Obama wants football to ensure ‘integrity’

ELMAU CASTLE, Germany: USA President Barack Obama said on Monday that it was crucial that global football ensure the “integrity” of the sport, when asked about the massive corruption scandal engulfing FIFA.
Obama told reporters it was important “to keep in mind that although football... is a game, it’s also a massive business, a source of incredible national pride and people want to make sure it operates with integrity”.
The world of football is in a turmoil as 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives were accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a sweeping kickbacks scheme going back 20 years involving a total of $150 million in bribes.
The revelations have led to the resignation of long-serving FIFA president Sepp Blatter last week — just four days after his re-election for a fifth successive term.
Dominoes continue to fall as Domenico Scala, the independent chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, told a Swiss newspaper on Sunday that no evidence of vote-buying had emerged, but that if it did, Russia’s and Qatar’s winning bids — respectively, for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments — would be invalidated.
“If evidence exists that Qatar and Russia received the (World Cup) awards only thanks to bribes, then the awards could be annulled,” he was quoted as saying.
His comments were the first by a senior FIFA official to even open up the possibility of either Russia or Qatar being stripped of the right to host the football extravaganza.
Investors in the Gulf state have also reacted nervously to all announcements since the initial arrests of several FIFA officials and the launch of criminal probes against them.
Qatar’s bourse also fell in early trade on Monday after the senior FIFA official’s statement threatened Qatar’s hosting rights of the event.
The 79-year-old Blatter’s replacement will not be chosen for months, but Freddy Rumo, a former vice-president of European football’s governing body UEFA, has said that changing FIFA presidents will not root out graft at the organisation.
Although Blatter has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing, allegations are swirling around his one-time right-hand man Warner.
Accusations surfaced on Sunday that Warner sought a $7 million bribe from Egypt for votes in the bidding process for the 2010 World Cup, and that he pocketed a $10 million payment from South Africa — the eventual host.
Warner was arrested on May 29 at the request of US authorities and is currently free on $400,000 bail pending a decision in his extradition case.
The 72-year-old former schoolteacher and Trinidadian justice minister has denied all the allegations against him.
The BBC claimed he personally used the $10 million payment to FIFA in 2008 which South Africa says was intended for football development for the African diaspora in the Caribbean, where Warner was the longtime football baron.
The BBC, citing documents it has seen, said Warner laundered the money through a supermarket chain, made cash withdrawals, paid off his credit cards and took personal loans.
In three transactions in 2008, funds totalling $10 million were moved from FIFA’s bank into an account of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) which was controlled by Warner, then its president.
According to a 2007 email published on Sunday by South Africa’s Sunday Times, Blatter and then South African president Thabo Mbeki discussed the $10 million.
The email came from FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who has previously said “I have nothing to blame myself for” over the payment.
In another allegation, former Egyptian sports minister Aley Eddine Helal said Warner asked Egypt in 2004 for a $7-million bribe in exchange for seven votes to host the 2010 Cup.