FIFA was facing fresh bribery claims Sunday after a whistle-blower accused two executive members of the international soccer body of striking deals worth $1.5 million for their votes ahead of last week's contest to host the World Cup

Bribes look to be cheap these days

A: Who gives a ********?
Okay, well...now what?
As a candidate for the now-vacant post of President of the United States Soccer Federation, I would like to be the first, and last, to wish Sunil Gulati well in his future failures. I'm sure Mr. Gulati looks forward to spending more time with his family, despite the huge and crushing shame he has brought upon them.

There are many reasons as to why England were not chosen to host the 2018 World Cup, but I have picked out 8 which seem to be the most potent....

1. Football hooliganism

England fans, although they have been better in recent years, still hold this stigma as no-good thugs.

The Brazilian referee appointed for England's opening Group C game against the USA was suspended last season by his national federation amid accusations of bribery and incompetence.
Carlos Eugênio Simon, who has officiated at the last two World Cup finals, was stood down by the Brazilian football confederation for the final six weeks of the domestic campaign after a build-up of perceived errors culminated in the president of Palmeiras denouncing him as "a crook, a scoundrel and a shameless bastard".

The 2018-2022 bidding process has had an industrial-strength spanner thrown in its works over the last few days, with the "allegations" (read gotchas) against two members of the FIFA ExCo. One can assume that the more canny members of FIFA's elite club would have been a little more circumspect in their comments in the company of people they didn't know.

FIFA are on the defensive again today, after yet another tidal wave of allegations concerning the corruption of their World Cup bidding system broke across their bow yesterday afternoon.

Football's governing body have vowed to look into fresh claims made by Michel Zen-Ruffinen in yesterday's Sunday Times, wherein their former secretary-general seemed adamant that he could identify numerous executive committee members that were open to selling their votes for both money and/or women.

Despite the fact that FIFA officials are currently being investigated for bribery and collusion allegations involved with allegedly attempting to sell their the 2018 and 2022 World Cup secret ballot votes, the international football committee is still expected to proceed with their official balloting this December 2nd in Zurich.

Mine is Billy Corgan!

The problem isn't that the USA didn't get the World Cup. If Australia, Korea, or Japan got the tourney, we'd all be sad, but it wouldn't so horrible. Those are places we (as soccer fans) want to visit and experience. No one "whining" about the bid deision has a problem with the World Cup in the Middle East.

After a close call (Vidic v. Cahill) as well as record-high votes (Gourcuff v. Kranjcar), the wait is over. So, who made the cut?

No, not Marco Borriello. Much to our dismay. You have broken his heart and left our headquarters in shambles. In other words, you came out in masses to rally around your favourite finely-arsed ballers.

After a close call (Vidic v. Cahill) as well as record-high votes (Gourcuff v. Kranjcar), the wait is over. So, who made the cut?

No, not Marco Borriello. Much to our dismay. You have broken his heart and left our headquarters in shambles. In other words, you came out in masses to rally around your favourite finely-arsed ballers.

So after having my mind well and truly away from the football universe now all things United have shut up shop for the season, I inexplicably missed the initial breaking news that Lord Triesman had displayed 'Old Fools Syndrome' and put England's 2018 bid at risk from a sporting version of Foot and Mouth disease.

By Amit Katwala, writing from England

Travelers attempting to get into Britain have again faced disruption and difficulties as a cloud of volcanic ash has again grounded flights from many major airports. But their trials will be nothing compared to the torturous path that the 2018 World Cup will have taken if the FA somehow manage to bring it to these shores as part of Britain's decade of sport.

England maybe in more trouble than previously though if Fabio Capello is worried about referee Carlos Simon. The Brazilian is set to officiate the England vs USA match on June 12th and his 'error prone' ways have not inspired confidence.

The build up orchestrated by the English media against Simon is based on the fact that he was suspended last season by the CBF for incompetence and suspected bribery.

