Blatter under investigation

[Seal]

Here's a extract from a legal document which gives an insight into the business ethics of FIFA. The documents concerns a dispute between two companies - Company X (a FIFA incumbent sponsor) and Company Y (who replaced them as a sponsor).


FIFA’s negotiators lied repeatedly to Company X, including when they
assured Company X that, consistently with Company X’s first right to acquire,
FIFA would not sign a deal for the sponsorship rights with anyone else
unless it could not reach agreement with Company X.

FIFA’s negotiators lied to COMPANY Y when they repeatedly responded to the
direct question of whether Company X had any incumbency rights by assuring
COMPANY Y that Company X did not.

FIFA’s negotiators provided COMPANY Y with blow-by-blow descriptions of the
status of the FIFA-Company X negotiations while concealing from its long-time
partner Company X both the fact of the FIFA-COMPANY Y negotiations as well as the
status of those negotiations – an action COMPANY Y’s president admitted would not be
“fair play.”

FIFA’s marketing director lied to both Company X, FIFA’s long-time
partner, and to COMPANY Y, its negotiating counterparty, to both of which FIFA, under
Swiss law, owed a duty of good faith. When, pursuant to his engineering, COMPANY Y
raised its bid to the same level as Company X’s, he declined his subordinates’
suggestion to give Company X the opportunity to submit a higher bid based on his
concern for his own reputation with the FIFA Board. He also declined his
subordinates’ recommendation that he recommend to the FIFA Board that it
continue with its prior approval of Company X as the sponsor. Instead,
he told the board it was difficult for him to make a recommendation and never
mentioned Company X’s first right to acquire the sponsorship.
On the morning of the first FIFA board meetings and after
all three FIFA boards had previously approved Company X as the
sponsor, FIFA’s marketing director called COMPANY Y to say that if COMPANY Y increased its
cash bid by $30 million to the level of Company X’s bid, COMPANY Y “would be the
partner.”

Even after Company X had signed the “FINAL version” of the
sponsorship agreement and returned it to FIFA, FIFA’s negotiators delayed telling
Company X that the FIFA Board had chosen COMPANY Y; instead they waited for the
COMPANY Y board to ratify the COMPANY Y agreement.

After the FIFA boards had approved Company X as sponsor and
after Company X had agreed to FIFA’s asking price and agreement had been
reached on all other terms and after FIFA’s in-house counsel had solicited FIFA
members for items that might be used to claim that Company X breached the
Agreement, FIFA pointed to a trademark issue that had been present since 2000 or
2001 to justify granting the sponsorship to COMPANY Y and sent a letter to
Company X -- after the commencement of this lawsuit -- purporting to terminate
the Agreement and thus Company X’s first right to acquire.


While the FIFA witnesses at trial boldly characterized their breaches as
“white lies,” “commercial lies,” “bluffs,” and, ironically, “the game,” their
internal emails discuss the “different excuses to give to Company X as to why the
deal wasn’t done with them,” “how we (as FIFA) can still be seen as having at
least some business ethics” and how to “make the whole f***-up look better for
FIFA.” They ultimately confessed, however, that “[I]t’s clear somebody has it in
for Company X”

FIFA'S Marketing Director through this process was Jérôme Valcke, currently General Secretary of FIFA.

[papereyes]

Wouldn't the sports that are considered more important at private and grammar schools be relevant too (not to mention at the top universities)? I'm assuming gr8er emphasis is placed on cricket and rugby and there are links with local clubs and top coaches that just aren't there with football.

Yeah, I can imagine that - add in rowing to the list as well.

[Mr Angry]

One of the most vehement critics of the FA at the FIFA Congress last week was the Head of the Argentinian FA (this is the bloke who said he would vote for England's World Cup bid if we gave the Falkland Islands "back" to Argentina btw......frankly, the FA's delegation should have beaten his fat face to a pulp for suggesting it....but I digress).

This week, Nigeria played Argentina in friendly in Lagos; Nigeria won 4-1, 2 of the goals coming from penalities including one awarded in the 98th minute.

FIFA are now investigating "suspicious" betting patterns on the game........

What a f**king surprise; Nigeria and Argentina in a dodgy game; who would have thought it.....................

[Mr Angry]

Here's a extract from a legal document which gives an insight into the business ethics of FIFA. The documents concerns a dispute between two companies - Company X (a FIFA incumbent sponsor) and Company Y (who replaced them as a sponsor).


FIFA’s negotiators lied repeatedly to Company X, including when they
assured Company X that, consistently with Company X’s first right to acquire,
FIFA would not sign a deal for the sponsorship rights with anyone else
unless it could not reach agreement with Company X.

FIFA’s negotiators lied to COMPANY Y when they repeatedly responded to the
direct question of whether Company X had any incumbency rights by assuring
COMPANY Y that Company X did not.

FIFA’s negotiators provided COMPANY Y with blow-by-blow descriptions of the
status of the FIFA-Company X negotiations while concealing from its long-time
partner Company X both the fact of the FIFA-COMPANY Y negotiations as well as the
status of those negotiations – an action COMPANY Y’s president admitted would not be
“fair play.”

FIFA’s marketing director lied to both Company X, FIFA’s long-time
partner, and to COMPANY Y, its negotiating counterparty, to both of which FIFA, under
Swiss law, owed a duty of good faith. When, pursuant to his engineering, COMPANY Y
raised its bid to the same level as Company X’s, he declined his subordinates’
suggestion to give Company X the opportunity to submit a higher bid based on his
concern for his own reputation with the FIFA Board. He also declined his
subordinates’ recommendation that he recommend to the FIFA Board that it
continue with its prior approval of Company X as the sponsor. Instead,
he told the board it was difficult for him to make a recommendation and never
mentioned Company X’s first right to acquire the sponsorship.
On the morning of the first FIFA board meetings and after
all three FIFA boards had previously approved Company X as the
sponsor, FIFA’s marketing director called COMPANY Y to say that if COMPANY Y increased its
cash bid by $30 million to the level of Company X’s bid, COMPANY Y “would be the
partner.”

