe, and then he decides between the US and Australia 2022.
Either way, the US will bring FIFA money. As such, the US bid is a big bid. Wining and dining aside, the cash will roll in, the tickets WILL sell.
What the heck, give Jack Warner his rightful place as FiFA president now. What an injustice that good ole jack is not getting a fair shake.
I don’t think he could handle dealing with criticism from “a foreigner, especially a white foreigner” (direct quote from Warner) on a daily basis.
Monkey Warner for FIFA president!!!
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