Showing posts with label officials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label officials. Show all posts

Friday, June 3, 2011

Asian officials threaten FIFA boycott

Posted June 1, 2011 06:31:00

Several Asian football officials are refusing to attend FIFA's congress amid widespread outrage at the suspension of Mohamed bin Hammam.

An Asian Football Confederation (AFC) official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that delegates from "nine or 10" of the 46 federations due to take part had left Zurich in protest at bin Hammam's treatment.

"I can tell you that so far delegates from nine or 10 federations have gone home after arriving here," the official said, declining to name the countries involved.

"There is a deep sense of outrage amongst all of the delegates I have spoken to about the actions of the FIFA ethics committee. They have exceeded their mandate," he added.

AFC president bin Hammam, who had been bidding to end FIFA president Sepp Blatter's 13-year reign at the head of world football, has been barred from Wednesday's election pending a corruption investigation.

However, bin Hammam has urged all officials to stay put and follow through on the vote.

"I have told the Asian delegates not to boycott the congress," he said.

Bin Hammam was suspended from all football activities along with Caribbean, Central and North American (CONCACAF) chief Jack Warner following allegations they attempted to buy votes in the campaign to oust Blatter.

FIFA's ethics committee ruled there was no evidence to justify an investigation into Blatter however, a factor that has angered Asian delegates.

"They have censored and suspended two heads of federations but on the other side have completely ignored anything about Sepp Blatter," the official said.

Blatter is now poised to win a fourth and final term as FIFA chief when he stands unopposed for re-election at FIFA's congress on Wednesday (local time).

Asian delegates declined to say whether they would stage a protest at the congress similar to their walkout in 1999, when they dramatically stormed out of a meeting in Los Angeles over World Cup places.

"There is no feeling as yet about a walkout. We don't want to politicise FIFA because it has suffered immensely," the FIFA official said.

"But there is no question that the election has been tainted."

AFC vice-president Ganesh Thapa meanwhile said bin Hammam had been excluded from the FIFA race for "political reasons".

"My personal feeling is that they were worried by Mohamed bin Hammam so they took him out. It's politics."

- AFP

Tags: sport, football, switzerland


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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

FIFA suspends two officials amid bribery and corruption claims

30 May 2011

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FIFA's world governing body has cleared president Sepp Blatter of bribery allegations, allowing him to run for the presidency unopposed later this week. FIFA did move on two executive members. Head of Asian football, Mohammed bin Hammam, and FIFA vice-president, Jack Warner, have both been suspended pending a full inquiry into bribery claims.

But not everyone is happy with the outcome, with some calling for a mass walk-out of football nations from FIFA. Others have labelled the governing body a 'bunch of geriatrics in Switzerland'.


David Mellor
A forrmer British sports minister and chairman of Britain's Football Task Force

Michel Panayotov, international editor

Radio National often provides links to external websites to complement program information. While producers have taken care with all selections, we can neither endorse nor take final responsibility for the content of those sites.


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FIFA suspends officials over bribery claims

Published:Monday, May 30, 2011 7:22 AESTExpires:Sunday, August 28, 2011 7:22 AEST

Football's world governing organisation FIFA has launched an internal inquiry and suspended two officials over claims of bribery and vote-buying.

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Tags: fraud-and-corporate-crime, sport, sports-organisations, football, australia, qatar, switzerland


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