K A L C I O M A R C I O! - Lo Schifo Continua -

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Will match-fixers target World Cup in Brazil?

Credibility of soccer’s World Cup is under threat from Asian match-fixers

linked to a sports gambling market of hundreds of billions of dollars.

by DECLAN HILL (Toronto Star.com 09-06-2014)

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THE TIMES 10-06-2014

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Michel Platini orgoglioso degli sforzi UEFA

Il Presidente della UEFA saluta una stagione appena terminata all'insegna di

un calcio spettacolare ma anche dell'azione incisiva dell'organo di governo in

materia di Fair Play finanziario e lotta alle gare truccate e alla discriminazione.

UEFA.it 09-06-2014

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Brazilian philosophy revealed in words of Sócrates

Turning point of beautiful game

by SÓCRATES BRASILEIRO SAMPAIO DE SOUZA VIEIRA DE OLIVEIRA (THE TIMES 11-06-2014)

These are excerpts from an unpublished memoir written by Socrates before his death in 2011. It was translated by Andrew Downie who writes about Brazilian football for Reuters, Esquire, Time magazine and others.

1982

The first game in the 1982 World Cup has remained firm in my memory. It was the first time I had played in a competition like that and you can imagine how I was feeling. I was finally lining up to sing the Brazilian national anthem for the whole world to hear. And what’s more, I was also team captain.

Not a lot of value is placed on that institution here. It is said that the captain is only there to call heads or tails. Outside Brazil people recognise the true importance of the job.

The Brazil side of 1982 ran a great risk of self-destructing. We had four athletes — considered the four best players in the country — who represented different states. Each of them came from very different cultures, which meant there was plenty of room for a rivalry that could set off their egos. As captain of the team I detected the danger and, as one those at the centre of the controversy over who was the best, I made it clear who my favourite was. It was a move that neutralised the public debate to a certain degree. I put Zico on a pedestal above the others, including myself.

Although the side was not as mobile as Holland in 1974, it featured players like Falcão, Zico, Cerezo, Leandro, Junior and others, who had enormous skill and whose rotation and swapping of positions in midfield confounded our opponents. The combination of individual talents and an excellent collective ethic gave the 1982 side a rare structural strength.

The team’s defeat on that fateful day in Barcelona against an Italian side who would go on to crown themselves champions was a crushing blow to the Brazilian style of play we represented so well. Brazilian football would never be the same again. From that moment on the emphasis changed to focus on results. The business side of the game was growing frighteningly quickly and money goes to the winners, even if they do put on a poor show.

Even though it is often subconscious, we now try and copy European pragmatism. Our game has become more rational and tactically more rigid.

With the best Brazilian players signing for European clubs at an earlier age than ever before they find it easier to pick up the habits of a society that is more mature and settled; in other words they play more like Europeans, with a style that puts a high regard on brute force.

Today, football players run on average two and a half times more in the course of a game than they did in 1970, so they cover a lot more ground. In doing so, football has been transformed: there is more physical contact, more fouls, more interruptions and less skill. And skill is what we miss most, because although we still marvel at the best players, they are more limited than those of 30 years ago.

Teams’ defensive strategies now far outweigh their meagre attacking concerns. A goal in football today, if I can make a comparison with the circus, is like a trapeze artist failing to catch the swinging bar. They may have trained so much that they hardly ever make mistakes but when they do make a mess of it a goal is scored. That is what happens in football today. Goals come from mistakes or accidents.

Early Difficulties

When I was a kid we lived in a big house that unfortunately did not have a yard or a garden where we — my brothers and I — could satisfy this fascination we had for football. The solution we came up with was to use the garage for our young confrontations. The problem was that the garage door was made up of rectangular panes of glass that offered little resistance even to shots from our skinny legs. For a long time, our parents used to replace any broken panes straight away but it was inevitable they would get smashed again and there came a time when they gave up and the front of the house was protected not with glass but with interlocking ironwork.

