HexagonalBlog

Jack Warner suspended by FIFA

Just to confirm the news that CONCACAF president Jack Warner has been suspended by FIFA until a full investigation of the alleged ethics violations has taken place.  These charges are related to cash payments to CFU members at the CFU meeting in Port-of-Spain earlier this month.  AFC president Mohammed bin Hammam has been suspended as well.

Developing...

Ethics committee livestream

The Ethics committee is having its post-committee press conference right now.  You can find the link here.

The deputy chairman of the Ethics committee, Petrus Damaseb, is speaking right now and summarizing the charges brought before it.

I'm going to split the post here and place the rest after the jump.

Ethics Committee press conference to be streamed

FIFA announced that there will be a press conference at the conclusion of the Ethics Committee meeting, and it will be streamed live on their website. The conference is scheduled to start at 1800 CET, which is in ten minutes from now.  I don't see a direct link, but I imagine there will be one soon.

What will happen tomorrow?

Tomorrow is the day of the FIFA ethics committee meeting, and its rulings will have significant implications on the governance of world soccer and especially that of the CONCACAF region.  Already we're seen one casualty of the corruption investigations, as today Mohammed bin Hammam withdrew his campaign for the FIFA presidency.  It is possible that the FIFA presidential election could be postponed, but I find it unlikely. 

There have been some leaks as to the extent of the charges, and if this exposé in the London Daily Telegraph is accurate, I'm not sure how Warner and bin Hammam can survive in their posts.  Not only are the bribes a significant amount, but they appear to be confirmed by several officials from Caribbean FAs (the article mentioned corroboration from officials with the Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, and Cayman Islands).  Blatter's implication is that allegedly he knew about the payments but did nothing, which would violate the bylaws of the executive committee.  That strikes me more as a sin of omission than one of comission, and it's very possible that the ethics committee will give Blatter either no punishment or a light one for this reason. 

If the ethics committee exonerate Blatter, then I believe the election will go ahead and Blatter will win by acclamation.  It would be nice if there really was a no-confidence vote, but I don't have any illusions about international sport politics (or international politics for that matter) and the fact is that Blatter still has a lot of friends in the power corridors of world football.  They may not be European corridors, but so what?  João Havelange leveraged his support in the Third World to wield an iron grip at FIFA in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  If the committee gives him a light sentence, then I think he will survive and be elected but he will be significantly weakened in Europe.  Again, the "so what?" comment applies, but in that situation I believe there would be a not-so-small possibility of a split in world football.  If the ethics committee drops the boom on Blatter -- very unlikely -- then all bets are off.

So what does this mean for CONCACAF?  For starters, the Warner-Blazer rift is real.  I don't see any way of patching up that relationship after Blazer went to the FIFA ethics committee with those allegations.  Second, the USSF could wind up with even less political clout at CONCACAF than they have right now.  Jack Warner has been making belligerent and bombastic statements in the wake of the allegations saying that there is a vendetta against him, that the Americans have it in for him, and that in the end he will remain CONCACAF president.  Will this region stay together after tomorrow?  In my opinion there aren't better options politically for the USSF, but at some point the big North American federations are going to be tired of being led around by the Caribbean nations that make up the balance of power.  The Canadian and Mexican federations are watching from the sidelines, but I am certain that they are interested in the final outcome.

Alpha United makes history for Guyana

Alpha United became the first Guyanese club to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League after defeating Trinidad's Defence Force in the third place game of the CFU Club Championship.  The match finished 1-1 after 120 minutes, and Alpha United won on penalties. 

More information to follow later.

Tempête and Puerto Rico are playing the final of the CFU Club Championship, but I have not seen a final score yet.

A Haitian team in the Champions League!

Last night Tempête FC became the first Haitian side to qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League after defeating Trinidad's Defence Force on penalties in a CFU Club Championship semifinal.  The match ended goalless but Tempête won the penalty shootout 4-2.  This is very positive news for Haitian football a year and a half after the catastrophic Haitian earthquake, and if the Haitian federation can find a stadium in the country that meets CONCACAF standards, they will play either Isidro Metapán or Morelia in the preliminary round. 

In the second semifinal, Puerto Rico Islanders returned to the Champions League after overcoming Guyana's Alpha United 3-1 after 120 minutes.  Goals by Jonathan Faña and David Foley assured the Islanders of their place in the preliminary round.

Tomorrow night Alpha United and Defence Force will meet to decide who will play Herediano in the CCL preliminary round.    The Islanders and Tempête will play for the CFU title and a showdown against Metapán for a place in the CCL group stage.  The loser of the final will have to play Morelia. 

