Can someone explain this FIFA corruption and how US Soccer is involved?

[GwinnettNole]

Lord- so soccer finally starts growing a little in the country and all of the sudden the US is involved in said corruption? Who is leading the charge the NFL? NBA? The old time Americans that won't nothing to do with the global game? LOL... I'm kidding.

But in all seriousness, how is US Soccer involved in this corruption? We ALL know and have heard for years that FIFA is corrupt. How is the US involved? This goes much deeper than Sepp Blatter (FIFA president) and Qatar?

Can you only imagine the level of corruption if our top sport was soccer...ha

 

[Zeek99]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/27/corruption-soccer-us/28016251/

"The attorney general, a month into her term as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, specifically highlighted the operation of the U.S.-based Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF, a powerful subsidiary of soccer's international governing body FIFA, whose member countries include the USA. The group's top leaders, according to court documents, played major roles in soliciting and accepting bribes related to the selection of host nations for the 1998 and 2010 World Cup tournaments."

The FBI is involved due to the illegal activities being conducted on US soil and with US banks.

 

[NoleManDan17]

 

[OrlandNole]

FIFA authorities are getting huge kickbacks in return for their votes. How else to you think the World Cup ended up in Qatar?

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

FIFA authorities are getting huge kickbacks in return for their votes. How else to you think the World Cup ended up in Qatar?

because 140 degrees is actually the ideal temperature to play soccer?

 

[DanC78]

Them being a non-profit is what put them on the radar. All of their corrupt money exchanges and briberies took place in the USA via our banking system. So the paper trail of them breaking laws is in our hands, therefor it's our responsibility to hold them accountable for their actions.

I'm not sure this is illegal if they were not a non profit.

SeaPa might have an answer for that.

 

[JacksonvilleBlue904]

Lord- so soccer finally starts growing a little in the country and all of the sudden the US is involved in said corruption? Who is leading the charge the NFL? NBA? The old time Americans that won't nothing to do with the global game? LOL... I'm kidding.

But in all seriousness, how is US Soccer involved in this corruption? We ALL know and have heard for years that FIFA is corrupt. How is the US involved? This goes much deeper than Sepp Blatter (FIFA president) and Qatar?

Can you only imagine the level of corruption if our top sport was soccer...ha

US soccer isn't involved yet. But the corruption was happening on US soil though is my understanding.

 

[Bartdog]

saw this graphic today... I thnk it was from the Washington Post. Workers dying to get facilities ready in the heat.

 

[JacksonvilleBlue904]

A better explanation from the Michigan board
A couple of interesting legal points:

a) use of banks with U.S. operations pulls the activity under US jurisdiction. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is pretty broad.
b) the NDA in connection with the report will not survive a subpoena. Most NDAs have broad exclusions for acts by a court of law (which a subpoena is)."

 

[NDallasRuss]

saw this graphic today... I thnk it was from the Washington Post. Workers dying to get facilities ready in the heat.

And it's not just the deaths, but also the fact that they're bringing these workers in from Nepal, taking their passports so they can't leave, forcing them to work, and then not paying them what they agreed to. It sounds an awful lot like slavery...

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

And it's not just the deaths, but also the fact that they're bringing these workers in from Nepal, taking their passports so they can't leave, forcing them to work, and then not paying them what they agreed to. It sounds an awful lot like slavery...

I always read stuff like this and think, if I read this in a science fiction novel set on some other planet I'd find it somewhat unbelievable. No advanced society could countenance such ongoing repression. Then I realize where we live.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

And it's not just the deaths, but also the fact that they're bringing these workers in from Nepal, taking their passports so they can't leave, forcing them to work, and then not paying them what they agreed to. It sounds an awful lot like slavery...

I always read stuff like this and think, if I read this in a science fiction novel set on some other planet I'd find it somewhat unbelievable. No advanced society could countenance such ongoing repression. Then I realize where we live.

Pretty unreal right? In the modern world, a civilized/industrialized country like Qatar (and UAE as well) can get away with what amounts to slavery, or indentured servitude at best, without global powers (US, UK, Eurozone) cracking down on them. Sad state of affairs really. Ah but they haz the oilz.

 

[SeaPA]

C'mon people. There's games to be played, and the stadiums need to be finished in time for the opening kick.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Reasonably speaking (hahaha I'm stupid for even putting the word reasonable in a post about FIFA or the IOC, but indulge me anyway)...