Triesman's Claims Were Unfounded

Amidst the battle for the right to host the 2018 World Cup, England's bid was dealt a severe blow as British paper, The Mail On Sunday decided to run a story which stated that Lord Triesman (who at the time was the head of the English F.A and the England World Cup bid) suggested that Spain and Russia had an agreement, in which Russia's bid would be supported by Spain if Russia helped bribe referees in Spain's favour at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

June 20, 2010

Nelspruit, Mpumalanga

Father's Day with family on the road to Italy-New Zealand. It doesn't get any better than this! There are six of us in the van, including Ignazio and Marco just in from Rome. We are all rigorously decked out in Italy jerseys. With Igna at the wheel, we leave Joburg around 9am.

June 20, 2010

Nelspruit, Mpumalanga

Father's Day with family on the road to Italy-New Zealand. It doesn't get any better than this! There are six of us in the van, including Ignazio and Marco just in from Rome. We are all rigorously decked out in Italy jerseys. With Igna at the wheel, we leave Joburg around 9am.

Yeah okay. So we could be accused of 'leading the witnesses'. But heaven preserve us, look at him! Look! Image via donadabola

Contrary to popular myth, we at Kickette do not sit around the office all day thinking up new and interesting ways to torture you, our delightful readers. No, we sit around the office all day snarking, sneaking slurps from the brown paper wrapped bottles we keep in our desk drawers and occasionally penning the odd short-tent related missive.

BEIJING (AP): The former head of the Chinese Football Association has been arrested and accused of bribery amid a match fixing scandal.

China's Ministry of Public Security announced on its website that Xie Yalong was arrested along with former national team leader Wei Shaohui and former referee committee director Li Dongsheng.

This weeks Gadsbys England roundup, if Rooney on his way from Manchester United, Gadsby argues he must go abroad. Plus the latest on the FIFA World Cup bribery-for-votes scandal. CSRN MEDIA PLAYER

The FIFA executive committee that votes on World Cup hosts uses an 'exhaustive ballot' system, whereby the candidate receiving the fewest votes in each round is eliminated until a single candidate is chosen by the majority.

This method is open to corruption, and I'll explain how below. Note that this is not a condemnation of the system, which is excellent, but a review of the different ways people can influence voting within this method if bribery / vote selling was allowed to happen.

By AVI CREDITOR

To United States men's national team fans, he will always be considered a villain. And he may be coming to a Major League Soccer team near you.

Torsten Frings, whose "save" to clear a ball off the line in the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup helped Germany hold off the United States, said that he hopes to continue his play career for a couple of more years, either in Germany or in the United States, specifically New York.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it. | Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Good, old-fashioned wing play, bad news for Rooney, and some more FIFA-related scandal all feature on this week's football podcast as well as more bad news from Italy, while explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post.

Chinese football has been heading in a downwards spiral for sometime. Corruption in the league office, dismal football and fixed matches being showcased on the pitch, and bribery and scandal has embedded itself in the Chinese culture of the sport. The domestic league was recently proven to be fraudulent and many journalist from the country have recently admitted their embarrassment of what the sport has become in the nation.

FIFA's paradoxically named Ethics committee have admitted that football's governing body have suffered 'very great damage' as a result of the corruption scandal that has engulfed the entire organisation after the Sunday Times went public with the results of their covert investigation into collusion between the bidders for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Photo by Rafael Alvez, through creative commons on flickr.com

While most of the attention around the recent World Cup bidding scandal has rightfully gone to the layers of corruption embedded in FIFA's current process, that has obscured another interesting angle to the story: the bid bribery was embedded in the nebulous way World Cup bids are supposed to serve development goals.

The time will soon be upon us when it will be discovered whether the England 2018 World Cup bid team (as well as their Russian, Spanish/Portuguese and Dutch/Belgian counterparts) will discover whether the last year or so of flesh-pressing, lobbying, rule-flaunting, power-brokering, politicking, back-slapping, bribery, petty sniping, short-sighted optimism and the abject hemorrhaging of several [.

You knew when FIFA Bribery was being talked of Jack Warner would be in the allegation mix.
And he is.
From the Guardian:

Jack Warner:
Who is he? He has been the president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) since 1990 and a Fifa executive committee member for 27 years, and is a Fifa vice-president.