Local reaction to Jack Warner investigation

FIFA's investigation of CONCACAF president Jack Warner is impacting hard around the world, but no more so than in Warner's native Trinidad & Tobago.  Recall that Warner is also the Works and Transport Minister in the current Trinidad & Tobago government.  Previous allegations made against Warner have been confined to the sports pages, but these charges were promoted to the front pages of the island newspapers.

The Trinidad Express' lead article was "Jack in Bribe Probe".  It was a restatement of news reports from Britain, with additional statements from Warner and bin Hammam that denied the charges and declined to make further comments.  (I highly recommend reading the comments at the end of the article -- it's clear that Warner does not attract lukewarm feelings.) 

The Trinidad Guardian also leads off with the bribery probe against Warner, but with a more detailed statement from Warner denying all charges.  Many people will key in on his sentence, "What I can say at this time is that I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part and I shall listen to allegations made and respond accordingly."  Not aware?  Purely speculating here, but did something happen at the meeting that straddled the line between shady and illegal? 

The hearing that will investigate these allegations has been scheduled for Sunday in Zurich.  I can't emphasize enough just how high-stakes this hearing is.  Warner and bin Hammam are looking at long-term suspensions if the disciplinary board rules against them, which would end Warner's tenure at CONCACAF and give the FIFA election to Blatter by default.  Blatter has very angrily denied any role in the timing of the charges brought against his opponent, but I am not sure how that many people believe him.  The past 48 hours -- and upon further reflection, the previous two weeks -- has introduced fresh cracks in FIFA House that will not be easily papered over, no matter who wins.  CONCACAF may not be the same after Sunday, either.

Jack Warner to face bribery allegations -- by FIFA!!

Simply explosive news  coming from FIFA headquarters this morning, as Reuters and London's Daily Telegraph  report that CONCACAF president Jack Warner, AFC president (and FIFA presidential candidate) Mohammed Bin Hammam, and two Caribbean Football Union officials will be investigated by FIFA for bribery allegations.  What is truly astounding is how the investigation has come about: a report submitted to the FIFA ExCo by Chuck Blazer of CONCACAF.  The charges center around a special meeting of the Caribbean Football Union on 10-11 May that was organized by Warner and Bin Hammam after Bin Hammam was unable to secure a visa to enter the USA.

The fact that these bribery charges are being made by FIFA mean that Warner will not be able to dismiss them as cavalierly as he has dismissed previous allegations from other entities, but the timing of the relevations puts FIFA under suspicion as well.  Warner has been a Sepp Blatter ally since Blatter ascended to the FIFA presidency, but Blatter has felt uneasy about Warner's future support.  And Warner's support is crucial as he commands a Caribbean bloc that holds the balance of power in the FIFA Congress.  But at the same time, no FIFA investigation occurs without the blessing of Sepp Blatter.  Similar allegations have been made by other FIFA officials (Michael Zen-Ruffinen over a decade ago), but those investigations were snuffed out after Blatter's election and the whistleblowers run out of the organization. 

Blatter has taken to saying recently that FIFA would not survive if he is reelected.  After these allegations, I'm not sure it would survive in its present form no matter what happens next week.  Battle lines have been drawn not just at FIFA headquarters, but at CONCACAF headquarters as well. 

UCL final back on US network TV

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the final of the UEFA Champions League will be on FOX this year.  Last year the overnight ratings for the Champions League final were awful, even by MLS Cup standards, so I was expecting the executives at FOX Sports to decide that their experiment had failed.  But they're giving it another shot, and good for them.

Now would be a good time for those European soccer snobs who ignore MLS and watch only European soccer to flock to their TVs and boost the ratings numbers for this game.  Or perhaps there are fewer of them than was previously thought?

It's official -- the Galaxy have no spine

David Beckham's decision to attend the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton last month was controversial, but at least defensible.  He was an invitee of the Royal Family, which is a huge honor, and Beckham is among other things a deeply loyal citizen to his country.  Personally, I felt he should have declined so as not to put the Galaxy in a difficult situation, but I can understand his desire to attend the wedding.

If taking time off from the Galaxy to attend the Royal Wedding is one thing, time off (and missing a league match!) to attend a testimonial match of a former teammate is something totally different.  Of course Beckham would want to attend a match of a close friend and teammate, but where were the Galaxy to remind him of his responsibilities to his team?  Is the front office that much afraid to say "No" to him?  Would the Galaxy even have to think about telling any other player "No" in a similar situation? 

Steven Cohen at World Football Daily, hardly a more severe critic of David Beckham, believes that this latest event shows Beckham to be the fraud that he believes he is, but I think it's much worse than that.  The Galaxy have shown themselves to be so utterly spineless that they will sacrifice their credibility just to placate one player.  It's little wonder that David Beckham have such an apparent lack of respect for such an organization.