According to the BBC, the FIFA communications director Walter De Gregorio has been fired after telling a joke about the World Cup governing body on Swiss TV.
Gregorio told Swiss chat show Schawinski: “…the FIFA president, secretary general and communications director are all travelling in a car…Who’s driving?”
“The police.”
FIFA announced in a statement that De Gregorio had “relinquished his office,” though according to the BBC, he was asked to leave by the still-acting-president Sepp Blatter.
“Sepp Blatter has sensationally quit amid the bribery scandal that has consumed FIFA,” writes the U.K. Daily Mail.
He announced it at the Zurich FIFA headquarters at a hastily-called news conference. Blatter is currently under intense scrutiny as the FBI in the U.S. investigates whether bribes were authorized by soccer’s world governing body.
Blatter announced he will continue in the role until an “extraordinary congress” can be called to vote in a successor.
“…Although FIFA have given me a new mandate, it doesn’t seem to be supported by everyone – fans, clubs. Those who inspire FIFA like we do.”
The resignation announcement comes after a press on Tuesday that reportedly linked FIFA’s number two man – secretary general Jerome Valcke – to payments made in 2008 that investigators believe amounted to $10 million in bribes. FIFA said in a statement that the payments were approved in 2007 by the chairman of FIFA’s finance committee at the time, Julio Grondona, write The New York Times.
“I only want to do the best for FIFA and my institution,” said Blatter in Zurich. “I decided to stand again as the best option for football. The elections are closed but the challenges we face haven’t come to and end. FIFA needs restructuring. Although FIFA have given me a new mandate, it doesn’t seem to be supported by everyone – fans, clubs. Those who inspire FIFA like we do.
“This is why we will cause a process, it will be held to. I will continue to exercise my function as president at FIFA until next time. The new elections will be held until in Mexico.
“I will not stand of course and I am free from the constraints of an election. I will be free to focus on an election.
Blatter’s 17-year reign as FIFA’s top official has looked increasingly untenable since the FBI charged 14 officers with high-level corruption last week.
He reportedly would like to recommend term limits for the FIFA presidency. “We need a structutual change of profile change. We need to look at the profiles and attitude of all the members. We need limitations on mandate in terms of office presidency…,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/sports/soccer/sepp-blatter-to-resign-as-fifa-president.html
Despite the chaos and controversy engulfing world football’s governing body, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has secured a fifth term in charge, according to The Guardian newspaper.
The 79-year-old defeated his rival, the Jordanian Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein. Blatter polled 133 votes to Prince Ali’s 73, which would have been enough to take the contest to a potential second round but his 39-year-old challenger withdrew.
It could yet prove a hollow victory. Blatter has weathered the storm in the short term but the result leaves him presiding over a split FIFA as he faces the biggest self-inflicted crisis in its 111-year history. “For the next four years I will be in command of this boat called FIFA and we will bring it back ashore, we will bring it back to the beach,” he said, promising to make this four year term his last.
Blatter gained 133 votes to Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein’s 73 in the first round of voting, not enough to secure a two-thirds majority, but the challenger conceded defeat.
Prince Ali will claim a moral victory, writes The Guardian newspaper.
Blatter appeared giddy after winning his fifth term as president, writes The Guardian. “I like you, I like my job and I like to be with you. I’m not perfect, nobody’s perfect,” he said. “Trust and confidence, together we go,” he said.
Also, Zurich police confirmed today that they were responding to a bomb alert at the venue where FIFA is hosting its widely-watched annual congress, amid a massive corruption scandal that has seen several FIFA officials detained.
Zurich police spokeswoman Brigitte Vogt confirmed that a bomb alert had been received at the venue where FIFA is holding the scheduled vote for the presidency that Blatter is expected to win, writes the South China Morning Post.
“I can confirm there has been a bomb threat against the FIFA congress, officers have been dispatched,” the spokeswoman said.