Later on, after we developed our basic skills, we spread our wings and fled the family nest to the streets around our house. But as the city grew, playing football on the street was a dangerous pastime and we decided we had to face up to the Roman Catholic priests who lived in a church nearby. Right in front of the church’s main entrance was an extraordinary playing area almost the size of an indoor football pitch.

For the first few months, the priests tried to chase us off so we wouldn’t keep coming back, but when we insisted on turning up every afternoon they opted for more drastic measures: they planted dozens of concrete blocks all over the area and surrounded it with a wall that was almost a metre high.

Even with those obstacles we did not give up playing football. The only real difficulty was trying to avoid those new traps or, worse, inadvertently kicking them; something that would cause cuts and bruises on our toes and get us a row or a slap from our mothers.

In trying to keep our eye on the ball at the same time as having to worry about what was scattered on the ground, we developed a greater vision.

When we didn’t have a ball, or something that could pass as one, we opened an avocado and used the stone. It wasn’t very resistant and in a few minutes it split or fell apart.

I can’t imagine that European children have had similar experiences.

But, in general, human beings only develop their senses and their potential when they are obliged to. Someone who is blind can hear much, much better than someone who has perfect sight. I firmly believe that the more uneven the surface we play on when we are developing our skills — even if it is extremely tiring and dangerous playing under such conditions — the more technical answers we find.

I also believe that I became such an exceptionally gifted player because of my absurd lack of muscle mass and because I didn’t have time for the training sessions that would have built me up. In that respect, I lost many years, the most important ones in the life of any athlete. But I gained a lot in skill.

Racism and the Importance of Blacks

While European football is an expression of scientific method and collective sport in which personal actions are mechanised and subordinate to the overall team ethic, in Brazil it is individual brilliance that stands out.

And the negro really does have, in my view, a prevailing role not only in the racial question but also in the way the Brazilian plays: informally, irreverently, creatively, joyously and even, at times, irresponsibly.

I believe that even in the more unusual art forms, the negro has this in him. In dance, music, sports in general — and football in particular. Who has never compared the movements in football with ballroom dancing, or with the Carioca malandro and his loose and lazy swinging and swaying? It was with those characteristics that we modified the English style of play. We added some mischief and creativity, natural characteristics of Brazilians in general and blacks in particular.

But even having established themselves as important new protagonists they were still subject to bitter discrimination and the majority of the country’s sports clubs kept their doors closed to blacks for a long time.

One of the clubs I went to always fielded good amateur teams. However, the players were only allowed to use the facilities set aside for football. There was no using the pool, the restaurant or the function rooms. Those areas were only for use by full members. It seemed to me to be clear that they were establishing a distance between the rich and the poor, which unfortunately in our country is a synonym for Afro-descendants.

One time, when we lost a Brazilian league game because of a supposed mistake by our keeper Jairo, the club president come out with the totally racist statement that such a mistake happened only because he was black. We reacted immediately. We stood united against him and made public our opposition to his ridiculous opinion.

In the next game I had to opportunity to show how I felt. When I scored my first goal of the game from a long range shot I ran the length of the pitch to celebrate with Jairo and all my team-mates ran after me to join in.

Modificato June 10, 2014 da Ghost Dog

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LA STAMPA 12-06-2014

GASPORT 14-06-2014

Fidatevi della rosea, sempre!

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CORSERA 14-06-2014

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BloombergBusinessweek 15-05-2014

trad.Internazionale n. 1055

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PANORAMA 18-06-2014

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SPORT 12-06-2014

Il FFP - come direbbe il rag.Fantozzi - è una cagata pazzesca

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THE SUNDAY TIMES 15-06-2014

Mad, bad and dangerous to go to Qatar

In the past two weeks there has been a huge global response to this newspaper’s revelations about Fifa, world football’s governing body, and the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. It is doubtful whether any of those responses has been more inappropriate, or more outrageous, than that of Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president.

Speaking of the corruption that led to the successful Qatari bid, detailed in millions of documents leaked to this newspaper, Mr Blatter said there was “a great deal of discrimination and racism” in the “storm against Fifa”. There is nothing of the sort.

