The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FIFA

  • Only FIFA Congress can stop me – Blatter

    Only FIFA Congress can stop me – Blatter

    Suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter said it was only the congress of soccer’s governing body and not its ethics committee that could bar him from office.

    He said on Thursday in Zurich during a media interview, that it was only the parliament that could impeach an elected president.

    “I’m not a FIFA official. I’m the elected president of the congress.

    “If one does not agree with the way I do my job, one has to turn to the congress that elected me,” he said.

    Blatter, who was standing down in February after agreeing to lay down his mandate, criticised the ethics committee, which he had previously trumpeted as a key weapon in the battle against corruption after it was reformed and strengthened three years ago.

    Blatter said the definition in the FIFA statutes indicated that he was not a FIFA official.

    “It is humiliating for the FIFA president that the ethics committee comes and says, you are suspended and you are not allowed to go to the office anymore.

    “That’s like a police order and that hurts but it doesn’t kill me, I will fight for me and for FIFA,’’ he said.

    Blatter also faces a criminal investigation in Switzerland over a two million dollars payment from FIFA to Platini.

    The payment was made in 2011 for work Platini had completed nine years earlier, the Swiss attorney-general’s office has said.

    It added that Platini was considered “between a witness and an accused person.

    Blatter, reiterating comments he had made previously on the matter said contracts could be done in writing or orally.

    “I had an oral contract with Michel Platini.

    “In 1998, when he was done with the World Cup, I needed him to work for me, at the time, he wanted one million and I said there’s no money to pay one million.

    “He said you can pay me later,’’ he said

  • FIFA ethics committee seeks life ban for Platini

    FIFA ethics committee seeks life ban for Platini

    The ethics committee of world football governing body FIFA has recommended that UEFA president Michel Platini be banned for life.

    A report said on Tuesday in Zurich said Vanessa Allard, Chief Investigator of the ethics committee, while presenting the report pushed for a life ban on Platini.

    Meanwhile, FIFA has announced that Platini’s fate would be decided at a hearing to be chaired by Germany’s Hans-Joachim Eckert in December.

    Outgoing FIFA president Joseph Blatter and Platini were provisionally suspended by FIFA on Oct. 7 and had an appeal turned down last week.

    The suspensions came in connection with a Swiss criminal investigation against Blatter over a “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs (dollars) to Platini in 2011, for work done between 1998 and 2002.

    Platini and Blatter have said they did nothing wrong in connection with the payment but admitted there was no written contract.

    Former French international Platini was considered a favourite to replace Blatter at an extraordinary congress set for Feb. 26, before being caught up in one of the scandals which have blighted FIFA this year.

    Platini has submitted his candidacy to succeed him but he has not yet been approved to stand.

    That depends on what, if any sanctions, are imposed on him by the ethics committee and passing an integrity check.

  • NIGERIA VS SWAZILAND: FIFA rejects shift to Abuja stadium

    NIGERIA VS SWAZILAND: FIFA rejects shift to Abuja stadium

    •Insists on Port Harcourt for World Cup game
    •Cites failure to meet 10 days mandatory notice for change

    World football governing body FIFA have turned down a request by Nigeria for Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Swaziland to be moved from Port Harcourt to Abuja.

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), it was  learnt, demanded the match be moved to Abuja for “logistical reasons”, but FIFA said the application was not received within the mandatory 10 days allowed for such a request.

    “The request failed because it was done within the 10-day window allowed for such a request,” an official disclosed.

    The southern Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt has hosted Nigeria’s home games this year thanks to the generosity of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, but his election has now been nullified by a tribunal which has ordered for a new election.

    Minnows Swaziland held star-studded Nigeria to a goalless draw in the first leg of the 2018 World Cup qualifier in Lobambo and the return clash is slated for Tuesday afternoon in Port Harcourt.

    The overall winners of this match-up will advance to the group stage of the qualifying series for Russia 2018.

  • WCQ: FIFA rejects Nigeria’s bid to change match venue

    WCQ: FIFA rejects Nigeria’s bid to change match venue

    Football’s world football governing body, FIFA, has turned down Nigeria’s request for Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Swaziland to be moved from Port Harcourt to Abuja.

    The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), according to africanFootball.com, demanded the match be moved to Abuja for “logistical reasons,” but FIFA said the application was not received within the mandatory 10 days allowed for such a request.

    “The request failed because it was not done within the 10-day window allowed for such a request,” an official told africanFootball.com.

    The southern Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt has hosted Nigeria’s home games this year thanks to the generosity of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, but his election has now been nullified by a tribunal which ordered a new vote.

