FIFA in clampdown over bids

FIFA provisionally suspended two members of its executive committee from Nigeria and Oceania late on Wednesday as it scrambled to contain an alleged World Cup vote-selling scandal.

The president of world football’s governing body, Sepp Blatter, called it “a sad day for football,” as FIFA’s ethics committee warned of “zero tolerance” and officials sought to salvage the credibility of the selection process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups just weeks before the hosts are chosen.

“We had to take a decision to suspend two members of the FIFA executive committee... They are Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii,” Claudio Sulser, president of FIFA’s ethics committee, told journalists.

Adamu and Temarii will remain suspended pending a full investigation and ruling on the fundamentals of the case in mid-November that might lead to stiffer sanctions.

FIFA had summoned the two members of its 24-strong executive committee to a meeting of the ethics body in Zurich, which is investigating allegations of votes being sold in World Cup bidding for 2018.

A British newspaper reported on Sunday that the two had offered to sell their votes in the bidding race for the 2018 World Cup to undercover journalists posing as lobbyists.

Four other senior officials were also suspended provisionally from any football related activity after the ethics body viewed more than 90 minutes of video recordings provided by The Sunday Times, much of it unpublished, then heard Adamu and Temarii.

The four included key former FIFA committee members Slim Aloulou of Tunisia, Ismael Bhamjee of Botswana, Tonga’s Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Amadou Diakite of Mali.

“I can only agree with the chairman of the ethics committee... when he said it’s a sad day for football,” said Blatter.

England, Russia, and joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium are in the running to host the 2018 World Cup. For 2022, the contenders are Qatar, Australia, the United States, Japan and South Korea.

FIFA maintained an announcement for December 2 on which countries will host both events after its 24-strong executive committee makes the choice.

However, the full voting arrangements are due to be confirmed by FIFA’s executive committee on October 28-29.

Blatter said he expected “all members of the FIFA family to behave in an honest, sincere and respectful manner.”

The money allegedly re-quested by Adamu was to pay for four artificial football pitches in Nigeria, but he had said it should be paid to him personally.

However, he is also now under investigation by his country’s anti-corruption agency.

Temarii insists he was innocent of the claims made in the newspaper report and has vowed to clear his name.

The Sunday Times alleged it filmed the Tahitian, who is also a FIFA vice-president, demanding 2.3 million US dollars to set up a sports academy in Auckland.

The OFC is based in New Zealand.

Best method

Meanwhile, FIFA chiefs insisted the method of choosing World Cup hosts should not be changed despite the cash-for-votes scandal.

The tournament hosts are chosen by the 24 men who sit on FIFA’s executive committee and there has been criticism that to concentrate such power in the hands of so few is asking for trouble because every single vote carries such weight.

An alternative method would be for each of the 206 member associations who make up FIFA to have a vote at their Congress, in the way that FIFA president is elected.

Chuck Blazer, the United States’ FIFA executive committee member, insisted that would be the wrong course of action.

“The executive committee is responsible for putting on the World Cup so it’s good they make the decision as they are accountable,” Blazer said.

“The worst thing we can do is give it to another body such as the Congress to decide, as that has further distance and it could be made purely on political grounds.”