FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has dramatically confirmed that an email he sent suggesting the 2022 World Cup was 'bought' was genuine.
The email was made public by banned FIFA vice-president Jack Warner as Sepp Blatter prepares to face the media later today.

Valcke, according to Warner's statement, sent an email to him about Mohamed Bin Hammam 'buying' the 2022 World Cup for his country.
Bin Hammam was then standing against Blatter for president - but he has also been banned by the ethics committee on bribery charges. However, he has announced his intention to appeal against his suspension.
According to Warner, the email from Valcke to him stated: 'For MBH, I never understood why he was running.
'If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB [Blatter]. Or he thought you can buy FIFA as they bought the WC.'
Responding to the claims, Bin Hammam told BBC Sport: 'You would have to ask Jerome Valcke what he was thinking. I don't know why he has said that.

'If I was paying money for Qatar you also have to ask the 13 people who voted for Qatar. Asked whether Valcke's allegation was true he dismissed it, saying: 'What do you think?'
Valcke said in Zurich today: 'It was a private email and we will discuss it. He sent me an email asking if I want that [Bin Hammam to run], he said that I should ask Bin Hammam to pull out.'
Valcke said Warner had only published selected parts of the email, and he denied claims by Warner and Bin Hammam that he had influenced the ethics committee against them.

He added: 'The first time I met the chairman of the ethics committee was yesterday at 5 'o' clock before we went to the press conference. I had no contact at all with anyone.'
Meanwhile, UEFA president Michel Platini defended Blatter against other claims by Warner that he had made a 1million US dollar payment to the CONCACAF federation without authorisation of the finance committee.
Warner had claimed Platini was 'annoyed' about this but the UEFA president said: 'It's not like that, it was a joke with me and Mr Blatter.
'He can give the projects that he wants to give. I joke, I said "but Sepp this was not accepted by the committee" - but he can give many projects to many national associations and we will confirm in the GOAL project after.'
Blatter, who is poised to run unopposed for a fourth time on Wednesday will face the world's press at 5pm.
An ethics committee provisionally suspended vice-presidents Bin Hammam and Warner over serious corruption allegations but cleared Blatter of any wrongdoing, allowing him to go forward to the FIFA Congress ballot.
The only obstacle to the most inappropriate coronation in FIFA history is the highly unlikely event of three-quarters of the 208 delegates from around the globe deciding the election should not go ahead.
Bin Hammam, who withdrew his challenge on Saturday night, has been banned from all football activity pending a full investigation into the charges from his FIFA ExCo colleague Chuck Blazer that Caribbean Football Union officials received 40,000 dollars in bundles of cash for votes at a Trinidad meeting organised by the Asian Football chief and CONCACAF boss Warner.
Warner, the arch rogue in the FIFA gallery who had previously swerved numerous accusations of wrongdoing, has also been given the same suspended sentence.
And FIFA will bring forensic investigators to aid their extended ethics committee probe before a full-scale hearing expected in July, the outcome of which may decide whether the United States then launch an appeal over Bin Hammam's Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup, a decision still embroiled in further bribery and corruption allegations.
Qatar released a statement denying any wrongdoing. It read: 'Qatar 2022 categorically deny any wrong doing in connection with their winning bid.
'We are urgently seeking clarification from FIFA about the statement from their General Secretary.
'In the meantime we are taking legal advice to consider our options.'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...=home_multiline

This would be disastrous to the sport if its to be true that Qatar did bribed the FIFA to host world cup.

can't wait for sepp's news conference later

buy or not...WC in Qatar is the best for football...as for FIFA...they must state clearly that they want football at the new region...

Qatar is too hot for football. especially its in the summer. They claim to have some cooling technologies, if its proven effective, i'll have to review my stand then.

if they can buy a hosting rights whats the guarantee they wont do the same when the matches starts, there is some serious cash that can be made from the betting rings you know.

football has already broken in to the all corners of the world, it doesnt need new staging grounds in this manner.no matter what, asia, latam, europe will always follow football no matter where.

i mentioned this thing looks fishy back then when they announced and it was just a matter of time it being exposed.england had very very solid bid and how on earth it got turned down is nsane unless its corrupted that is.

best thing for fifa now is start a new bidding process for the 2022 wc.

