29 October 2015
English football chief, Greg Dyke, said that FIFA was corrupt for 40 years. He said this after Sepp Blatter revealed that vote for 2018 world cup was rigged. He said this before the Commons select committee on media and sport.
The 2018 world cup was awarded to Russia. England and the United States wanted the world cup in their country. England had spent some GBP 21m to get the game awarded to the country. It had deployed Prince William and David Beckham to canvass for the game. Blatter said that this was a waste of time. Blatter said that all along 2018 cup was for Russia and the US would get 2022 game.
Greg Dyke said that he was considering a lawsuit against FIFA for the GBP 21 million England spent to get the game awarded to it.
The sweeping corruption probes being conducted by U.S. and Swiss authorities are the result of a “big political power game,” said Blatter. It was because they failed in their attempt to get the game awarded to their country.
UEFA president Michel Platini put his weight behind Qatar for the 2022 game and Qatar was awarded the 2022 world cup. There has been some criticism over the award to Qatar because of its climatic conditions. It is feared that many of the players may fall sick. The country is also mired in labor violations at the World cup venue construction site. Blatter said that had the 2012 game been awarded to USA all the problems at FIFA would not have blown up to this extent.
Platini is aiming to succeed Blatter, while he is also mired in the widening corruption investigations.
Ethics committee of FIFA banned both Blatter and Platini for 90 days. So far neither Platini nor Blatter has been charged.
While Blatter claims that he is innocent, it is difficult to believe that he ran the club for 17 years without knowing what was going on there. Blatter claims that during his tenure FIFA his become big and profitable.
