Patrick Nally built world sport's first global sponsorship programmes – and watched Horst Dassler turn commercial control into political power. He says the Infantino affair is not a FIFA but a system problem; the IOC and most federations sit inside the same architecture: presidential-style fiefdoms.
By scrapping FFE, Gianni Infantino is trying to save his own skin. The reaction to his plans has been overwhelmingly negative worldwide, and within FIFA itself, a key figure – COO Kevin Lamour – has spectacularly turned his back on him. Infantino must go, but that alone is not enough.
All 55 UEFA associations stand as one: no European national team will play in a FIFA competition for as long as Infantino's plan to sell stakes in the World Cup stands. In 30 years I cannot recall a threat of this magnitude. Read the full statement — and FIFA's own 25-page FFE presentation.
Has FIFA and IOC fiend Gianni Infantino gone too far this time? Or will he manage it once again: to split the football world with his plan to spin off FIFA's assets into a company part-owned by dubious investors, and at the same time bait the majority of member associations with money?
Naming and shaming! This cross-post from the investigative platform Josimar examines Infantino's FIFA empire: media manipulation, obstruction of journalistic work and widespread propaganda. As documented in this newsletter, these mechanisms apply to the Olympic world and, at its core, to the IOC.
Lord Triesman, former Labour minister and chairman of the Football Association, died at the age of 82. He was a remarkable man. Sporting roles were only a small part of his activities. And yet he left his mark. Read an article written by Lord Triesman about FIFA and journalism. Rest in peace, David!
The man who once introduced his model Melania Knavs to Donald Trump is now Trump's 'Special Envoy for Global Partnerships' with growing influence in the Olympic world. His current partner holds positions in three Olympic federations, while the mother of his son was deported by ICE.
3,649 days ago, I had a meeting with a source. That meeting and the upcoming investigations caused a huge stir. Known as the ‘summer fairy tale affair,’ the revelation has been occupying the judiciary in several countries since 2015. The verdict against the German FA has just been handed down.
With the narrowest possible result of 104:102 votes, IOC member Petra Sörling from Sweden won the election in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) against Khalil Al-Mohannadi from Qatar. For now. The Congress has been suspended. Qatar and its allies will take the matter to court.
About one of the few journalists who tirelessly investigated the criminal empire of FIFA and made the US indictment in 2015 possible in the first place. About journalism that was called "brainless", "unpatriotic", "betraying", "frustrating" and "cretinous" by media and politicians in the UK.
Presidents of the ITTF and IWF are being elected in Doha and Riyadh these days. In Qatar, president Petra Sörling, an IOC member, must hold her own against host Khalil Al-Mohannadi. An official who once caused difficulties for the Qatari had been arrested and threatened with several years in prison.
Is he the most corrupt official on the planet? He distributed bribes using funds from OCA and ANOC. He supported Kirsty Coventry's election as IOC president. This weekend, he is hosting OCA's GA. He is trying to save himself by negotiating the 2036 and subsequent Olympics between Qatar and India.
Play the Game published a paper for an entity called ClearingSport. On the one hand commendable, on the other hand, after a variety of consultations, core problems are only insufficiently described in it. Compromises beyond recognition. Can an agency be forced on the sport system ruled by the IOC?
This newsletter is exclusively for you, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. You are no longer an IOC member – not even one suspended. You have not been a member at all since the closing of the 144th session. Allow me to look back, respectfully, on the many years we spent together.
This is the most beautiful, longest and most exclusive article you have ever seen. We can reveal, thanks to our sources in the White House, the schedule of the FIFA World Cup™ 2030, the most beautiful, biggest and longest of all time! Please be patient, the web server will be pushed to its limits.
In the podcast "How Crime Works", whistleblower Bonita Mersiades once again explained the FIFA system. Not much has changed in FIFA since the corrupt World Cup decisions on 2 December 2010 and the arrests on 27 May 2015 – FIFA is still labelled by several characteristics of a criminal organisation.
