FIFA admits mistake regarding bidding process as complications emerge
FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter has finally come out and admitted that football’s governing body has made a serious error in deciding that bidding processes for the 2018 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup competitions should run simultaneously rather than separately.
It has been a tough week for FIFA and as the deadline for the bidding process approaches, the whole matter is set to come to a head in the first week of December before the end of 2010. FIFA’s president confirmed on Friday that the votes to decide who will get the honor of hosting both the tournaments will be held on 2nd of December, 2010. A date that is sure to throw up some surprises eventually.
This announcement has come despite the fact that two of FIFA’s executive committee members are currently serving suspension orders due to certain allegations of corruption and bribery. The world’s footballing body has taken a serious hit to its image over the past two week as it has been revealed that several nations have tried to employ illegal means to influence voting patterns already. England along with Russia, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium are vying for the right to host the 2018 version of the FIFA World Cup tournament, one of the most prestigious sporting events ever seen on planet earth. Australia, Qatar, Japan, South Korea and the United States of America are bidding to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup competition.
There has been speculation already that certain countries have developed understanding that they will exchange votes in order to support each other’s bids for their respective tournaments. For example, it is rumored that Spain and Portugal are in tandem with Qatar as the Iberian nations are bidding for the 2018 version of the completion whereas the middle eastern nation is trying to obtain the right to host the 2022 World Cup.
President Blatter told the press, "We have asked ourselves whether it has been wise to have a double bid for the two World Cups. I have expressed my concern that the decision to put the World Cups together was a good decision. I take responsibility for that and it was not the right thing to do. We are in a situation now where we have to go on."
Blatter himself announced that FIFA’s ethics committee which is responsible for sorting out any claims of corruption will convene on November 17th, 2010 to decide the future of two executive committee members, Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii. Members hail from Nigeria and Tahiti respectively. Both the men are blamed to have “sold” their votes in turn for money. Something that is completely unacceptable according to FIFA’s rules and regulations.
If Amos and Reynald are both suspended for the December 2nd voting process then they will not be replaced by any FIFA officials and thus only 22 members will take part in the secret ballot to decide the two possible host nations for the 2018 and the 2022 World Cup. Blatter spoke extensively about the situation as he added, "We are five weeks from the final decision so there was never a question of changing anything in the procedure. So on December 2, here in Zurich, the executive committee of FIFA will decide in a secret ballot the national associations who are hosts for the World Cup 2018 and 2022."
The FIFA president also confirmed that the governing body is looking into ways to make the World Cup more exciting that it has been thus far in football’s history. A task group titled Football 2014 is about to be set up which will include stakeholders from all parts of the game. Blatter elaborated on this idea by stating, “In the first round matches of the World Cup no-one wants to lose and (this year) there were five or six draws, 0-0 or 1-1, so let's see how we can add some attraction to football."
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