Sepp Blatter respond to British press reports about FIFA corruption

[David Guyatt]

Corruption claims behind the winning Qatari World Cup bid are driven by racism, Blatter says.

What else could he say? A simple denial in face of overwhelming evidence of past FIFA corruption wouldn't work, would it.

9 June 2014Last updated at 18:22

Qatar 2022: Sepp Blatter says corruption claims are racist


Fifa president Sepp Blatter claims allegations surrounding the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid are motivated by racism.
Qatar was chosen as host in December 2010 but corruption claims have prompted Fifa to begin an inquiry.
"There is a sort of storm against Fifa relating to the Qatar World Cup," Blatter said. "Sadly there's a great deal of discrimination and racism."
Fifa will rule on the validity of the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in September or October.
At that point, the president of football's world governing body said, the "matter will be closed".
Speaking to African football officials in Sao Paulo, Blatter confirmed that the latest allegations would be discussed at the Fifa Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday.
He said Fifa needed to combat "anything that smacks of discrimination and racism", adding: "It really makes me sad."
At its general assembly in Sao Paulo, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) condemned "the repeated, deliberately hateful, defamatory and degrading attacks by some media, notably British, on the image and the integrity" of Caf, its members and the "entire African continent".
Caf added that it would urge the executive committee "to file a law suit, if necessary, so that the authors of this smearing and defamatory campaign against African football leaders are brought to book".
Qatar overcame competition from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to be named as 2022 hosts.
But the bidding process has been hit by a series of corruption claims.
American lawyer Michael Garcia is currently involved in an independent investigation into the bidding process and is due to deliver his report to Fifa in mid-July.
Blatter, 78, told delegates from the Asian Football Conference that Garcia would also speak at Fifa's congress to update delegates on his inquiry.
Garcia is investigating everyone connected with the bidding process for both the 2018 World Cup, to be staged in Russia, and the 2022 event.
Qatar's World Cup organising committee continues to reject claims of wrongdoing and says it is confident the vote was won fairly.

[Magda Hassan]

Looks like some one is okay with their cut of the action then. ::

[Magda Hassan]

I'm sure Blatter is devastated. Just devastated. ::runaround::

Blatter: My hands tied over report into alleged World Cup bidding corruption

- last updated Sat 27 Sep 2014 FIFA boss Sepp Blatter. Photo: PA FIFA president Sepp Blatter has rejected calls to publish a secret report into alleged World Cup bidding corruption.
The report into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was compiled by FIFA's independent investigator Michael Garcia but Blatter and FIFA's legal chief say any decision on publishing the report is out of their hands and would threaten the confidentiality that had been guaranteed to the 75 witnesses.
Garcia himself and a number of FIFA executive committee members including Northern Ireland's Jim Boyce have called for the report to be published. Russia won the bid for the 2018 World Cup - England's rival bid received the fewest votes - while Qatar will stage the 2022 tournament.
Any decision to publish now rests the German judge, Hans-Joachim Eckert, who is considering the report and will announce his findings in November.
Blatter told a news conference in Zurich: "We are bound by the regulations which have been accepted and the report of the investigatory chamber first has to go to the adjudicatory chamber and we know now at the beginning of November [the chairman] will be ready to give his report."
FIFA's legal director Marco Villiger added: "The principle of confidentiality enshrined in the [ethics] code and if not perhaps certain witnesses or whistleblowers might not co-operate to the same extent if confidentiality is not guaranteed.
"It is up to the adjudicatory committee to decide, not the executive committee, if the confidentiality guaranteed to 75 witnesses will be lifted."
Blatter, who refused to clarify whether he had returned his £16,400 watch - one of 65 handed out by the Brazil FA in June - following an order by the ethics committee, also confirmed to the executive committee that he will stand for a fifth terms as FIFA president at the election in May.
He said: "I have announced to the executive committee that I will respect the demands and pleas of different associations and federations to serve FIFA for a fifth mandate if they are happy with me to be elected on May 29 next year."
There was one significant move by FIFA's executive committee, who took a decision to ban the third-party ownership of players. The system is already banned in some countries including Britain but is common in South America where most players have their economic rights owned by agents or other parties, who take a big chunk of any transfer fee.
There will be a transition period of three or four years before the ban kicks in - the decision on how long that will be is to be taken by a working group headed by former FA chairman Geoff Thompson.
Blatter can count on the support of Asian Football Confederation president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa come election time.
Shaikh Salman said on the AFC website: "Joseph S Blatter has always been supportive of Asia and has placed great importance in the development of Asian football through various FIFA programmes. Our growth in world football can also be credited to the dynamic relationship that the AFC has with FIFA under the guidance of Mr Blatter.
"Mr Blatter has decades' worth of experience in governing world football, therefore I have every confidence that he will continue to play an important role in its development."

http://www.itv.com/sport/football/articl...orruption/

[David Guyatt]

Oh, how devilish. Give a guarantee of confidentiality to the witnesses - even insist upon it - and then say the report cannot be made public because it would breach the confidentiality of those contributing to the investigation under conditions of confidentiality.