Greg Dyke, chairman of the Football Association, had it exactly right when he said to Mr Blatter: “I regard the comments you made about the allegations in the British media, in which you described them as racist, as totally unacceptable. The allegations being made have nothing to do with racism, they are allegations about corruption within Fifa.”

A wrong was perpetrated, on Mr Blatter’s watch, in which the World Cup was bought for Qatar. This wrong needs to be put right but it remains a long shot while Mr Blatter is Fifa president and can call on the support of some of its member confederations, against whom the allegations of accepting corrupt payments have been made.

Today we reveal another aspect of the successful Qatar World Cup bid which should deeply concern us. Events in Iraq, where Sunni insurgents from the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (Isis) have seized the cities of Mosul and Tikrit and are moving towards Baghdad, remind us that instability in the Middle East has now become a dangerous constant. We can argue about the causes of that instability, from the Iraq invasion to the Arab spring, but we cannot deny it.

The expert assessment commissioned by Fifa in analysing the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidders, which we reveal today, identified Qatar as the only one of nine countries bidding for the tournament which was “high risk” from a security perspective. Qatar was seen as vulnerable to terrorist attack because of its location and because of of the centralisation of events in a small and concentrated area. A World Cup in Qatar could create “immense security challenges”, it said.

“Qatar is allocated a risk rating of high,” the assessment by Andre Pruis, the police chief in charge of the 2010 South Africa World Cup, concluded. “I am of the view that it would be difficult to deal with a major incident in such an environment without having to cancel the event.”

We should not, of course, allow the threat of terrorism to dictate where sporting events are held. Many will recall that the July 7 terrorist attacks on the London transport network in 2005 came the day after the 2012 Olympics were awarded to the capital.

The security concerns aboout Qatar were, however, in addition to other justified worries about its suitability. A country with no football tradition or infrastructure, and with summer temperatures that will make the game unplayable, already had huge disadvantages even without the terrorism threat. This simply makes it even more difficult to fathom why Fifa thought a Qatar World Cup was a good idea.

We know, of course, why it happened. The World Cup was bought and, barring a rerun of that decision, the stench of corruption will last all the way until 2022. Fifa needs to act now.

Dopo aver resocontato abbastanza sulla FIFA - scusate il cattivo gusto - credo che rimangano da accostare alle sue malefatte solo le mutilazioni genitali, il commercio di animali in via d'estinzione, il traffico d'organi ed il genocidio... e non cambierebbe nulla, molto probabilmente.

Modificato June 15, 2014 da Ghost Dog

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LA STAMPA 15-06-2014

[wmontero 3506]

Dopo aver resocontato abbastanza sulla FIFA - scusate il cattivo gusto - credo che rimangano da accostare alle sue malefatte solo le mutilazioni genitali, il commercio di animali in via d'estinzione, il traffico d'organi ed il genocidio... e non cambierebbe nulla, molto probabilmente.

alla moggi

[wmontero 3506]

letto

e visto il cane

io amo i cani

[ALAIN 818]

Non potevano intervistare il cane?

[gianky99 7661]

Non potevano intervistare il cane?

Sie... c'era il rischio che dicesse qualcosa di serio ed intelligente... poi come facevano a pubblicare l'articolo?

:sventola:

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alla moggi

Dopo la squalifica di tre mesi per Franz "omertà" Beckenbauer volano altri stracci europei: missili terra-aria francesi (proprio loro) verso la Spagna, accusata di sinergie sospette col Qatar.

FRANCE football 17-06-2014

[wmontero 3506]

ma solo noi seguiamo il calcio per passione ?

[ALAIN 818]

su Arte lunedì dopo pentecoste ho visto un'emissione sulla storia della Coppa del Mondo...non c'è n'è una, dico UNA dove non ci siano stati dei tramacci o cose poco chiare...sconfortante!

Altro che Farsopoli!

Ma siccome, spesso i tramacci erano di ordine politico, OVVIAMENTE nessuno aveva il CORAGGIO di aprire inchieste...!