Even after Company X had signed the “FINAL version” of the
sponsorship agreement and returned it to FIFA, FIFA’s negotiators delayed telling
Company X that the FIFA Board had chosen COMPANY Y; instead they waited for the
COMPANY Y board to ratify the COMPANY Y agreement.

After the FIFA boards had approved Company X as sponsor and
after Company X had agreed to FIFA’s asking price and agreement had been
reached on all other terms and after FIFA’s in-house counsel had solicited FIFA
members for items that might be used to claim that Company X breached the
Agreement, FIFA pointed to a trademark issue that had been present since 2000 or
2001 to justify granting the sponsorship to COMPANY Y and sent a letter to
Company X -- after the commencement of this lawsuit -- purporting to terminate
the Agreement and thus Company X’s first right to acquire.


While the FIFA witnesses at trial boldly characterized their breaches as
“white lies,” “commercial lies,” “bluffs,” and, ironically, “the game,” their
internal emails discuss the “different excuses to give to Company X as to why the
deal wasn’t done with them,” “how we (as FIFA) can still be seen as having at
least some business ethics” and how to “make the whole f***-up look better for
FIFA.” They ultimately confessed, however, that “[I]t’s clear somebody has it in
for Company X”

FIFA'S Marketing Director through this process was Jérôme Valcke, currently General Secretary of FIFA.

This is obviously about FIFA changing sponsors from Mastercard to Visa; Valcke was sacked for this....but, amazingly, Blater brought him back a few months later....

[Barry the bird boggler]

FIFA should be disbanded, it's lost all credibility. Be great if all sponsors pulled out...

[Mr Angry]

CONCACAF has suspended Lisle Austin, the acting President (and close ally of previous President, Jack Warner) for trying to get Chuck Blazer of the US (and ally of Blatter) suspended for whistleblowing.

The new acting President is from Honduras, but expect an election to be called to vote in a new permanent President, and expect Blazer to get elected.

[Uke]

All hail the "solutions committee"

Placebo has been to every WCF since 1970

Cruyff too

At least Henry Kissinger hasn't been linked with a corrupt leader who denied doing any wrong...

[Mr Angry]

25 Caribbean Countries within CONACAF have been "invited" to be questioned by an ex FBI agent in Miami over allegations of corruption; they are claiming its a US/Blatter conspiracy.

[Svlad Cjelli]

BEGINS

Caribbean football rocked by new Surinam FA claim
Friday, June 10, 2011 - 08:10

The president of the Surinam Football Association (FA) has claimed the body received US$40,000 in cash at a meeting arranged by Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner on May 10.

In the latest revelation surrounding FIFA, Louis Giskus of the Surinam FA said that the body received the cash in $100 bills in a brown envelope on arrival in Trinidad for the meeting with Bin Hammam, who was then in the running for the presidency of world football’s governing body. Bin Hammam and Warner are both currently suspended from world football’s governing body after allegations of corruption were tabled by FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer.

“We have told FIFA about the gifts. The money is in our bank account,” Giskus told Reuters, adding he was told that the money came from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and not Bin Hammam. Giskus also told the Press Association: “We went up to a room and were given $40,000 in a brown envelope with the name of Surinam on it. We were surprised, and asked who the gift was from.”

Giskus added: “Mr Jason Sylvester (one of two CFU officials who have since been suspended by FIFA along with Bin Hammam and Warner) told us that it was a gift from the CFU for developing football in Surinam. We asked once more and were told it was for developing football in our country and that's why we accepted it. I asked if we would get problems with Customs leaving Port of Spain with that amount of money and he (Sylvester) told us there would be no problems. I wrote his mobile number on the envelope so that if there were any problems at the airport we could call it.”

ENDS

[PieEater]

Obviously football developement requires cash payments in brown envelopes, but it's strange how he was concerned about smuggling it out of the country but then 'fesses up to taking the bribe.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has resigned, world football's governing body has confirmed.

"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained," said a Fifa statement.

[Barry the bird boggler]

^

[Terminal Boardom]

There really is no hope is there

[Barry the bird boggler]

Does anyone honestly think anything will change at FIFA, they'll quietly sweep it all under the carpet and blithely carry on as if nothing has happened.

The only thing that would change anything is for the key European FAs to have the bottle to break away from the FIFA/UEFA set up and set up their own organisation (and that will never happen)....

[Tails]

FIFA is the cancer of the sport I [once] love[d].

[Fox Talbot]

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has resigned, world football's governing body has confirmed.

"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained," said a Fifa statement.

I literally laughed out loud.

[Ian Royal]

What a shock.

[SpaceCruiser]

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner has resigned, world football's governing body has confirmed.

"As a consequence of Mr Warner's resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained," said a Fifa statement.

Quite astounding that they should say he's innocent. You got to ask why is he quitting? Does he have something to hide that would otherwise have been revealed by the investigation? I really do think they should carry on with the investigation regardless.

[Stranded]

Unless they can retrospective change their statutes they won't. FIFA only has the power to investigate members of FIFA - he no longer is so they cannot investigate.

[cmonurz]

And so the official process begins by which Qatar is stripped of the World Cup, and the USA appears as a willing replacement host.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/13878161.stm