WC and Olympics should only be granted to nations that meet a minimum per capita GDP / standard of living test + already have a certain percentage of the facilities built and have a rational use of facilities programme in place for after the event ends.

-or-

Just grant them to whoever shoves the most gold bars into your Swiss bank vault.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

It's pretty demoralizing to see how openly corrupt an organization can be. All the money...the major players from tiny little countries...Qatar and Russia hosting World Cups, of all places...and of course no story about bribery and corruption is complete without Miami being somehow involved.

Then again, look at how corrupt our government is. Why would we expect a worldwide sports organization to be any different?

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

Reasonably speaking (hahaha I'm stupid for even putting the word reasonable in a post about FIFA or the IOC, but indulge me anyway)...

WC and Olympics should only be granted to nations that meet a minimum per capita GDP / standard of living test + already have a certain percentage of the facilities built and have a rational use of facilities programme in place for after the event ends.

-or-

Just grant them to whoever shoves the most gold bars into your Swiss bank vault.

I wonder what they're using all the new Brazilian stadiums for these days.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

I wonder what they're using all the new Brazilian stadiums for these days.

Oh, they're being used...

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...gacy-includes-550m-stadium-turned-parking-lot

 

[OrlandNole]

Oh, they're being used...

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...gacy-includes-550m-stadium-turned-parking-lot

Wow. And they're turning right back around and sinking more money into the Olympics. That country is going to be hurting economically for the foreseeable future.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Wow. And they're turning right back around and sinking more money into the Olympics. That country is going to be hurting economically for the foreseeable future.

Yep.

In developing nations there are very few faster, peaceful ways to handcuff the mobility your poor and middle class while lining the pockets of the wealthy and corporations than hosting an Olympics or World Cup... and in the case of Qatar, who doesn't have their own poor to handcuff, they just import them to achieve the same effect.

 

[NDallasRuss]

Oh, they're being used...

http://www.npr.org/sections/paralle...gacy-includes-550m-stadium-turned-parking-lot

""I don't see any World Cup legacy to Brazil except the debts we have inherited and the problems we now have," he says."

That pretty much sums up what happens to all of these stadiums in every case where countries have built them solely to host one event. China, Greece, Brazil - they all have these stupid, expensive stadiums that immediately start rotting and crumbling the second the games are finished. I'm sure there's some value to the exposure ad publicity that the host countries get during the events, but between the stadium/infrastructure costs, and the follow-up exposes on the cost, the waste and the decay of the stadiums, doesn't all that offset anything they may have gained from hosting?

At some point hopefully these countries will no longer be duped by the salesmen who convince them that their countries need to host these events. Of course, the same could be said for US cities who are constantly blackmailed into financing new stadiums for fear of losing the franchise to some other city who's promising more. I like sports, but pros sports can sure be a waste of money for the towns who are expected to keep putting out more and more...

 

[ReliableOstrich]

At some point hopefully these countries will no longer be duped by the salesmen who convince them that their countries need to host these events.

Agree, but unfortunately the regular citizen has very little say in whether their country bids for one of these events. It's generally spearheaded by already wealthy ego-centric politicians and businessmen.

What do they care if there is a national need or if pissing away cash on soon-to-be unused stadiums seems like a less effective use of funds than building more schools or hospitals?
They've got legacies to solidify, bank accounts to pad, and guests to host.

And it's not like the IOC or FIFA have been receptive to listening to a national outcry against hosting. Brazilians resoundingly were against hosting from the start of the bid process, but no one cared b/c $$$$$$$.

 

[ggmike1992]

because 140 degrees is actually the ideal temperature to play soccer?

Didn't they move the World Cup to December the year it's being played in Qatar for this very reason?

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

No idea, but I ask you this more important question: look at their proposed stadium design and tell me what it reminds you of.

 

[NoleHitterThru8]

 

[Fijimn]

Charles Blazer, the guy that started CONCACAFF and was on the FIFA executive committee, was the whistle blower after being indicted for tax evasion. He collected over $11 million in kick backs, but didn't pay taxes on his bribes. That is the US connection.

 

[TexSkills]

No idea, but I ask you this more important question: look at their proposed stadium design and tell me what it reminds you of.