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ma solo noi seguiamo il calcio per passione ?

In effetti... secondo un esperto zoologo

Il calcio è la rappresentazione teatrale del nostro bisogno di cacciare, oggi come ieri. Però lasciatemi dire una cosa: capisco la passione dei tifosi italiani, forse addirittura più di quella degli inglesi. È molto romantico tifare per voi, al punto che nel cuore non resta più posto per altro.

DESMOND MORRIS

SPORTWEEK 14-06-2014

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Libro della settimana, da regalare cum grano salis

manifesto 21-06-2014

Giancretino non è mio amico

«Stai partendo per le vacanze?». «No, ho solo portato quello che serve per la notte». Previdente il ragazzo: ha con sé mezza casa e pure la tv: a Gianfelice, se non si ipnotizza con lo schermo acceso, gli vengono gli incubi. A volte, il fatto che due mamme siano molto amiche e vadano insieme anche ai concerti (di Céline Dion, in questo caso) non promette nulla di buono. Comporta diversi fastidi. Quella solidarietà fra donne costringe, per esempio, i loro figli a dormire nella stessa casa per farsi compagnia. E cosa succede se invece si danno sui nervi? Anzi, se Beniamino, quel compagno di classe con cui convive da quando è piccolissimo, proprio non lo sopporta? Mica per niente, ma fra loro due c’è un problema. Gianfelice apre bocca solo per dire stupidaggini. Tanto che gli starebbe meglio un nome come Giancretino. Lo sanno tutti, tranne le mamme super-amiche che li obbligano a frequentarsi. Giancretino e io è l’esilarante racconto dello scrittore francese Vincent Cuvellier, pubblicato in Italia dalle edizioni Biancoenero (pp. 80, euro 8, illustrazioni di Aurélie Grand, in sintonia con il linguaggio spigliato e spiritoso)...

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Sport & business

La prima vittoria al Mondiale è dell’industria degli alcolici

Richiesta Fifa Il Brasile è stato costretto a togliere il divieto di bere alcol negli stadi

di GIUSEPPE REMUZZI (CORSERA 21-06-2014)

Chi vincerà il Mondiale di calcio? Avrebbe potuto essere il Brasile, salvo che dopo il pareggio senza gol col Messico non cambi tutto. Sarà la Germania? O l’Olanda? Chi lo sa, vedremo. Ma il vero vincitore del 13 luglio c’è già: sarà l’industria dell’alcol. Cosa c’entra l’alcol col calcio? Moltissimo, tutto è partito dall’Inghilterra quando gli industriali dell’alcol hanno cominciato a sponsorizzare i club della Premier League. Il Manchester United per esempio è sponsorizzato da chi produce birra, ma anche da produttori di vino e superalcolici. E degli altri venti, sono solo Hull e Cardiff a non avere bisogno di chi produce alcol per far quadrare il bilancio. Per non parlare della Fifa che prende moltissimi soldi dall’industria dell’alcol e poi pretende che chi ospita la Coppa del Mondo tuteli gli interessi dei suoi sponsor, se no si gioca da un’altra parte. E così i governi dei Paesi che ospitano il Mondiale non hanno scelta, al punto che rinunciano persino alle tasse sull’alcol che la gente beve durante la Coppa del Mondo. Quest’anno il Brasile perderà a favore di un produttore di birra 312 milioni di sterline. Con questi soldi si sarebbe potuto aiutare tanta gente povera e invece servono per arricchire i grandi imprenditori dell’alcol che sono già ricchissimi. E non basta, la Fifa quest’anno ha costretto il governo brasiliano ad abbandonare il divieto di consumare alcolici negli stadi. Vuol dire che organizzare un Mondiale dà alla Fifa persino il potere di cambiare le leggi del Paese che lo ospita? Proprio così. Col rischio che nessuno poi abbia il coraggio di tornare indietro e che in Brasile per esempio si finisca per continuare a bere negli stadi anche dopo il Mondiale. E questa brutta storia è destinata a continuare. L’azienda produttrice di birra che è stata sponsor dei Mondiali di calcio per 25 anni lo sarà fino al 2022, Coppa del Mondo di Russia e Qatar comprese, per intenderci. Ci si può opporre? La Russia ci ha provato con i Giochi invernali e così ha perso il sostegno di importanti sponsor di prodotti alcolici. L’intreccio fra calcio e alcol è anche più forte delle convinzioni religiose al punto che in Qatar, dove l’Islam proibisce in modo più assoluto il consumo di alcol, faranno un’eccezione per i tifosi: nel 2022 potranno bere quanto vogliono, anche in pubblico, anche allo stadio; è già tutto deciso. Qualcuno si sta ribellando. I medici dell’Irlanda per esempio. «Sono i bambini i veri obiettivi della pubblicità delle bevande alcoliche». «Niente sulla Terra provoca più morti dell’alcol, niente di più grave che promuoverne la diffusione in eventi sportivi». E poi Claude Evin, è stato ministro della Sanità in Francia ed è riuscito a fermare un grande produttore di birra. E si è trovato pure un altro sponsor, la Casio, e così ha fatto vedere che se si vuole andare contro gli interessi dell’industria dell’alcol, si può. «Senza il sostegno dell’industria dell’alcol è impossibile organizzare una Coppa del Mondo» si sente dire da più parti. Non è vero, scrive Tom Smith sul British Medical Journal di questi giorni. Non sarà che è vero il contrario? Che è l’industria dell’alcol ad aver bisogno del calcio? Per un grande produttore una Coppa del Mondo vale almeno 20 milioni di pinte di birra in più solo in Inghilterra.