    Swaziland held star-studded Nigeria to a goalless draw in the first leg of the 2018 World Cup qualifier in Lobambo and the return clash is slated for Tuesday afternoon in Port Harcourt.

    The overall winners of this match-up will advance to the group stage of the qualifying series for Russia 2018.

  • FIFA PRESIDENCY: NFF tells Odegbami to face reality

    FIFA PRESIDENCY: NFF tells Odegbami to face reality

    The Nigeria Football Federation has chastised former Nigerian international player Olusegun Odegbami to stop his campaign of calumny against the NFF and prominent Nigerian football figures and face up to the reality that he undid him own campaign for a slot at the FIFA Presidency.

    Former Green Eagles’ captain Odegbami failed to secure the statutory five nominations needed to put him on the ballot for next year’s FIFA Presidential election, and has been relentless in throwing salvos against the NFF and prominent figures like Dr. Amos Adamu and Chief Orji Uzor Kalu.

    “We are thoroughly disappointed at the conduct of Chief Odegbami since his failed bid,” Hon. Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande, Chairman of the NFF Media and Publicity Committee, stated. “He was his own big problem, with the letter he wrote castigating the leadership of FIFA and CAF, which he brazenly copied to these eminent figures.

    “We consider Chief Odegbami an elder statesman in Nigeria football, but he has been throwing a lot of tantrums lately. He has been accusing very prominent and illustrious persons of so many things, and pretending to be a saint.”

    Yahaya-Kwande, also a ranking member of the House of Representatives, said the onus was on Odegbami to secure his five nominations outside NFF’s endorsement.

    “The NFF is aware that Odegbami reached out to the Football Associations of Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic and Zambia. How is his failure the fault of the NFF? They told him to his face that they were opposed to him because of his statements against the President of CAF, who is now Acting FIFA President.

    “He said the NFF wasted time in endorsing him. As far back as September 8, we set out conditions for himself and Chief Orji Kalu to meet before we could endorse either of them. We always emphasized extensive consultations by the aspirants. It is outrightly mischievous for him to give the impression that the NFF was his problem. The NFF President was in Cairo, Egypt to campaign for him for the five nominations, but where was Odegbami himself on the day that mattered?

    “Let it be said that Nigeria was the only country where more than one person showed interest in the race. Odegbami was a great football player and brought honour to Nigeria, but Chief Kalu also brought honour to Nigeria through extensive support for Enyimba to win top laurels.It is also true that Kalu announced his interest before Odegbami did.”

    Yahaya-Kwande emphasized that none of the candidates who eventually got on the ballot relied solely on their National Association to get the five nominations for them.

    “Odegbami has this strange idea that everyone else is tainted and he is not! He worked against himself. It is not NFF’s problem; it is his problem, entirely.”

  • We agreed on Russia 2018 before vote – Blatter

    We agreed on Russia 2018 before vote – Blatter

    Suspended FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, has revealed that there was an agreement in place for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup before the voting process even took place.

    Blatter told Russian news agency Tass of a “discussion” in 2010 about future World Cups.

    He said a plan was in place for Russia to host in 2018 and the United States four years later, but a late swing in voting gave Qatar the 2022 tournament instead.

    The 79-year-old is serving a 90-day ban handed to him by FIFA’s Ethics Committee, africanFootball.com reports.

    The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments is the subject of an ongoing Swiss criminal investigation, taking place alongside a U.S investigation into corruption charges at the football world governing body.

    Asked whether it was a mistake to hold voting for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments simultaneously, Blatter replied that before the ballot: “It was agreed inside the group that we go to Russia because it has never been to Eastern Europe, and for 2022 we go back to America.

    “And so we would have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers.”

  • FIFA investigates Amos Adamu

    FIFA investigates Amos Adamu

    FIFA ex-executive member, Amos Adamu is under investigation by the body’s ethics committee, it revealed on Wednesday.

    The Nigerian is alleged to have breached FIFA’s code of ethics but world football’s governing body did not provide any more details.

    The 62-year-old was a member of FIFA’s executive committee for four years until 2010, when he was banned from all football activity for three years.

    He was banned over claims he asked for money in exchange for World Cup votes.

    Adamu’s suspension expired in October 2013.

    He was a high-ranking government official for Nigerian sport for 20 years and was once considered to be a leading candidate to succeed long-serving Issa Hayatou as president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

  • FIFA reform chief calls for ‘rotational presidency’

    FIFA reform chief calls for ‘rotational presidency’

    The committee chief, Domenico Scala, said FIFA should have a rotating presidency as part of a wide-range reform in the wake of corruption allegation, its audit and compliance.

