comment by Robb Lannister - King of the Wildlings (U20351)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Son Of Gunnersaurus a.k.a SoG -King of the North (London clubs) (U1310)
posted 6 seconds ago
arcelino, it really only has to be about corruption. If Russia are proved to have been corrupt in getting the world

And what non corrupt organisation can replace Russia as hosts in a short space of time?
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Well, if Russia are proved to have been corrupt in getting the word cup then there are a few countries who could host the world cup with short notice. England, Spain or Italy for example.
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What about the countries who also like England & Australia tried to buy votes but failed?

Fair enough if you can prove corruption then clearly there are grounds for another vote- but logistically you may not get a fair re-vote because it will only include countries developed enough in terms of infrastructure and stadia to host it at such advanced notice.

Furthermore, World Cups aren't simply about stadia and the football games you have to think about actual planning commitments- will people need to be relocated in order to make space etc? Then there's policing, counter-terrorism and security etc.

Three years may be enough to deal with that for many nations, however there's also political consequences too- Brazil was marred by protests- would the UK be very happy if Osborne decided he needed to instigate more radical cuts in order to fund it?

I think the World Cup's will go ahead with everyone knowing they are corrupt- I just hope it doesn't completely ruin the tournament for everyone- even the winners will be known as the winners of a corrupt World Cup.

FIFA have totally ruined everything if these allegations are true.

england have already said they won't host 2018 if given the chance. Italy and Spain would need to upgrade their stadia to host a World Cup not to mention them having to plan for my millions of visitors to their countries. Totally unfeasible in such a short space of time especially as Russia will simply not allow them to take away their right to host without a legal fight

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Putin is somewhat anti-democratic but during his earlier terms he brought massive economic benefits to Russia- admittedly on the back of an oil boom.

The Ukraine situation is very complex and not as simple as is often portrayed.

comment by #4zA (U19575)
posted 2 minutes ago
they should just organize a re-vote

those pocketbooks must be outta fashion by now surely?
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comment by (Kash) Mario Balle Balle Balotelli - Justice4Gaza (U1108)
posted 15 minutes ago
comment by Robb Lannister - King of the Wildlings (U20351)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Son Of Gunnersaurus a.k.a SoG -King of the North (London clubs) (U1310)
posted 6 seconds ago
arcelino, it really only has to be about corruption. If Russia are proved to have been corrupt in getting the world

And what non corrupt organisation can replace Russia as hosts in a short space of time?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, if Russia are proved to have been corrupt in getting the word cup then there are a few countries who could host the world cup with short notice. England, Spain or Italy for example.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What about the countries who also like England & Australia tried to buy votes but failed?
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I don't think the English bid team giving handbags to voters can really be considered anything near as bad as what is suspected of others.

It's not for me to say who should get the world cup. I'd just like to see a revote and a fair one at that.

comment by Marcelino- #SilvioForFIFAPresident (U6171)
posted 11 minutes ago
Putin is somewhat anti-democratic but during his earlier terms he brought massive economic benefits to Russia- admittedly on the back of an oil boom.

The Ukraine situation is very complex and not as simple as is often portrayed.
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Really? He and his cronies privatised the oilfields which belonged to the Russian people and made some oligarchs very very rich. And they've taken a lot of that money outside the country.

comment by Robb Lannister - King of the Wildlings (U20351)
posted 8 seconds ago
comment by Marcelino- #SilvioForFIFAPresident (U6171)
posted 11 minutes ago
Putin is somewhat anti-democratic but during his earlier terms he brought massive economic benefits to Russia- admittedly on the back of an oil boom.

The Ukraine situation is very complex and not as simple as is often portrayed.
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Really? He and his cronies privatised the oilfields which belonged to the Russian people and made some oligarchs very very rich. And they've taken a lot of that money outside the country.
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Whilst that is true, is it any different to Thatcher, Blair, Cameron privatizing utilities, postal services, railways etc for their own rich friends?

Again, I am no defender of Putin, but very few European countries do not struggle with corruption. I witnessed it when I lived in the United Kingdom, and I witness it in Spain too.

Perhaps but if we keep making the spectrum for how dodgy a country is bigger and bigger we'll lose focus on what's happening in this specific case. I have no particular hatred of Russia - I'd quite like to go there, perhaps to the world cup - but if they're found guilty of corruption the world cup should be taken away. I'd say that if Australia were hosting it and they were found to have bribed their way to winning the hosting rights.

I agree with the sentiments but it is not practical- there is far too much to do logistically and financially that it won't be changed.

Again, I am no defender of Putin, but very few European countries do not struggle with corruption. I witnessed it when I lived in the United Kingdom, and I witness it in Spain too.

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I find this sort of comment a bit complacent, to be honest. It seems to suggest that since nowhere is perfect there's no point in drawing distinctions.

I'm English and left-wing and there are many things I'd like to change about my country in order to bring about social justice and more genuine democracy. I also lived in Russia and I can tell you that corruption and establishment control there is on a whole different level. The security forces, police and judiciary are under government control, i.e. there is no rule of law: enough power and/or money can put people above the law, and condemn innocent people. Power and money do speak in the UK but we also see rich and powerful people losing in the courts and the government itself losing cases. We have corruption but not to the scale of businesses having to routinely set aside a % of a deal for bribes to tender for government state contracts. I got mugged by a policeman once and no one was surprised. And a friend of a friend was killed by a drunk driver in St Petersburg; the driver had previously been stopped by the police and, coming to an understanding, been permitted to drive on.

