2010 World Cup Fixed Soccer Matches Shadow.

JOHANNESBURG — A soccer referee named Ibrahim Chaibou walked into a bank in a small South African city carrying a bag filled with as much as $100,000 in $100 bills, according to another referee traveling with him. The deposit was so large that a bank employee gave Mr. Chaibou a gift of commemorative coins bearing the likeness of Nelson Mandela.  Later that night in May 2010,

Mr.Chaibou refereed an exhibition match between South Africa and Guatemala in preparation for the World Cup, the world’s most popular sporting event. Even to the casual fan, his calls were suspicious — he called two penalties for hand balls even though the ball went nowhere near the players’ hands.

Mr. Chaibou, a native of Niger, had been chosen to work the match by a company based in Singapore that was a front for a notorious match-rigging syndicate, according to an internal, confidential report by FIFA, soccer’s world governing body.

FIFA’s investigative report and related documents, which were obtained by The New York Times and have not been publicly released, raise serious questions about the vulnerability of the World Cup to match fixing.

The report found that the match-rigging syndicate and its referees infiltrated the upper reaches of global soccer in order to fix exhibition matches and exploit them for betting purposes. It provides extensive details of the clever and brazen ways that fixers apparently manipulated “at least five matches and possibly more” in South Africa ahead of the last World Cup. As many as 15 matches were targets, including a game between the United States and Australia, according to interviews and emails printed in the FIFA report.

International Soccer scandals

The Massacre of Portsaid Stadium

Clashes broke between Cairo club Al Ahli and local club Al Masri leaving 74 people dead and hundreds injured. Television footage showed players running from the pitch chased by Al Masri fans. 

The violence flared after Al-Ahly, one of Egypt's most successful teams, was beaten      3-1. A small group of riot police tried to protect the players, but appeared to be overwhelmed and unable to stop fans attacking players.

Violence linked to politics.

One al-Ahly supporter outside the club, Khaled Gad, told the Guardian: "There is a strong political connection. What happened today was not just about trouble at a football match, it's related to other events in the country."



Another fan, Mahmoud Kamel, said, "Where was the security? And where were the clubs and governorate representatives who always attend this game. This is a huge rivalry and they're always in attendance, but they weren't this time."He insisted that the cause of the catastrophe was the chant against Scaf rule by al-Ahly's group of supporters known as the Ultras at a previous game. The Ultras of al-Ahly and arch-rival Zamalek played prominent roles in the 18-day uprising that spelled the end of Mubarak's rule and the violence raised fresh concerns about the ability of the state police to manage crowds.

Italy's Football shock .

Italian football faces deep corruption

Yesterday morning Investigations spread across the country revealing match fixing attempts and fraud. Italian Police said that a network of phone calls was intercepted including senior managements, players, and referees from different cities.

Shock in Europe

InterMilan , AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina, Juventus, and 18 different clubs were accused of criminal conspiracies, money laundering, tax evasion and invoice falsifications. A court in Naples ordered seizures and as investigations continue across the cities.

Authorities said that many arrest took place after the order was issued by the court. Players were arrested in their properties and some in dressing rooms, yet they are not to be publicly announced till the end of investigations.    

Where is New

In 2006, Juventus was relegated to 2^nd division after investigations showed wide ranged corruption and illegal activities in match fixing and tax evasions. A total of 30 points were deducted from the team during new season that has started 3 months later. According to history, Italy encountered many criminal conspiracies and corruption cases in the past 10 years of the serie A Calcio.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/29/is-italian-football-more-corrupt

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2011/jun/16/italy-match-fixing-giuseppe-signori

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/5172576.stm

http://swol.co/italian-leagues-rocked-by-corruption-scandal/28772

Corruption in Football

         

                                                             How fair do you play ?

           

                 

                 We all know the saying "money leads to corruption", which had been unfortunately ironic  during the past years of the football industry. It has been plagued by many events and incidents that have affected it's image. Incidents showed that football became under the control of money, authority, and politics. Nowadays, corruption and fraud became heavily involved in the world of football. 

        Mohamed Bin Hammam, Sepp Blatter's past challenger for the FIFA presidency , was accused of offering bribes during the campaign. This incident shocked the whole footballing industry, and the investigations began immediately . On the 29^th of May 2011, Mohamed Bin Hammam was charged of bribery and was suspended from all the duties which are related to FIFA temporarily. However, there was more to come on the 23^rd of July 2011, where he was permanently banned from all FIFA activities by the FIFA ethics committee. 

           A past example of football corruption,  the 2006 Italian football scandal ,which had stunned all of Italy. It involved many of the top clubs in Italy like Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentina in match-fixing and bribery scandals. Many telephone calls were intercepted and showed a zone between the club directors and the referees. These telephone calls were published in the newspapers showing a great deal of corruption.  More than 40 people-including two senior officials from Juventus, the most successful club, have been placed under investigation mostly for suspect criminal association for the purpose of sporting fraud.

           There was also another footballing scandal which involved Marseille Football Club, a well-known French football club in 1993. Marseille, at that time, was owned by a wealthy businessman called Bernard Tapie. During his time, the club won four league titles, and the European Champions League. However, in 1994, Marseille was accused of match-fixing and was relegated to the second division. After this scandal, Bernard Tapie was prisoned for three years and was forced to sell Marseille.

        

          Football has been also used as a money laundering cycle. In 2003, the Russian multi-billionaire Roman Abramovic bought Chelsea Football Club for 140 million Sterling. It  was widely known that the purchase of Chelsea was a kind of money laundry to cover the illegal businesses and trades that were carried out by Abramovic.  Yet those corruptible examples tend to intimidate senses of ethics and fairness. Football survives in conflicts and so should our moods .