Game, set and match.

But no penalty for handling in the box.

[David Guyatt]

Classic Blatter. Turns things on its head and says black is white.

World Cup inquiry clears Qatar but criticises English FA

The English Football Association has been accused of damaging the image of Fifa and flouting bidding rules in its attempt 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 bid to stage the 2022 World Cup, thus ending talks of a possible re-vote.
The Gulf state had faced a number of corruption allegations.
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.
The FA is accused of trying to "curry favour" with former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, who quit his role in 2011 amid bribery allegations.
Individuals involved in England's bid could now face action following the conclusion of the two-year inquiry.
Fifa'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.
In particular, it says England's bid team tried to win the support of Warner, who is from Trinidad & Tobago, by:

• Trying to help "a person of interest to him" find a part time job in the United Kingdom
  
• Letting the Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 squad hold a training camp in the UK in the summer of 2009
  
• Sponsoring a gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union, at a cost of $55,000, around £35,000
  

In his 42-page report, Hans Joachim Eckert, Fifa's independent ethics adjudicator, writes that England's bid team "showed a willingness, time and again" to meet Warner's expectations.
By doing so, it damaged "the image of Fifa and the bidding process".
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.
It was initiated after a number of corruption allegations were made once voting had taken place in 2010.
[TABLE="class: data-table, width: 464"]
[TR="class: heading"]
[TH="class: left first, colspan: 3"]

2018 World Cup voting

[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR="class: colheading"]
[TH="class: left first, bgcolor: #000000"][/TH]
[TH="class: left, bgcolor: #000000"]Round 1[/TH]
[TH="class: left, bgcolor: #000000"]Round 2[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Russia
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]9
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]13 (majority)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: row2"]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Spain/Portugal
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]7
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]7
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Netherlands/Belgium
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]4
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]2
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: row2"]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]England
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]2
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]-
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

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.
England won just two votes after expressing high hopes of winning.
To much surprise, Qatar were awarded the 2022 tournament, edging out Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
Qatar were subsequently accused of paying Fifa officials £3m to secure backing for its bid.
However, they have now been cleared of wrongdoing, although the report said that there were "certain indications of potentially problematic conduct of specific individuals".
As for Russia, they have also been cleared, although the report noted its bid team made "only a limited amount of documents available for review".
[TABLE="class: data-table, width: 464"]
[TR="class: heading"]
[TH="class: left first, colspan: 5"]

2022 World Cup voting

[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR="class: colheading"]
[TH="class: left first, bgcolor: #000000"][/TH]
[TH="class: left, bgcolor: #000000"]R1[/TH]
[TH="class: left, bgcolor: #000000"]R2[/TH]
[TH="class: left, bgcolor: #000000"]R3[/TH]
[TH="class: left, bgcolor: #000000"]R4[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Qatar
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]11
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]10
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]11
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]14 (majority)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: row2"]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]USA
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]3
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]5
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]6
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]8
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]S Korea
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]4
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]5
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]5
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]-
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: row2"]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Japan
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]3
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]2
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]-
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]-
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Australia
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]1
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]-
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]-
[/TD]
[TD="class: left, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]-
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

According to the report, the Russian team hired computers that were subsequently destroyed, denying the inquiry access to email accounts.
However, the report effectively confirms Qatar and Russia as 2022 and 2018 hosts, stating any rule breaches by the bidding countries were "of very limited scope".
The FA have yet to react to the report's findings.
Neither has former FA chairman Lord Triesman, who is also criticised directly in the report.
While the majority of England'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.
Australia have also been criticised. The report claims they also made efforts to woo Warner and Oceania chief Reynald Temarii, including providing money for development projects.

[David Guyatt]

The FIFA investigation report was conducted by the American lawyer, Michael Garcia. Yesterdays press briefing by FIFA that it was innocent while at the same time blaming the English UK of breaching the bidding rules has now run into a slight hiccup.

Michael Garcia has now accused FIFA of misrepresenting his report. In his announcement Garcia stated:

"Today's decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber's report. I intend to appeal this decision to the Fifa appeal committee."