It's not the same everywhere. We don't need pompous grandstanding when we have our own shortcomings. At the same time, we do have some institutions and rights that we should hold dear (and fiercely protect against continual attempts to erode them) - and it's a mark of solidarity rather than imperialism to wish those rights (and more) upon the people of countries that don't enjoy them.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 7 minutes ago
Again, I am no defender of Putin, but very few European countries do not struggle with corruption. I witnessed it when I lived in the United Kingdom, and I witness it in Spain too.

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I find this sort of comment a bit complacent, to be honest. It seems to suggest that since nowhere is perfect there's no point in drawing distinctions.

I'm English and left-wing and there are many things I'd like to change about my country in order to bring about social justice and more genuine democracy. I also lived in Russia and I can tell you that corruption and establishment control there is on a whole different level. The security forces, police and judiciary are under government control, i.e. there is no rule of law: enough power and/or money can put people above the law, and condemn innocent people. Power and money do speak in the UK but we also see rich and powerful people losing in the courts and the government itself losing cases. We have corruption but not to the scale of businesses having to routinely set aside a % of a deal for bribes to tender for government state contracts. I got mugged by a policeman once and no one was surprised. And a friend of a friend was killed by a drunk driver in St Petersburg; the driver had previously been stopped by the police and, coming to an understanding, been permitted to drive on.

It's not the same everywhere. We don't need pompous grandstanding when we have our own shortcomings. At the same time, we do have some institutions and rights that we should hold dear (and fiercely protect against continual attempts to erode them) - and it's a mark of solidarity rather than imperialism to wish those rights (and more) upon the people of countries that don't enjoy them.
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But we cannot allow sport to be dictated to by politics.

I do acknowledge Russia is worse, but if you get into a situation where you ban certain countries the chance of even bidding for tournaments due to political policy then most countries will be open to charges of hypocrisy.

Whatever people think of Blatter- and in many cases justifiably so- he has helped expand football across the world- and ultimately isn't that FIFA's remit?

Of course I want a transparent democratic world governing body, but if the result of that is Europe patting itself on the back over its superiority and hogging all the tournaments is it actually worth it?

FIFA needs a president who will reach out to these parts of the world and not simply deride them.

Domenico Scala, head of Fifa's audit and compliance committee, said if evidence emerges from either the US or Swiss investigations which shows the result was affected by bought votes, the "awards could be cancelled".

However, Tognoni, who was Blatter's right-hand man for a period in the mid-90s and again between 2001-2003, said he did not think the World Cups would be taken away from Russia or Qatar.

"Even if there is evidence that Fifa people were bribed, where is the problem? With Fifa, or the people who had no choice but to get the World Cup with bribing?"

In response, Fifa said in a statement on Monday: "Fifa initiated the investigation by the Swiss authorities precisely to answer questions such as this.

"However, while investigations are ongoing, it should be noted that to date, no evidence has come to light to suggest there are any legal grounds for rescinding the current Fifa World Cup selections."

Marcelino

Blatter will want his legacy to be bringing the world cup to Africa. But we now know why it went to Africa. Because he was bribed into doing it.

Well 'fifa' were bribed into it

Nothing is going to happen to the Russia and Qatar bids.

Titles like this just remind us how desperate we are to hold it and grovel at the tinniest shred of glimmer of holding it in England.

Dark, I personally don't care who holds it. But I do want all the corruption in these winning bids to be made public if there has found to be any.

And if so I hope there is a fair revote and from now on decisions like where world cups are held are to be done in an honest and transparent way.

Be good to see the untouchable be touched - if you catch my drift

Marcelino, for the record, I don't particularly want Russia to be stripped of the WC for political reasons. There should be a certain separation of sport and politics, with sport capable of showing that the political divisions don't reflect absolute human divisions between countries.

However, two provisos:

1) If the bidding process is shown to be decided by corruption, the hosting has to be untenable.

2) There's a difference between political grandstanding on the superiority of one system over another and objecting to the fuelling of a civil war in a neighbouring country. (And, yes, I acknowledge that on these grounds the USA and its allies might have been barred from hosting major events for decades - and it sucks that these rules don't seem to apply to the strongest nations.)

It'll be interesting to see if either WC are found to be wrongly awarded, and then watch these countries try to recoup costs for stadium spending from someone...it won't be FIFA

One wonders what will happen to previous world cup bids as well.

This will open up a can of worms

"Even if there is evidence that Fifa people were bribed, where is the problem? With Fifa, or the people who had no choice but to get the World Cup with bribing?
............................
Hahaha

comment by Darkphoenix (U11503)
posted 8 hours, 42 minutes ago
Nothing is going to happen to the Russia and Qatar bids.
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Well, two weeks ago we were told nothing would happen to Blatter... This is moving faster than most envisioned

comment by Ji Sung Park's Cousin - In case you were wondering... (U2958)
posted 26 minutes ago
comment by Darkphoenix (U11503)
posted 8 hours, 42 minutes ago
Nothing is going to happen to the Russia and Qatar bids.
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Well, two weeks ago we were told nothing would happen to Blatter... This is moving faster than most envisioned
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Nothing has happened to Blatter though. None of the investigations are about him

Well he's had to quit a job in a humiliating fashion just days after he won the election. So I'd say something has happened to him.