{"id":64702,"date":"2014-11-13T09:23:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T09:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=64702"},"modified":"2014-11-13T09:23:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T09:23:06","slug":"world-cup-inquiry-clears-qatar-criticises-english-fa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=64702","title":{"rendered":"World Cup inquiry clears Qatar but criticises English FA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"story_continues_1\" class=\"introduction\" style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">The English Football Association has been accused of damaging the image of Fifa in its attempt to win the right to stage the 2018 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">A Fifa report says the FA behaved improperly when trying to win the backing of a key voter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">However, Qatar have been cleared of any wrongdoing during their successful bid to stage the 2022 World Cup, thus ending talks of a possible re-vote.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">The Gulf state had faced a number of corruption allegations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">The news that the FA has come in for criticism is a surprise given that it has repeatedly called for transparency in the voting process and accused Fifa of not doing enough to stamp out corruption.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">The FA is accused of trying to &#8220;curry favour&#8221; with former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, who quit his role in 2011 amid bribery allegations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">Individuals involved in England&#8217;s bid could now face action following the conclusion of the two-year inquiry.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">Fifa&#8217;s report, which also looks at the conduct of other bidding nations for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, makes a number of damaging points about the conduct of England bid officials.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">In particular, it says England&#8217;s bid team tried to win the support of Warner, who is from Trinidad &amp; Tobago, by:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #000000;\">\n<li>Trying to help &#8220;a person of interest to him&#8221; find a part time job in the United Kingdom<\/li>\n<li>Letting the Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 squad hold a training camp in the UK in the summer of 2009<\/li>\n<li>Sponsoring a gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union, at a cost of $55,000, around \u00a335,000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">In his 42-page summary of the 430-page report, Hans Joachim Eckert, Fifa&#8217;s independent ethics adjudicator, writes that England&#8217;s bid team &#8220;showed a willingness, time and again&#8221; to meet Warner&#8217;s expectations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">By doing so, it damaged &#8220;the image of Fifa and the bidding process&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">The inquiry looked at the conduct of all nine bidding teams who were trying to win the right to stage either the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">It was initiated after a number of corruption allegations were made once voting had taken place in 2010.<\/p>\n<div class=\"data-table-outer\" style=\"color: #000000;\">\n<table class=\"data-table\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"33.333%\" \/>\n<col width=\"33.333%\" \/>\n<col width=\"33.333%\" \/><\/colgroup>\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"heading\">\n<th class=\"left first\" colspan=\"3\">2018 World Cup voting<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"colheading\">\n<th class=\"left first\" style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><\/th>\n<th class=\"left \" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Round 1<\/th>\n<th class=\"left \" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Round 2<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">13 (majority)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row2\">\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>Spain\/Portugal<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>Netherlands\/Belgium<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row2\">\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>England<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, beating off England as well as joint bids by the Netherlands\/Belgium and Spain\/Portugal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">England won just two votes after expressing high hopes of winning.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">To much surprise, Qatar were awarded the 2022 tournament, edging out Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">Qatar were subsequently accused of paying Fifa officials \u00a33m to secure backing for its bid but have now been cleared of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">As for Russia, they have also been cleared, although the report noted its bid team made &#8220;only a limited amount of documents available for review&#8221;.<\/p>\n<div class=\"data-table-outer\" style=\"color: #000000;\">\n<table class=\"data-table\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"20%\" \/>\n<col width=\"20%\" \/>\n<col width=\"20%\" \/>\n<col width=\"20%\" \/>\n<col width=\"20%\" \/><\/colgroup>\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"heading\">\n<th class=\"left first\" colspan=\"5\">2022 World Cup voting<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"colheading\">\n<th class=\"left first\" style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><\/th>\n<th class=\"left \" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">R1<\/th>\n<th class=\"left \" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">R2<\/th>\n<th class=\"left \" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">R3<\/th>\n<th class=\"left \" style=\"color: #ffffff;\">R4<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>Qatar<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">11<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">11<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">14 (majority)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row2\">\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>USA<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>S Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row2\">\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"left first\">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\"><strong>Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"left \">\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">According to the report, the Russian team hired computers that were subsequently destroyed, denying the inquiry access to email accounts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">The FA have yet to react to the report&#8217;s findings.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">Neither has former FA chairman Lord Triesman, who is also criticised directly in the report.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">While the majority of England&#8217;s bid team is praised for its co-operation with the inquiry, which was led by American lawyer Michael Garcia, Lord Triesman is said to have twice refused to provide assistance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">&#8211;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #1c1c1c;\">Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The English Football Association has been accused of damaging the image of Fifa in its attempt to win the right to stage the 2018 World Cup. A Fifa report says the FA behaved improperly when trying to win the backing of a key voter. However, Qatar have been cleared of any wrongdoing during their successful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":64703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-64702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/64703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}