Controversy A word that seems to constantly mar football is again ever present as FIFA draw a close to deciding on a venue...

For the Game.For the World Irony?

With only two days to the bid, our chances appear considerably slim. The Lord Treisman debacle as well as early allegations that three FIFA committee members took bribes to sway their decision towards England, didn't make good reading.

Controversy A word that seems to constantly mar football is again ever present as FIFA draw a close to deciding on a venue...

For the Game.For the World Irony?

With only two days to the bid, our chances appear considerably slim. The Lord Treisman debacle as well as early allegations that three FIFA committee members took bribes to sway their decision towards England, didn't make good reading.

On Thursday afternoon we will know the venues for the 2018 & 2022 World Cup Finals and a sorry 21-month multinational spat will blessedly come to an end.

What FIFA had wished would be a smooth process has degenerated into an unseemly mess. As wealthy nations squabble for victory, a public tired of perceived corruption in football politics sigh as their suspicions are reinforced.

WASHINGTON, DC — Only minutes after Qatar was announced as FIFA's choice to host the 2022 World Cup, frustrated United States football supporters warned that the rejected US bid could hurt the sport in America. "Gutted", "USA Soccer is set back another 20 years" and "Qatar? Wow. Soccer actually just got less relevant in the [.

Welcome to Fergie Time, a roundup/newsletter type deal that delivers news, opinion and links directly to your screen. As the name suggests, there will be some exaggeration, nsfw moments, canceled press conferences (oh, who are we kidding) and late, late, late scoring of points. You'll like it, trust me.

So we're back to the City Ground where, after the conclusion of the FIFA palm-greasing blatant bribery-fest World Cup 2018 and 2022 selection process is set to be our home for a little longer that the powers-that-be wanted. I've always had strong reservations about leaving the banks of the Trent anyway, so feel somewhat ambivalent whilst retaining a certain level of disgust and disdain for the governing body of our beautiful game [.

Beer and Soccer: Congratulations on being awarded the 2022 World Cup. You must be very proud.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani: Oh yes, the vote established once and for all that Qatar is a greater nation than the United States of America. Yesterday was the happiest day in my life since I seized power from my own father in the coup.

More photos » Handout - Getty Images

3 months ago: DOHA QATAR - UNDATED: In this handout image supplied by Qatar 2022 The Doha Port stadium is pictured in this artists impression as Qatar 2022 World Cup bid unveils it's stadiums on September 16 2010 in Doha Qatar.

There are plenty of things in this old world I know absolutely nothing about. Zilch. Like women's shoes. Or fly fishing. Or macramé.

And bribes. I know diddly-squat about the high-dollar, high-stakes, hifalutin world of bribery.

Why would I? I'm a journalist.

The U.S. had long been considered a favorite to host soccer's World Cup in 2022, but they were beaten out by the tiny Middle East nation of Qatar. FIFA revealed on Thursday that Russia was chosen to host the tournament in 2018, and Qatar for 2022. Qatar won the final round of voting 14-8 over the United States.

208 countries make up FIFA.
So how come only 24 FIFA members get to vote? Democracy at work under Blatter!
Only 24 get to vote for the biggest Sporting contest, or 22 if Mohammed Bin Hammam has anything to do with it, not to mention the financial benefits that come to that country in terms of business contracts.

Alas, 'tis that time of year again when thoughts invariably turn to the 'new' and stock is taken of the twelve months that played out hence and we forthright bods at Soccerlens are no different.

As we yet again slide effortlessly over the cusp of a footballing decade and into 2011, we thought it high time to shame the contemptible (and laud the deserving check out the 'Biggest Winners' list) who have piqued our disdain over the course of the last 525,948 minutes.

Mine is Billy Corgan!

The problem isn't that the USA didn't get the World Cup. If Australia, Korea, or Japan got the tourney, we'd all be sad, but it wouldn't so horrible. Those are places we (as soccer fans) want to visit and experience. No one "whining" about the bid deision has a problem with the World Cup in the Middle East.