    Scala told newsmen on Wednesday that such a move, similar to the rotating presidency of the EU, would address governance issues and also ease the current problem of a short list of candidates to succeed Joseph Blatter in February.

    “Why do we need to focus on one person who would lead FIFA for the next eight or 12 years, whatever the term limits are? Why not have a presidency which rotates every four years?

    “Presidents could be nominated by the six confederations.

    “Each confederation would have the right to have a president for, say, four years. Why should a European run FIFA for the next 12 years? ’’ Scala said.

    Scala added that it would also diminish the power of an individual president, and help eliminate the old boys’ network and better represent the diversity of football worldwide.

    A FIFA reform commission has so far only recommended term limits of 12 years for presidents; whereas Blatter has been in office for 17 years.

    Scala also addressed the “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs from Blatter to UEFA boss Platini from which no written contract exists.

    The payment is under a Swiss criminal investigation and led to the suspension of both by the FIFA ethics committee, which later was to go public with other cases it is dealing with.

    “The key points are a conflict of interest and the non-accrual of the 2 million Swiss francs in FIFA’s accounts.

    “Both parties admit that there was an agreement about the 2 million Swiss francs, but that amount was never recorded in FIFA’s accounts until the payment occurred.

    “That is a serious omission, and both parties were members of FIFA’s executive committee and knowingly approved each year financial statements which were incorrect by 2 million Swiss francs.

    “That could be seen as falsification of the accounts,’’ Scala said.

  • Kalu for FIFA president!

    Kalu for FIFA president!

    I have always tried to restrain from writing on Orji Kalu, a former Abia State governor. But who can ignore his laughable new ambition. He wants to be FIFA boss. I laugh even as I pen these words. What struck me first was a conversation he had with editors when somebody asked him about his educational qualifications.  “We are talking about forwarding Abia to all forwardness,” he said with a flourish, “and you are talking about cerfiticate (sic).” Is this the sort of literacy you want for Nigeria? Nada. In local parlance, we should say he has committed foul, or “fa-fa-fa foul!!”

    Not long ago, he embarked on a nationwide trip from state to state, visiting governors. It was more of ego trip. He was jobless and bored, although boorish. He was, however, not boring because of his disastrous elocution and capacity to amuse after he had left the scene of his performance. Never mind that he writes a column. I would want him to write that column in public, so we can know if he is capable of the literacy he poses.

    Only a Kalu could have encouraged a headline last Saturday saying that Asiwaju Tinubu was under surveillance for a plot against Buhari. Publishers like him make editors look unprofessional. The story did not pass Journalism 101 test. If there was surveillance, what was the nature? The man was not even around? Two, if there was a plot, what was the nature of the plot, to overthrow him as President – which is treason; or to unseat him in APC? When a man does not know the difference between verb and noun, how can he become a good boss of world football? How can he distinguish score as verb and as noun? No one will vote him boss of Southeast soccer. It is enough that Ochendo has made him a mouse in Abia State, so he dreams to be an elephant of world football. What megalomania!

  • Blatter appeals against suspension

    Blatter appeals against suspension

    Joseph Blatter has appealed against his suspension by the Ethics Committee of world football body FIFA, his American lawyer Richard Cullen said on Friday.

    Cullen told newsmen that Blatter’s appeal was filed Thursday to the FIFA appeal committee.

    The news came after Blatter’s adviser Klaus Stoehlker had said an appeal against the provisional suspension would make no sense.

    The ethics committee on Thursday banned Blatter, as well as Michel Platini, the UEFA president and FIFA vice-president, for 90 days.

    The ban was in in connection with a criminal investigation by Swiss authorities.

    Blatter is suspected of mismanagement and Platini is named as the recipient of a “disloyal payment” from FIFA.

    Platini said on Thursday that he would appeal the ruling and, like Blatter, he has protested his innocence.

    Blatter and Platini are banned from all football activities for 90 days or until the appeal committee nullifies the ban.

    However, there is still the possibility of the ethics committee extending the ban for another 45 days.

    Platini is a candidate for the FIFA presidency at an extraordinary congress billed for Feb. 26, but he must however first go through an integrity check.

    Another potential candidate, Chung Mong-joon of South Korea, was banned for six years Thursday over other issues.

    As a result of this, and according to FIFA statutes, senior vice-president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon is now the acting FIFA president.