Which seems a quite shocking and damning statement about FIFA's own ethics.

Fifa report into World Cup bid process 'misrepresented', says investigator Michael Garcia

Fifa investigator Michael Garcia says report into World Cup bidding 'contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of facts and conclusions'


By Ben Rumsby

1:30PM GMT 13 Nov 2014

358 Comments


The credibility of Fifa's probe into World Cup corruption was left in tatters on Thursday night after its chief investigator effectively branded it a whitewash and threw the decision to clear Qatar and Russia to host the tournament back into doubt.

On an extraordinary day where the reputation of football's world governing body plumbed new depths, Michael J Garcia accused Fifa's head judge of misrepresenting his report into the bidding for the next two World Cups and announced he would appeal a verdict which looked to have lifted the threat of the controversial 2010 ballot being re-run.

Garcia's explosive intervention came after Hans-Joachim Eckert, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of Fifa's ethics committee, had earlier published a summary of the American's findings which he said were not damning enough to justify stripping Russia or Qatar of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Fifa were under intense pressure to publish Garcia's version in full. Eckert's summary found that:

England's 2018 bid team "violated bidding rules" in their attempts to woo a disgraced former Fifa vice-president, including securing a job in the UK for a family friend of his and paying for a £35,000 gala dinner for Caribbean officials.

Qatar's most senior football figure manipulated the vote for the 2022 tournament by offering to pay a fellow official, with the country's bid committee also criticised for paying more than £1 million to sponsor an event attended by voting Fifa executives.
Russia's 2018 bid team did not fully co-operate with the investigation because their computers had been "destroyed".
And all but one of the other six bid teams were guilty of some degree of wrongdoing.
The summary warned disciplinary action could follow, something that would be at the behest of former US Attorney Garcia, the head of the ethics committee's investigatory chamber who now turns prosecutor.
But the entire quasi-judicial process was completely derailed last night after Garcia said in a statement: "Today's decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber's report. I intend to appeal this decision to the Fifa appeal committee."
Garcia is thought to be furious Eckert's 42-page summary of the 430-page report he submitted in September omitted the most withering criticism from his own findings, that of the Fifa executive committee which took part in the 2010 ballot.
That aspect of Garcia's report was said by sources to highlight the ExCo's "culture of entitlement", an "attitude that the rules don't apply" and its members' "failure to properly consider their obligations".
[SUP]FIFA ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia (Photo:AFP/Getty)[/SUP]
Eckert's summary also examined Fifa president Sepp Blatter's role in the bidding process and found no direct wrongdoing on his part.
Fifa, which had earlier welcomed the "degree of closure" it assumed Eckert's summary had provided, was completely blindsided by Garcia's statement, which it said it had yet to be "officially notified" of.
Vice-president Jim Boyce, Britain's most senior football official who joined the ExCo after the 2010 vote, was also in shock when informed of the American's dramatic intervention.
He told the Telegraph: "This is something that, once again, Fifa could have done without. These are two completely independent people and it seems a shame that they now appear at loggerheads." In truth, the men appointed to lead Fifa's ethics crusade in the wake of the corruption allegations to have engulfed it have been at odds for some time.
Both nominally independent', Garcia believes its disciplinary process should be made more transparent, with Eckert seemingly only interested in adhering to the letter of the law.
Matters came to a head just over a month ago when Eckert slapped down Garcia's demand for his World Cup report to be published virtually in full. That was amid similar calls from many senior figures in football, including Boyce, who said last night: "If Michael Garcia, who is a person of the highest integrity, feels that more information needs to be put into the public domain, I would support that fully.
"As someone who has always said as much of the Garcia report as legally possible should be disclosed, I feel this now has to be carefully looked at."
Labour's shadow sports minister, Clive Efford, said: "Fifa has no choice but to publish Michael Garcia's report in full, if it expects anyone to believe their claims that that there has been no cover-up."
Conservative MP Damian Collins, an arch-critic of Fifa's who has asked the Serious Fraud Office to seek a copy of Garcia's full report, branded Eckert's summary "a whitewash".
"Fifa has investigated itself and not surprisingly found itself not guilty," he told Sky News, pointing out the investigation had no power to subpoena witnesses, including disgraced former ExCo member Mohamed bin Hammam, accused of operating a slush fund to secure votes for his country's bid.
"I believe if they don't have the power or the will to fully investigate the bribery allegations, they should hand it over to the Fraud Office or the FBI, who do have the judicial power to do that."
FBI agents in New York were said last night to be seeking access to Garcia's report as they step up their three-year investigation into alleged corruption at Fifa.
That probe is being assisted by the seriously-ill American former executive committee member who voted in the 2010 ballot, Chuck Blazer, who has provided documents and secret recordings of meetings.
The other parties with the power to impose change on Fifa, its sponsors, were all but silent last night.
Only Adidas responded to requests for comment on the ethics committee row, saying: "We will discuss the findings directly with Fifa."