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L’INCHIESTA DELLA PROCURA DI ASCOLI

Cittadinanza facile per giovani uruguaiani

C’è anche Laxalt

Il Comune di Spinetoli nel mirino: 4 indagati tra cui l’agente D’Ippolito

di PEPPE ERCOLI (GASPORT 21-06-2014)

Era Spinetoli, un piccolo comune in provincia di Ascoli Piceno, il crocevia delle carriere calcistiche di una decina di giovani promettenti che dall’Uruguay volevano spostarsi in Europa per poter giocare, da comunitari. Tra questi un paio hanno già giocato in A. Come Diego Laxalt, di proprietà dell’Inter e in forza al Bologna in prestito nell’ultimo anno, anche se nel suo caso a facilitargli la cittadinanza ci sarebbe l’origine chiara dei suoi genitori. In ballo anche Mathias Abero, di proprietà del Bologna, e Arias del Brescia.

Gli indagati Su tutto questo indaga il capo della Procura della Repubblica di Ascoli, Michele Renzo, che vuole vederci chiaro sul meccanismo col quale questi ragazzi, per lo più assistiti dall’avvocato-agente Vincenzo D’Ippolito, ottenevano lo status di comunitario attraverso le pratiche avviate presso l’ufficio anagrafe di Spinetoli, dove era stabilita la residenza dei giocatori. D’Ippolito è indagato come altre 3 persone, dipendenti ed ex dipendenti dell’anagrafe, per «corruzione per atto contrario ai doveri d’ufficio» e «falsità ideologica commessa dal pubblico ufficiale in atti pubblici». «Il mio lavoro è altro rispetto a quelle cose per cui c’è questa indagine e sono estraneo e come me gli altri» ha detto ieri D’Ippolito. La sua abitazione, come quelle degli altri indagati, è stata perquisita e così pure gli uffici comunali. I controlli hanno consentito agli agenti della Digos di acquisire materiale ritenuto importante per le indagini. Dall’entourage di D’Ippolito si fa solo notare che in Uruguay il 60% delle persone ha in famiglia un italiano e che tutte le pratiche viaggiano attraverso passaggi regolari fra ambasciate e consolati di Italia e Uruguay.