Above, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch comments on the FIFA corruption bust saying, it was a “long-running” investigation and the DOJ will bring the wrong-doers to justice.
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Acting on an indictment by the U.S. Justice Department, Swiss police arrested several top FIFA officials on charges of corruption on Wednesday. They were accused of widespread corruption dating to the 1990s.
Sepp Blatter – the FIFA president – was not arrested, and is expected to win a fifth term as FIFA’s president today, Friday. Blatter became president of FIFA in 1998.
The FIFA congress will begin at 8:30am UK time on Friday (9:30am in Zurich, 3:30am New York time).
The Guardian reports that here are several items on the agenda – including “suspension or expulsion of a member” and “president’s address” – before “item 17:” election of the president. The results of that election may be around 4:00pm UK time (around 11:00 am New York time).
Incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter – angling for a fifth term in the top job – and his only rival, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, will each address the congress before the 209 associations cast their votes, according to The Guardian.
Is it blasphemy? Soccer is being held at New York’s Yankee Stadium, built for baseball.
Wikipedia states that “(O)n April 21, 2014, it was announced that New York City FC, a Major League Soccer expansion team owned jointly by the New York Yankees and Manchester City, would play in Yankee Stadium from 2015 until their new stadium is completed. NYCFC played their first game at Yankee Stadium on March 15, 2015.”
On a gorgeous Thursday night in April, fans chanted “olé olé olé olé” under banners of Babe Ruth on the concourse outside, according to USA Today. Young men in bright blue scarves discussed Mix Diskerud’s latest performance while going through security.
Over 20,000 fans showed up at Yankee Stadium on April 11th (a weekday evening) to see New York City F.C., the city’s new MLS expansion team, take on Philadelphia Union in a game that was being branded as a possible new rivalry, states USA Today.
The game ended in a 1-1 tie.
Regional rivalries are part of MLS’ development strategy, similar to the three-team grouping in the Pacific Northwest – Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps. The rivalries drove fan interest and ratings when they played on national TV, states USA Today.
No one is sure if the NYCFC–Union rivalry will take off. It still feels new, states USA Today, but NYCFC is a new team.
It was “born of the wealth of Manchester City and the New York Yankees and the desire to bring soccer to the Big Apple. (The New York Red Bulls actually play in Harrison, New Jersey, which is just a PATH train-ride away.)
Despite being the wrong shape for a soccer venue, Yankee Stadium is surprisingly intimate. The field is packed into the outfield and reaches just to the pitching mound, which is covered for every game.
(NYCFC’s schedule was worked around the Yankees schedule to give the stadium crew time to set up the field.)
The supporters’ section, located in the left field bleachers, is loud and still figuring out what it means to be a supporters’ section.
It’s “beautifully raw,” according to USA Today. The fans sing songs, usually made famous by other soccer clubs. (They particularly love an updated version of “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel, which is a mainstay at stadiums on both sides of the pond.)
But the teams may need some new chants. “We don’t like most of the chants,” said Marvin Blugh, a 25-year-old from Brooklyn who bought season tickets in the bleachers this year. “Feels like we’re ripping off the other teams.”
Soccer (football) club chairmen in Britain are warning of a new threat of football hooliganism from retired grandfathers.
Dave Doggett, boss of the soccer team Cambridge United, says a hardcore of around 10 men in their 50s and 60s are trying to relive the 1980s by arranging fights with rivals on match days.
“Club chiefs say ageing thugs who took part in violence during the 1970s and 80s are returning to the terraces,” according to the Daily Mirror.
Mr. Doggett warns the violence has increased recently as the men return to the club in their retirements after being distracted by years of having a career and raising families.
Doggett says there is a danger that they will spread violence as they try to encourage younger men to join their “gangs,” states The Telegraph.
Writing in his club’s latest program, Mr Doggett says: “Unfortunately football clubs still attract an undesirable element of society that appear determined to ruin the enjoyment of real supporters of football clubs.
