FIFA: Exposing corruption is a bad idea - it's official

The allegations appear to be true that some FIFA delegates were prepared to take money in exchange for their votes. Rather than being cross with the corrupt officials it seems FIFA are cross with England for daring to expose the truth. Would it have been better if the press had carried on pretending FIFA weren't appallingly corrupt and that the bidding process was riddled with bribery? Apparently so.

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England's 2018 World Cup bid has been "significantly harmed" by a newspaper investigation into the bidding process, says a key member of the campaign team.

A member of the Fifa executive committee previously claimed there would be no backlash against England.

But it now seems the Sunday Times probe into two members of the committee has left England with a mountain to climb ahead of the vote on 2 December.

"It has significantly harmed England's bid," a senior member told BBC Sport.

With four weeks to go to the decision, England's bid team has not given up all hope of turning the situation around.

But senior sources say that the prospect of any future media investigations into the conduct of Fifa officials - including a potential Panorama programme on the BBC - could be fatal for their chances.

One member of the bid team told the BBC: "The question is: can we recover from this? Fifa members feel they are being persecuted by the British media.

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"GO BACK TO SLEEP! YOUR GOVERNMENT IS IN CONTROL!"

Well ok, so it wasn't the government responsible but it does show how out of touch FIFA is with the general public. I'm glad this got exposed. To be honest I think there are a lot more deals done in secret for large cheques and I hope the press get more freedom to expose them, no matter how painful the truth is.
Maybe it's a blessing England's World Cup hosting bid has been harmed?
Could we have afforded it anyway? And are FIFA going to change their tune or just shut the stable door?
A good day for journalism... but a pity only stories about sport get exposed.

I think FIFA need to look at their priorities and put them in the right order. And then sack a lot of people!

Si xx

Just to kick this Fifa thread back into life ...

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Fifa: Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini & Jerome Valcke suspended

Blatter, Valcke and Uefa president Platini are being investigated by the committee over corruption allegations

"The grounds for these decisions are the investigations that are being carried out by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee," it said in a statement.

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'nuff said :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34474231

At least FIFA members don't have to worry about being persecuted by the British Media so much. They can be persecuted by the ethics committee instead.