You did omit my 'hopefull' at the beginning of that statement ... but I agree with your sentiment. I do think journalists can take Sunil to task on this now. Let's see if they in fact do behave differently. If not, then we know nothing has changed except the names.
What are the additional problems of Qatar in that respect? You can also genuinely ask how far the relevant authorities are willing to go. What corners they don't want to research and investigate, and which vested interests they have.
I'm simply noting that currently Qatar is progressing under the watchful eye of the "new" FIFA, with Infantino and company allegedly monitoring developments with regards to labor conditions, stadium progress, etc. With the latest twist in the scandal whatever meager efforts FIFA had been doing in this regard might be further delayed or scaled back, as leaders scramble to protect themselves rather than observe their responsibilities. Thus, in theory, the potential is there for anyone in Qatar so choosing to abuse the matter. Like I said, just open speculation.
Pretty damning article and quotes from Mark Pieth: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/mark-pi...--return-to-the-blatter-middle-ages-/42236068 It all relates to the recently passed resolution allowing the Executive Council to dismiss anyone. As stated in the article. Pieth is a criminology professor at Basel University who was invited by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter to lead a FIFA reform group in 2011. Basic point is that Infantino is returning FIFA back to Blatter's reign and governments need to come in and regulate FIFA, both of the below points are quotes from Pieth: “I don’t think FIFA is in a very good state. Their actions are very amateur. They should be calmer and start to reform instead of saying ‘everything is fine, everything is reformed now that I’m here’. “I have the feeling that Infantino hasn’t understood the essence of the reforms. And now he’s destroying the reforms for his own interests,” he declared. Well, we have all expressed concern over some recent Infantino actions and it looks like we are not alone.
Was anybody really expecting anything different considering how FIFA went about their "reform" process? What's been revealed so far, to the extent of documented violations or crimes, regards individuals and not the organization, so the impetus for any change has been cosmetic. Until there is a serious threat from the Swiss tax collectors the organization, still populated by most of the same characters, will continue to skirt the seriousness of the issues. Thus, "The King is dead! Long live the King!"
FIFA names Vesel to replace Scala: http://www.espnfc.com/blog/fifa/243/post/2908408/fifa-appoints-tomaz-vesel-to-replace-domenico-scala
http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2016/08/08/us-watching-infantino-hangs-brazils-wanted-del-nero/ My goodness. This is comical.
Infantino is at best tone deaf, at worst he's just as bad as the previous regime. Just incredible. AND from FIFA -- del Nero is under investigation by FIFA Ethics committee, but Infantino saying they didn't discuss them at all... http://www.espnfc.us/blog/fifa/243/...razil-confederation-chief-marco-polo-del-nero
Reuters reports that some IOC sections might retaliate for US their aggressive hunt on commercial rights bribery: http://news.trust.org/item/20160822110219-cw4bl
So $2M was an insult back in May, but $1.5M is now OK?? WTF? Edit: Covering his 'living expenses' must be the difference? Again, the optics look horrible. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/soccer/ct-fifa-president-salary-insulting-20160529-story.html
Improved relations with the English FA might move the player of the year ceremony to London. They part ways with France Football, which sounds as a good thing. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fifa-want-ballon-dor-ceremony-8845701 http://m.goal.com/s/en-us/news/3869...all-part?utm_referrer=https://www.google.com/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...FIFA-keen-Ballon-d-ceremony-place-London.html Infantino has also made some other good/bad decisions (incl. Mutko) http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ap-int...ping-tainted-russia-mutko-110849633--sow.html
Interesting comments about the women being elected to the FIFA Council. http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/09/18/insider-notes-megan-rapinoe-protest-national-anthem-fifa Here's a quote: Meanwhile, Australia’s Moya Dodd, the most respected women’s leader at FIFA, is facing a real challenge in Asia by unknown candidates from Bangladesh and (wait for it) North Korea. The election in Asia will be a real litmus test of whether Asia is serious about electing a women’s representative based on merit and experience. If it doesn’t do so, then these gender reforms are a joke. The point being that the FIFA men are electing women who are willing to play their game rather than actually do anything.
This is becoming even more concerning -- scrapping their anti-racist task force because they think the job is done. I guess, I understand that a 'task force' by definition should be temporary, but it would be nice if FIFA said something about what the task force put in place to make sure that they will continue to monitor for and prosecute racist behavior. Samoura did not sound very convincing in her quotes: The Senegalese former United Nations official said her "presence here is a strong testimony that for FIFA, it is a zero tolerance policy" on discrimination and it is an inclusive organization. Ummm....it's not so much FIFA headquarters as it is the policing of the fans at games and protecting players. Her other remarks were not as bad, but not substantive at all. http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/09/26/fifa-anti-racism-task-force-fatma-samoura
Ethics committee prevents Qatari candidate from standing for Fifa council: http://www.worldsoccer.com/news/qatari-candidate-barred-standing-fifa-council-388049
They've discovered some good things lately. Including buying themselves into a betting websites and such. http://www.josimar.no/artikler/was-the-uefa-loan-spent-on-the-stock-market/3368/ http://www.josimar.no/artikler/the-curious-case-of-ceferins-cv/3354/ http://www.josimar.no/artikler/did-infantino-breach-fifa-regulations/3399/ http://www.josimar.no/artikler/fifas-convenient-u-turn/3401/ Maybe Edward Snowden can help out
http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...uses-us-extradition-requests-jinkises-deluca/ Fairly predictable turn of events, sadly. And this is quite right about the priorities. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/oct/19/gianni-infantino-fifa-world-cup-48-teams
This is barely relevant, but still funny: the FIFA museum set up by Blatter has lost 30 million francs(=dollars) this year. http://www.thelocal.ch/20161110/fifa-museum-struggles-under-30-million-franc-debt
A link to recently announced 'Contract of Agreed Objectives' between FIFA and Confederations on how they will hand out Development monies. Nice definition of projects and words about complying to law and not using the money for other than it was intended. But very, very light on establishing milestones in the projects with monies being dispersed in parts once milestones are successfully achieved. Nothing in it either about any kind of responsibility for ongoing updates of a projects success on any kind of regular basis. Read to me like 'We can look into you when we want' but nothing more. In listening to the video, however, they supposedly are requiring independent (local) financial audits of Development money and monitoring of progress by a FIFA committee. Not sure how regular the monitoring is and how independent the local audits would be, but better than what I read in the Contract of Agreed Objectives; i.e. nothing in it that states the Confederation needs to report every x months on the progress of the projects/objectives that were made. http://www.fifa.com/development/new...andards-for-development-projects-2849269.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...nal-investigation-said-to-uncover-more-crimes FIFAs internal investigation is supposed to be coming to a close soon. Some members not liking the cost of doing the investigation, reasonable concern, though what is it worth to try and restore your marketing brand? I posted the following the Russia thread, but it aligns to the previous discussion on FIFA canceling their anti-racism task force: RUSSIA FA NAMES NOTED RACISM DENIER SMERTIN AS ANTI-RACISM INSPECTOR http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/02/21/alexei-smertin-racism-russia An interesting quote from the article: The former Russia international, who is also an ambassador for the World Cup, was criticized in 2015 for comments made to the BBC, when he played down the significance of racism in Russian soccer. "There's no racism in Russia, definitely, because you know it does not exist," he told the British broadcaster. "It's just like a fashion. It comes from abroad, from different countries." Smertin told the BBC some Russian fans had taunted black players with bananas "just for fun" and that racist chants were meant by Russian fans to distract black players on the opposing side, rather than as personal abuse.