England is definitely better compared to Qatar. how can anyone even compare which to choose between the two countries.

chill out,

the last time i heard abt south africa many doubters said they cant do it w poor ticket sales etc etc

the last time i heard abt India (Commonwealth games) everyone was freaking worried because the hostels for athletes were not even ready 1 week before the game, bridge collapsed etc etc..
than baaammm everyone praising india.

oversea players shud give their comments esp playing condition in the nation

so far am happy for qatar ( looks asian cup, very up to standard. pitch A+! )

didn't England lose to Russia?

Pitch is 1 thing. ticketing wise, its a joke. Merchandising? none. Qatar may be a good place, but if they are gonna bring Asian Cup standard along, they need to improve on some aspect. of course i am quite confident 2022 will be more modern and equipped than 2011. But knowing the situation in Asian Cup coz personally im there for the tourney, its great but not world cup standard yet. Stadiums, hospitality etc, top notch. its the smaller details that is missing in the Asian Cup.

bribery is always being there in football. just never this scandalous, simply because one of the "important" nation is on the receiving end of this bribe. If England wasnt part of the country lobbying for WC, i dont think this issue will come out yet.

But its good, at least transparency is achieved a bit. That way theres investigation, and maybe new blood will be put in and a chance for a cleaner commitee.

so true~!

'the best country' is not necesserily the best bid. The bidders also must convince that the world cup can bring a bigger effect to them than anybody else while also convincing they can hold a world according to the right standard..

England is too readl to hold a world cup. They can hold the world cup tomorrow without major changes before and after the event.... that would be such a waste to the one of the biggest catalyst of development after the olympic games...


and England bid for 2018. and Qatar for 2022. So you have no issue comparing those two. YOu should fight for Australia instedt..

I just hate to see Qatar and other uber rich country getting every sporting tournament hosted there like tennis, golf and f1

It's naive to think that the world's biggest sport hasn't been corrupted and the fact that FIFA has constantly come under scrutiny suggests that FAs around the world aren't guilt free either. As human's with the gift of intellect, you don't always need to quote a source when you can put 2 and 2 together e.g. why not video technology when sports like tennis and rugby have already implemented it? - match fixing.

In the case of Qatar, I had actually heard that their presentation was pretty impressive. Still, there are many factors to consider, factors we've discussed when they were first awarded the right to host.

i) Exploitation of foreign workers. as it is, about 80% of Qatar's population consist of foreign workers and they'll be an influx in preparation for the WC. Some may argue. Ok what, more jobs. Yeah well, read this - http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Qatar.htm. Anyone read about the 'Kafeel' system? Will they scrap it by then? http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=Njk4NTQ1NDM4

ii) Weather. I suppose this is self-explanatory. Problem supposedly solved by air-conditioned stadiums, so let's see. There were suggestions to move the WC to January where it's winter for European countries. This will lead to leagues around the world either having to reschedule games or changing their schedules for the year altogether.

iii) Cultural. Yup, specified zones for people looking for a bevvy. When you host the biggest show on earth, you had better be open to all sorts of cultures and be hospitable. Potential resistance from religious groups? Unknown. Forget booze, what about gays? Are they open to gay culture?

iv) Quality of the team. Qatar are currently ranked 92 in the world. Unless they continue to climb the ladder, they will be the lowest ranked team to have hosted the tournament.

Not saying that these concerns won't be addressed but they do need to be given attention. My point: While I can understand FIFA's initiative to want to bring football to each corner of the globe, they shouldn't do it for the sake of doing it. People question South Africa but teams like Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco, Eqypt, Togo, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana have all qualified for the World Cup before. They also have players plying their trade in Europe's major leagues. Also, South Africa is a popular tourist destination and aside from crime, is tolerant to all sorts of cultures. There are better equipped nations and therefore, it isn't surprising that Qatar did buy their way through their World Cup bid. Right now, there are more cons than there are pros from where I'm sitting. Not saying it shouldn't be held in the Middle East but I can understand if it were say Dubai which is an ultra modern city, is more progressive in that they have do have a fairly large number of expatriates from all countries working there.

Oh well, let's see what happens. There is still a lot of time to prepare but it seems to be that based on factors I know, Qatar has more to gain from hosting the World Cup than the World Cup has to gain from having Qatar as hosts.