C'è ancora un'accademia apposita internazionale

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IL MATTINO 21-06-2014

La solita telenovela... guida galattica per 'o chiagne e fotte

Modificato June 21, 2014 da Ghost Dog

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IL SOLE 24ORE 21-06-2014

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Fifa’s chiefs pocket secret 100% pay rise

by JONATHAN CALVERT & HEIDI BLAKE (THE SUNDAY TIMES 22-06-2014)

Members of Fifa’s powerful executive committee have responded to new ethics rules banning their six-figure World Cup bonuses by secretly doubling their pay, The Sunday Times can reveal.

Fifa also offers to pay the money into Swiss bank accounts it controls and allows executives to withdraw it in cash lump sums, according to documents from the Fifa files. A leading tax expert last week accused Fifa of “making it easy” for its top team to dodge tax.

Each of the top football officials on the 25-strong executive committee (Exco) has seen their salary increase this year from $100,000 (£60,000) to $200,000 for their part-time role. Documents from the Fifa files show the bumper pay award is in addition to generous expenses, which allow Exco members to claim more than $100,000 a year. This comes on top of free business-class air travel, five-star hotels and luxury meals.

The pay rise follows Fifa’s pledge this year to halt the “gravy train” by scrapping the practice of awarding Exco members bonuses of $75,000 a year and up to $200,000 in World Cup years. Its new audit committee had ruled the payments created the risk of unethical behaviour.

Leaked records of one Exco account show that Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, secretly awarded the committee bonuses totalling millions of dollars from the proceeds of the last World Cup in South Africa.

However, when it pledged to end the bonus culture, Fifa made no mention of the generous 100% pay rise, which the Exco had privately agreed to accept as recompense. One serving Exco member confirmed the salary increase last week. “It has been doubled to take account of the dropping of the bonus,” he said.

The disclosures are likely to enrage protesters at the current World Cup in Brazil, who accuse Fifa of creaming off the profits from the tournament and leaving host nations out of pocket.

They come as this newspaper today names the football bosses who remain senior Fifa officials after accepting or requesting payments from the disgraced Qatari football chief Mohamed bin Hammam. Fifa has failed to investigate the new revelations.

On Friday John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons culture media and sport committee, slammed Fifa’s failure to address our findings. “They have repeatedly ignored serious evidence findings. “They have repeatedly ignored serious evidence and done as little as possible to investigate,” he said.

The Fifa Exco is the organisation’s main decision making body consisting of football officials from the six continents and headed by Blatter. It was the committee that awarded the 2022 World Cup tournament to Qatar.

The salary and perks enjoyed by the Exco have always been a closely guarded Fifa secret but leaked accounts records and expenses forms from this newspaper’s cache of millions of documents show for the first time precisely how they are paid and what they can claim.

Members of Fifa’s top team were each paid $100,000 plus a $75,000 annual bonus for their work on the Exco while mostly holding down full-time positions in their football federations or confederations.

Following the 2010 World Cup in South Africa the Exco were awarded a special bonus of $200,000, which was paid into their bank accounts the day before 14 members of the committee voted for Qatar.

The current Exco had expected a similar windfall at this summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil but their bonuses were axed by a new internal audit and compliance committee, which was created in 2012 to give Fifa more “integrity” following a series of scandals.

They can, however, still enjoy a stay in one of Rio’s top hotels overlooking Copacabana beach paid for with a $350 daily accommodation allowance. Fifa also pays the Exco members $700 in allowances every day they work for it.

The Fifa files show how the sports body operates a payment system allowing some of its Exco members to draw down their salaries by collecting large bundles of cash in envelopes from the finance department at its Zurich headquarters. Bin Hammam withdrew more than $200,000 in cash from Fifa, according to the documents.

An accountant with a leading UK firm last week described Fifa’s payment policy as questionable and open to abuse from members who wished to dodge tax in their home countries. However, there is no evidence in the Fifa files this has happened.

Yesterday, Fifa again declined to comment on the evidence from the Fifa files. Walter De Gregorio, Fifa’s director of communications, responded by email: “We cannot comment on every single paper you pick out of the hundreds of millions of emails you have as you say. This could go on and on . . . We cannot play this game every weekend, you know well. This is ridiculous.”