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WORLD CUP VOTING SCANDAL REIGNITED AS BOOK CLAIMS FIFA MADE SECRET $100M DEAL WITH QATARI TV COMPANY

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The controversy over the award of hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup has again come up. Daily Mail of the United Kingdom reports that more than seven years after the votes, there are revelations that Qatar’s state TV company agreed a $100million payment to FIFA if they got the 2022 finals.

According to the newspaper, the claims are made in a new book by a whistleblower from inside Australia’s failed 2022 bid, Bonita Mersiades, who has spent years investigating the saga and conducted a recent confessional interview with former FIFA president Sepp Blatter about the process.

Among other new revelations, Blatter claims in the book that:

  • German legend Franz Beckenbauer, who publicly supported Australia’s bid, would not have done so unless he was paid — in breach of the rules;
  • Blatter knew before the vote for 2022 was even conducted that Qatar would win and favourites USA would lose out;
  • He was so certain of it that he personally called American president Barack Obama in the days before the vote to tell him the US would lose.

Blatter says he knew Qatar would win because Michel Platini told him that he and multiple others on the 22-man voting ExCo panel were going to back the tiny state on the Arabian Peninsula. Blatter was subsequently dismayed with Qatar’s win and wanted them stripped of the tournament but says he did a deal — twice — to stop that happening, in exchange for Qatar’s Emir guarantee that Blatter would not face a 2011 FIFA presidential challenge from Qatar’s ExCo member Mohamed bin Hammam.

Blatter also describes the circumstances of the deals, one made in Doha in late 2010 and one in his FIFA office in Zurich in 2011.

The book says that in the months before the vote in December 2010 — with FIFA executives privately worried that a Qatar win would leave a financial shortfall for coffers in 2022 — broadcaster Al Jazeera (now beIN Sports) agreed the secret deal to pay $100m if Qatar won the vote, which subsequently happened. When asked about the payment by The Mail on Sunday this week, the broadcaster did not dispute it but characterised the bonus as ‘production contributions’ that are ‘standard market practice and are often imposed upon broadcasters by sports federations and sports rights holders’.

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Beckenbauer, 72, is arguably Germany’s foremost footballing hero having won the World Cup for his country as a player and captain (1974), manager (1990) and tournament bid leader (2006).

In the book, Blatter is reported as claiming Beckenbauer would have received money for working for Australia’s bid team, a huge conflict of interest and forbidden by bidding rules given that he was on the 22-man ExCo voting committee. Beckenbauer was banned by FIFA for 90 days in 2014 for failing to co-operate with lawyer Michael Garcia’s inquiry into the 2018-2022 process, and when he did later co-operate, he gave evidence that Garcia concluded was unreliable and contradicted other evidence.

Separately, Beckenbauer has been subject to an ongoing investigation around alleged bidding irregularities around the 2006 World Cup.

Mersiades explains how Australia’s three ‘international bid consultants’ were paid around £9m out of a public purse budget of around £30m for services that remain sketchy. One of those consultants was Beckenbauer’s friend and business partner, Fedor Radmann, who also declined to cooperate with Garcia. Radmann earned about £2m from Australia.

Blatter told Mersiades: ‘No doubt Radmann had some scheme going. I know he [Radmann] got a lot of money, and Franz wouldn’t do what he did for Australia for nothing.’

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Blatter claims that in the end, Australia’s sole vote before they crashed out actually came from him, not Beckenbauer, who has always declined to say who he voted for. Beckenbauer has not responded to questions about the issue submitted to him via his representatives.

Garcia said in his report: ‘Devices employed by the bid team and its consultants were seemingly aimed at hiding ties with Mr Radmann, while taking advantage of his influence over Mr Beckenbauer to further the bid strategy.’

The deal over the $100m bonus from Al Jazeera was agreed, the book says, with the involvement and knowledge of Jérôme Valcke, secretary general of FIFA at the time but later banned for nine years from football for corruption.

The book says: ‘Valcke’s concerns about revenue growth in relation to Qatar were assuaged when negotiations commenced in October 2010 for a bonus payment of US $100m to FIFA from Al Jazeera if Qatar won 2022. There was no way he could turn it down. According to former FIFA staff, Valcke’s share was generally five per cent for negotiating the deal.’

Mersiades asked Blatter about this bonus and he says: ‘Sponsors and broadcasters pay bonuses all the time. That is not unusual.’

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When pushed to clarify that a $100m bonus was ‘normal’, Blatter shrugged.

A spokesman for beIN said: ‘There is clearly a significant uplift in interest and additional revenues to a broadcaster and significant additional local production costs to a rights holder when a major sports event is awarded in a broadcaster’s domestic market. The relevant media agreements were stand alone from any bid, and were in no way intended to influence the outcome of the vote.’

The book will be launched at a reception at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, hosted by football governance reform advocates including MP Damian Collins.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Guinea names Portugal’s Duarte as new national coach

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African Cup of Nations - Semi Finals - Burkina Faso v Egypt- Stade de l'Amitie - Libreville, Gabon - 1/2/17 Burkina Faso coach Paulo Jorge Duarte Reuters / Amr Abdallah Dalsh Livepic/File Photo

Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.

Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.

Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.

Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.

They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.

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-Reuters

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Veteran coach Van Gaal says he is cured of cancer

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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.

The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”

When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.

Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.

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He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.

-Reuters

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Like father like son, Davide Ancelotti becomes Brazil’s Botafogo manager

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Davide Ancelotti, son of Brazil's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, has been appointed coach of Botafogo, the Rio de Janeiro club announced on Tuesday.

In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.

The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.

This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.

The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.

Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.

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As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.

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