Suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter reportedly blamed suspended UEFA President Michel Platini and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy "for the Qatar 2022 World Cup controversy" and subsequent FIFA meltdown, according to Oliver Kay of the LONDON TIMES. In "an extraordinary interview," in which he was reported to have said that FIFA exec committee members agreed to award Russia rather than England the 2018 World Cup hosting rights long before the vote was taken, Blatter "lifted the lid on his feud with Platini." Blatter said, "Everything was good until Sarkozy came into a meeting with the crown prince of Qatar [Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani], who is now the ruler of Qatar. At a lunch afterwards with Platini, he said it would be good [for the 2022 World Cup] to go to Qatar and this changed all the pattern. There was an election by secret ballot. Four votes from Europe went away from the U.S.A., so the result was 14 to eight. If you change those four votes, it would have been 12-10 [in America’s favor] (LONDON TIMES, 10/29). In London, Brown & Kay reported Blatter said that England’s bid to host the World Cup was doomed "because of a secret deal to award the tournament to Russia." Blatter said that "an agreement was reached" before U.K. PM David Cameron and Prince William "attended the vote in December 2010 to select the hosts." Blatter’s reported comments will be seized on by investigators in the U.S. and Switzerland "who are examining allegations of corruption in World Cup bids and the race for the presidency of football’s governing body." FA Chair Greg Dyke told the U.K. Commons culture, media & sport committee on Wednesday that it would review Blatter’s comments and "consider whether money spent on the bid could be reclaimed" from FIFA. Dyke: "If he says that then I think there is something to investigate" (LONDON TIMES, 10/29). Also in London, Kay opined somewhere, "among all the self-serving, delusional claptrap that sounded like the launch of a Greatest Hits medley on his humiliating farewell tour," Blatter made an "important, coherent point." No, "seriously, he did." Whatever else he said in that "extraordinary interview" with Tass, Blatter "managed to hit upon an essential truth." European football, run by Platini’s presidency, has become "terribly elitist -- the agenda set by the richest English, German, Italian and Spanish clubs." Since UEFA has allowed European football to "become so hierarchical, permitting the club scene to be dominated by a handful of clubs in a handful of leagues," then "why should a Platini or an Infantino-led Fifa (which would really mean a Champions League-run Fifa) be trusted to look after the footballing and commercial interests of the rest of the world?" (LONDON TIMES, 10/29).
RUSSIA DENIES CLAIMS: WORLD FOOTBALL INSIDER's Mark Bisson reported 2018 World Cup CEO Alexey Sorokin "denies Russian officials knew they had been awarded the tournament before the controversial vote," after Blatter said "it was agreed" before the secret ballot. Sorokin "insisted the celebrations that followed Blatter opening the envelope to reveal Russia as tournament host were genuine." Sorokin: "If there were people who decided before December 2, then okay but we didn’t know about it. That’s the most important thing. We did not know about the choice of the ExCo members." Sorokin "hit back at those suggesting the vote was fixed." He said, "If there were people who had a clear position on who to vote for it’s their right, they are entitled to that. It’s their business to make decisions about world football. That is absolutely normal, they are professionals and they may form their opinions far before the presentations" (WORLD FOOTBALL INSIDER, 10/29). INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Andrew Warshaw reported Belgian FIFA ExCo member Michel d'Hooghe dismissed Blatter's "disclosure of a fixed agreement to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia, insisting no pre-vote deal took place." D'Hooghe said that "he had never heard of such an accord and implied Blatter's comments were somewhat fanciful." D'Hooghe said, "I cannot believe this is true or that there was any kind of agreement. I was not part of any such discussion and think I would have known about it" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 10/29).
'ABSOLUTE SCANDAL': In London, Louise Taylor wrote England 2018 World Cup COO Simon Johnson believes that the FA should take legal action against FIFA "to recover the costs of a bid they were never going to win." Johnson: "It’s an absolute scandal. I no longer work for the FA but I personally think they should bring an action to recover the costs of a bidding process which was neither fair nor transparent and we’ve now discovered was rigged. I think the FA has an obligation to bring an action against FIFA to recover not just their own costs but those incurred by the 12 host cities who were part of the bid, our sponsors, contractors and the government" (GUARDIAN, 10/29). Also in London, Ben Rumsby wrote Dyke was skeptical about the prospect of successfully suing FIFA "but refused to rule out legal action if its suspended president stood by comments made." FIFA’s ethics committee said it was monitoring matters "with interest" amid calls for it to reopen its investigation into the award of the next two World Cup finals tournaments. Asked if the FA would look to reclaim its bid costs, Dyke replied, "We will obviously go back and look at it. I think it would be a good idea. But get the bid costs back from whom? From FIFA? I agree it would be very nice to get taxpayers’ money back" (TELEGRAPH, 10/28).
PLATINI OPTIMISTIC: REUTERS' Michael Shields wrote Platini "still expects to be elected president of FIFA, despite his provisional ban from the game amid investigations of corruption" in FIFA. Platini: "People want to stop me from standing because they know I have every chance of winning. I get the impression they don't want a former player running FIFA, as if they don't want to give football back to the players" (REUTERS, 10/29). REUTERS' Simon Jennings wrote Platini said that he was the only person with the vision to lead FIFA "out of a corruption scandal." On the 90-day provisional suspension excluding him from campaigning for February elections to the FIFA presidency, he said, "I'm not in a penal colony or a Siberian Gulag. I'm waiting for events to unfold" (REUTERS, 10/29).