“Our promotion to the Football League appears to have encouraged our ‘risk’ from the 1980s to come out of retirement.
“Many of them are grandparents trying to encourage the next generation to join their ‘gangs’.
“It sounds pathetic but unfortunately it is reality.”
Doggett states they are working closely with police on the matter.
More:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/grandad-football-hooligans-coming-out-5493256
Jay Hart of the British semi-pro soccer team Clitheroe was cut from the team after video of him and the fan you see was made public. They were having sex in the opposing team’s dugout after a match, writes the publication Screamer.
The match in question was a 4-1 Clitheroe loss to team Mossley. Coincidentally, Mossley had advertised the game as “ladies day” in appreciation of their female fans, according to Screamer and The Daily Mirror.
While the two were going at it, someone nearby secretly began recording the encounter. Afterward, the video was shared online and caught the attention of Hart’s football club, which swiftly made the decision to get rid of the player.
The Mirror:
“Striker Jay Hart can be heard laughing on the mobile phone footage as he was caught still in his club T-shirt…”
The Mirror continues:
“The face of the fan cannot be seen. Within hours of the footage being circulated to team-mates and fans, Hart was sacked by the club, who play in Evo-Stik Division 1 North.”
Club chairwoman Anne Barker said that Hart had brought the club into disrepute. She said “Any players, while wearing a Clitheroe tracksuit, represents the club.”
“We expect a certain level of behavior and discipline. And that wasn’t it.”
To his credit, Hart – of Accrington, Lancashire – apologized for the incident and said he was “full of regret.”
The video appears to have been scrubbed from the internet. However, there is still an image on twitter.
The story isn’t all fun, though. Hart’s girlfriend slammed whoever was responsible for posting the video clip, according to The Daily Mirror.
She took to the Clitheroe Football Club Facebook page to vent her frustration at those who had made light of the incident.
She wrote: “Have a bit of decency for the people it’s affected. Thank god my kids are too young to read.”
(Updated post)
Starkville, Mississippi. Few teams across the country – if any – are more connected with adidas than Mississippi State baseball, states the Clarion-Ledger newspaper.
The team uses adidas not just for apparel, but for gloves and bats too.
However, no one was more surprised by the warmup shirts that featured the phrase “F–K The School Up North” than Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen.
“Somebody ran up and told me,” Cohen said. “It’s unfortunate, but I really don’t have anything (to say) in that area.”
Mississippi State will not wear the shirts again, the Clarion-Ledger reports.
In England, the soccer team – er, football team – Chelsea moved to within two wins of reclaiming the Premier League title after player Eden Hazard’s goal gave them a narrow victory over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge stadium in Fulham, England.
Victory in the coming games at Arsenal and Leicester City will return the title to Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2010.
London’s Chelsea were pushed all the way by a resurgent Manchester United, looking toward a seventh successive victory.
Manchester United player Wayne Rooney and the recalled Radamel Falcao came closest for Man. U., but once again they fell victim to the resilience and defensive strength that is Chelsea’s trademark under manager Jose Mourinho, assisted by the brilliance of Hazard, states the BBC.
(Updated post)
There have been a number of high-profile sexism cases in British football (soccer) in recent years, according to the BBC.
The Football Association is calling on fans to report sexist abuse at games after being shown disturbing scenes of women officials and staff being subjected to obscene chants, according to BBC Sport.
Footage obtained by the BBC shows Chelsea’s female medic Dr Eva Carneiro and a female assistant referee Helen Byrne suffering taunts during recent matches.
FA board member Heather Rabbatts described the abuse as “horrible”. She said it should not be tolerated, adding: “We are absolutely encouraging people to report incidents like this.”
The footage was taken at Chelsea matches against Manchester City and Manchester United, as well as a game in the Football League.
Update: two videos of this incident have been removed from the internet.
Edited version:
The original video below has been removed.
(Updated post)
OK, Fine. 