[Magda Hassan]

Well that explains it. I saw some tv coverage sound bites of Garcia at his press conference but not all of it and it confused me no end with him being the FIFA investigator saying he wanted to appeal and yesterdays Blatt announcement clearing FIFA . Well, what happens now? Can't imagine FIFA giving itself the red card or playing the game fairly.

[David Guyatt]

Hubble bubble, toil and trouble...

Germany warns Uefa may quit Fifa if World Cup report not published

German League president attacks complete loss of credibility'
Report summary clears Russia and Qatar of wrongdoing
Investigator says his findings were misrepresented

• Owen Gibson
  
• The Observer, Saturday 15 November 2014 13.10 GMT
  

Uefa has called on the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, to stand down and is looking for a candidate to take on the Swiss. Photograph: Ito Takashi/AMA/Corbis

The president of the German Football League has warned that Uefa's 54 member nations could take the ultimate step of quitting Fifa if Michael Garcia's report into World Cup bidding is not published in full.
Dr Reinhard Rauball laid bare the tensions within Fifa over the split between the ethics committee judge, Hans-Joachim Eckert, and Garcia, the US attorney who heads the investigatory arm and spent 18 months probing the race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Garcia has disowned Eckert's summary of his 430-page report, which effectively cleared Russia and Qatar.
"The result was a breakdown in communication, and it has shaken the foundations of Fifa in a way I've never experienced before," said Rauball.
"As a solution, two things must happen. Not only must the decision of the ethics committee be published, but Mr Garcia's bill of indictment too, so it becomes clear what the charges were and how they were judged," he told the German website kicker.de.

"Additionally, the areas that were not evaluated [in the report] and whether that was justified [should be published]. It must be made public. That is the only way Fifa can deal with the complete loss of credibility."

He said that if the report was not published in full and Eckert has already said that he will not do that, while Fifa argues it cannot intervene then Uefa should consider its own position within Fifa. "If this doesn't happen and the crisis is not resolved in a credible manner, you have to entertain the question of whether you are still in good hands with Fifa," Rauball added. "One option that would have to bear serious consideration is certainly that Uefa leaves Fifa."
Rauball's intervention comes against the backdrop of Uefa's calls for the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, to stand down, as he promised to do at the end of his current four-year term. Although the Uefa president, Michel Platini, has opted against standing against Blatter in next year's election, Uefa is continuing to cast around for an alternative candidate to take on the 78-year-old Swiss.
Before the Brazil World Cup, a series of speakers at Uefa's congress stood up to call for Blatter to make his current term his last, while the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, denounced Blatter for claiming corruption allegations in the media were motivated by racism.
Fifa confirmed on Friday night that it had received formal notification of Garcia's intention to take Eckert's summary of his investigation to its appeals committee.
Meanwhile, one of the two whistleblowers discredited in Eckert's statement, Bonita Mersiades, the head of communications for Australia's 2022 bid, was scathing in her assessment of Fifa's handling of the investigation. "It's an organisation that, in terms of governance, is just a farce," she said.
"The only people that come out well in that summary report by Eckert is Fifa. [It says] they got their decisions right in respect to Qatar and Russia, and there's even a sentence and a reference in there that Sepp Blatter ran a wonderful process. It's almost like high comedy."

[David Guyatt]

Will UEFA and the awful Platini agree?

17 November 2014Last updated at 06:15

World Cup: Former FA chief David Bernstein calls for boycott

By David OrnsteinBBC Sport
The Football Association has been urged to lobby Uefa for a European boycott of the next World Cup - unless Fifa implements meaningful reform.
Former FA chairman David Bernstein told BBC Sport it was time for "drastic" action against the governing body.
He believes the tournament could not be taken seriously without Europe's major nations and that a boycott would be supported by the English public.
Meanwhile, Bernstein has resigned from Fifa's anti-discrimination taskforce.
He described it as "ineffectual" and wishes to end his ties with the organisation.
In an exclusive interview, the 71-year-old also said:

• Fifa is a "totalitarian" set-up that reminds him of "the old Soviet empire" and is "beyond ridicule".
  
• The credibility of football is "suffering enormously" under the current Fifa regime.
  
