One month from now, a new FIFA president will be elected. FIFA confirmed on Tuesday the candidacies of five men for the Feb. 26 special election: Gianni Infantino of Switzerland; TokyoSexwale of South Africa; Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain; Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan; and Jerome Champagneof France. By all estimates, though, […]
fifa scandals
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
FIFA: Central America backs Infantino for president
Support within Concacaf is starting to line up around UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino. The seven Central American federations that form UNCAF have backed him in the FIFA presidentialelection. Leaders of the seven national federations expressed their support for Infantino in a letter on Monday. The region has been hit hard in the FIFA corruption […]
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FIFA election: Business as usual on confederation front
It’s less than six weeks until the FIFA presidential election, and the gloves have come off. It all began with the announcement last week in Rwanda of a memorandum of agreement between the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) andConfederation of African Football (CAF) and “pledges cooperation on soccer and social development” in the next four years. Innocent […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Fifa sacks suspended secretary general Jerome Valcke
Jerome Valcke, the suspended secretary general of FIFA and Sepp Blatter’s longtime associate, has been sacked with immediate effect. The Frenchman is facing anine-year ban after an ethics investigation considered several alleged offenses, including being connected to the black market sales of World Cup tickets. Valcke denies wrongdoing.
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: Federal magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy
“I think you all need to get to Citibank.” — Federal magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy, agreeing to let Guatemalan judge and soccer official Hector Trujillo, arrestedon a Disney cruise ship and charged in the FIFA corruption scandal, begin home detention in Newark, New Jersey, as long as Trujillo family members in the courtroom came […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They're Saying: Michel Platini
“It all began with Blatter, who wanted my skin, who didn’t want me to go to FIFA. He often said I’d be his last scalp, but he fell at the same time as I did.” — Michel Platini,announcing he’d withdrawn his bid for FIFA president, on how he went from the favorite to succeed Sepp […]
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Raid on Conmebol offices bodes badly for New Year
The Copa America Cententario has been green-lighted to be staged in the U.S. this summer, but roadblocks in the path forward continue to spring up. Less than three weeks beforescheduled elections to select a new president of Conmebol, the governing body of soccer in South America, Paraguayan authorities have raided the organization’s main offices near […]
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Platini calls it quits, withdrawing from FIFA presidential race
Only four months ago, Michel Platini was seen as the overwhelming favorite to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, but he has now withdrawn from the race following his eight-year banfrom soccer for breaches of FIFA’s ethics code. He is appealing the suspension, but in the meantime he is banned from campaigning and unlikely to […]
Posted inSoccerTalk with Paul Gardner, Story
A new type of coach — appointed by the sponsors
By Paul Gardner Keeping up with the changes and additions to the English language — I’m talking now about demotic usage, the every-day words that we speak and read — is a topicof much fascination to me. New words and phrases and, increasingly, abbreviations seem to arrive almost weekly. Exactly where they originate is never […]
Posted inAround The Net in Soccer World Daily, Story
Former FIFA exec Valcke faces nine-year ban
FIFA prosecutors have recommended to FIFA’s ethics committee that former secretary general Jerome Valcke be banned from soccer for nine years in connection with a scheme to profit from the saleof World Cup tickets. The Frenchman has denied any wrongdoing. The announcement came as Valcke’s provisional suspension was set to expire on Tuesday. The ethics […]