FIFA – Page 4 – Declan Hill – Investigative Journalist & Academic

03JunJune 3, 2015

10 Thoughts on Sepp Blatter’s Resignation

1- There are lots of people in the FIFA world who are far, far worse than Blatter. 2- It is possible that after the next FIFA election we could wind up with a president who will make us feel nostalgic for Blatter. 3- Blatter and his group at Zurich ran effective protection for national football federations around the world when they faced criminal investigations for corruption. From Nigeria to Iran to Greece – when governments, police forces and law enforcement have...

01JunJune 1, 2015

Loud Booing, Bridge of Lies & South African Fix

What to do if you're a Canadian soccer fan. It is very simple. Cheer the players: Boo the soccer officials. Anytime a FIFA official walks on the pitch or addresses the crowd: boo and jeer them. For good measure, make signs that denounce them. At these international events, FIFA officials’ usual trick is to make sure they are only seen on the pitches accompanied by fashion models or small children in costumes. Ignore the models, respect the children, but jeer the FIFA officials. Remember, this...

27MayMay 27, 2015

The End of FIFA’s Credibility

Finally. Finally. Finally. This must be the end to Sepp Blatter. This must be the end to the reign of corruption at FIFA. Never has the sports world seen such a spectacle. Officials being carted off for arrest as they arrive for an international conference. Can FIFA ever regain its credibility? A couple of thoughts. 1) Full kudos to Jens Weinreich and Andrew Jennings. They have been saying this for years. They said it and wrote about it when few would listen. 2) Why did it...

21MayMay 21, 2015

Murdered Bikers, IOC/FIFA and Dead Men Walking

The links between organized crime bike gangs and the IOC/FIFA Okay, everyone calm down. This blog is not about Thomas Bach’s previously unknown (and utterly fictional) history as a Hells Angels member or Sepp Blatter’s non-role as a Bandido drug enforcer. Rather it is about the reason why those nine motorcycle gang members were murdered in Waco, Texas and how it is linked to a key issue around international sports organizations. Brand protection. The superficial reason for the killings last weekend was...

24AprApril 24, 2015

Media Spin, the Qataris and Chris Eaton

It is called ‘media spin’. If you missed the story, a man who is involved in the Qatari anti-corruption agency for sports – Chris Eaton – is now claiming in the media that he is shocked about a new book that investigates whether the Qataris may have been offering bribes to win the rights to host the 2022 World Cup. Eaton has even said FIFA should investigate “if there is new evidence whatever it shows and whoever it implicates, then FIFA...

07AprApril 7, 2015

The Wrong People using the Wrong Tools in the Wrong Way

It is a tale of two reports. The first was released last month by the investigators of the Cycling International Report Commission (CIRI). They examined the actions of Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) who govern elite cycling. Their report is a review of the colossal failure of anti-doping efforts in cycling over the last twenty-years. This failure came about despite tens-of-millions of dollars being spent on anti-doping and the deaths of a number of riders. The former cyclist Nicole Cooke brilliantly described...