• Choosing Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup was "one of the most ludicrous decisions in the history of sport".
  
• Fifa president Sepp Blatter will remain in power "unless someone does something about it".
  

Bernstein was speaking after Thursday's report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was questioned by the man who conducted the investigation, Michael Garcia, just hours following its release.
It is the latest controversy to hit football's world governing body, which has been riddled with allegations of corruption in recent times.
Bernstein led the FA for three years from January 2011 - a month after Russia and Qatar were named hosts for 2018 and 2022 respectively, with England missing out on 2018 - and he wants Fifa to change its ways or face a challenge that it finds impossible to ignore.
[TABLE="class: data-table, width: 464"]
[TR="class: heading"]
[TH="class: left first"]"My job is to punish people who do bad things"
[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Appointed by President Bush, married to an FBI agent and barred from entering Russia - BBC News profiles American lawyer Michael Garcia, the man behind the Fifa corruption report.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: row2"]
[TD="class: left first, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]Read the full profile[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

"England on its own cannot influence this - one country can't do it," he said. "If we tried to do something like that we'd be laughed at.
"I think England within Uefa undoubtedly have the power to influence Fifa, but to do so they would have to consider withdrawing from the World Cup, the next World Cup, unless proper reform - including Mr Blatter not standing [for a fifth term] - is carried out at Fifa.
"If I was at the FA now, I would do everything I could to encourage other nations within Uefa - and there are some who would definitely be on side, others may be not - to take this line.
"At some stage you have to walk the talk, stop talking and do something."
When asked again if we was calling for the FA to unite with Uefa to boycott Fifa and the World Cup, Bernstein replied: "Unless it could achieve the reforms that would bring Fifa back into the respectable world community, yes I would.
"It sounds drastic but frankly this has gone on for years now, it's not improving, it's going from bad to worse to worse.
"There are 54 countries within Uefa. There's Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Holland - all powerful. You can't hold a serious World Cup without them. They have the power to influence if they have the will.
Similar views have been expressed by German Football League president Reinhard Rauball, who suggested Uefa could leave Fifa if Garcia's findings are not published in full.
England's World Cup bid was criticised in the Fifa report with the FA accused of flouting bidding rules, while Qatar was cleared of corruption allegations.
Bernstein accused world football's governing body of trying to deflect attention from its own failings.
"I don't think much to these accusations. I don't think we should get away from the real issue, the real issue is Fifa governance and trying to achieve real change. But it won't happen easily."
Bernstein acknowledges Fifa's power but is adamant the governing body can be pressured into change if the World Cup is targeted.
"Fifa is sort of a totalitarian set-up," he said. "Bits of it remind me of the old Soviet empire. People don't speak out and if they do they get quashed.

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World Cup bid: Simon Johnson, who led England's 2018 bid, denies Fifa claims that they flouted bid rules

"The [Garcia] investigation is possibly flawed but when the investigator complains that his own report is being misinterpreted, it's beyond ridicule."
Bernstein backs the authorities ("Swiss government, Swiss tax authorities, FBI, Brussels, the European community") and sponsors to hold Fifa to account, but thinks Uefa poses the greatest threat.
Much of his anger stems from the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where blistering summer temperatures means the event could be switched to winter.
"The choosing of Qatar was clearly one of the most ludicrous decisions in the history of sport," the former Manchester City chairman said.
"You might as well have chosen Iceland in the winter. It was like an Alice in Wonderland sort of decision.
"The attempt to change the timing is also absolutely wrong. It's like a false prospectus; you put a bid in on one basis and then when you've won you change to another.
"There's also a background of political, social and employment issues that keep emerging and I think there's a danger that Fifa and football might be embarrassed by what emerges in the coming years," he added.
"It's certainly not sour grapes. England didn't lose to Qatar, we lost to Russia. Qatar is clearly a totally unsuitable place to hold a World Cup."
Bernstein described Blatter as "formidable, very shrewd, very smart" and conceded it would "not be easy" to bring his reign to an end.
He went on to reveal he had quit Fifa's anti-discrimination taskforce, which was introduced in 2013 with Jeffrey Webb at the helm.
"I've resigned for two reasons: firstly, the body has been pretty ineffectual. I've been on it for more than a year and we only had one meeting; secondly because frankly I don't wish to be personally associated with Fifa any further.
"Fifa sets up these things - and we've seen it with their regulation - that look good in theory but don't seem to do very much in practice."

[Danny Jarman]

While FIFA are obviously a corrupt organisation, I find the hubris from the UK press amusing.

I would like to see something done about the undeniably corrupt (and incompetent) FA too.