Qatar Chiefs Hit Back Over Corruption Allegations

Qatar chiefs have hit back over claims of corruption involved in their bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

The Sunday Times has reported that Mohammed Bin Hammam made payments to African football officials in return for support for the Qatar World Cup bid – a notion which has been dismissed by Qatari authorities. 

A statement on behalf of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for 2022 said: “This week the world should be watching Brazil, yet once again the focus will turn to Qatar as the media continues to attack FIFA’s decision to award our country the World Cup in 2022. 

“This weekend we expect further attacks on Qatar and our successful bid to host the World Cup in 2022. These allegations are baseless and riddled with innuendo designed to tarnish the reputation of Qatar’s 2022 Bid Committee. 

“The constant stream of allegations that have been released to media outlets on the cusp of our interviews with the chairman of FIFA’s Ethics Committee Investigative Chamber do not implicate our bid. They are instead a series of tenuous links that attempt to assume guilt by association. 

“The timing of the release of these allegations is no accident, falling in the same week as our interviews with Michael Garcia and a week before meetings of the FIFA Executive Committee and the 2014 FIFA Congress in Brazil. This has become a pattern prior to important dates in the FIFA calendar. 

“It should be clear that these leaks are not an attempt to shine light on the 2018/2022 bidding process. They are, instead, a flagrant attempt to prejudice an ongoing independent investigation. 

“While Qatar’s bid committee has honoured Mr Garcia’s request to let the process run its course, our right to a fair hearing has been compromised by certain parties trying to influence Mr Garcia’s investigation.” 

The statement said Qatar strictly adhered to FIFA’s bidding rules and regulations but admitted there had been a relationship with Mr Bin Hammam. 

“Mr Bin Hammam is from Qatar, but he was not a member of Qatar’s bid team,” the statement added. 

“In fact, we have never denied we had a relationship with Mr Bin Hammam. As a member of the football world and as a member of Qatari society, he often crossed paths with influential Qatari citizens, including members of our bid team. 

“Further, because Mr Bin Hammam was a member of the Executive Committee, we had to present our plans to him and convince him that our bid was the right choice for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. And as Mr Bin Hammam was also Confederation president and a voting member, it was important for us to maintain a working relationship with him. None of this was improper. We hoped, of course that Mr Bin Hammam would support our bid. But we hoped for the same from every Executive Committee member.”

2014 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four in Milan is Sold Out!

Euroleague Basketball has announced that all available seats for the 2014 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four in Milan have been sold, sale assuring that European basketball’s premier event will once again be played to a packed house. The Final Four will take place from May 16 to 18 in Milan, denture Italy, medic at Mediolanum Forum. The arena seats a capacity of 12,086, with the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four configuration, though some of those seats are reserved for qualifying teams, media and guests. Devoted basketball fans from Europe and beyond will converge in Milan next month for a thrilling weekend during which the 2014 Euroleague champion will be crowned.

Due to the sellout, no more tickets are available for the games except those that are offered to the Final Four teams and those offered by the official authorized vendors as Detur the official travel agency of Euroleague Basketball, Ticket2Final and Viagogo the official marketplace of the Turkish Arilines Euroleague Final Four.

A few Platinum Packages which include VIP hospitality access are still available. For more information write an email to f4tickets@euroleague.net.

NASCAR Announces Brent Dewar as New COO

NASCAR have announced today a number of executive changes with the headline move coming from auto industry executive Brent Dewar who has become their new Chief Operating Officer.

Dewar will begin his role at NASCAR on January 6, 2014.

The motorsport governing body also revealed that Steve Phelps, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, has been promoted to executive vice president, while Steve O’Donnell, senior vice president, racing operations, has also been promoted to executive vice president. The company’s general counsel, Gary Crotty, has been elevated to chief legal officer/general counsel. Mike Helton continues as NASCAR President with continued oversight of all racing operations.

“In Brent Dewar, we will add a seasoned leader with deep experience in the automotive sector, plus intimate knowledge of and passion for NASCAR as well as various other forms of motorsports,” NASCAR’s Chief Executive Officer Brian France said. “Brent brings creativity, drive, intelligence, operational acumen and a clear understanding of our assets and challenges to NASCAR. He’s a leader who’s naturally collaborative, an essential trait as we work more closely with the OEMs, teams, tracks, broadcast partners and others to grow the sport over the next decade.

“Steve Phelps and Steve O’Donnell have led critical evolutions in key areas of our business over the last several years with great success, and Gary Crotty continues to lead one of the best legal teams in all of sport,” added France. “Their promotions are reflective of their achievements and the increased role they’ll play in 2014 and the years ahead.”

In recent years, Dewar has worked in senior executive consulting roles at GreenOrder, Courland International and most recently has been managing partner at Whitby Advisors, the company through which he has consulted NASCAR on its wide-ranging initiative to transform its Competition model in the areas of governance, rules, deterrence / penalties and officiating / inspection.

“Because of the heavy involvement of technology — and that’s something I’m personally passionate about, technology — it just kind of evolved,” Dewar said. “I could see how committed they were to the change process and what’s going on. How can you say no? It’s a great company and a great brand, and at the end of the day, it’s about racing. I’ve been a fan of all forms of racing since I was about 9.”

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Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games Bid Boosted by Formula E Race Staging

Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games bid has got a boost following the decision to stage a round of the inaugural FIA Formula E. Championship in the city in 2014.

The 2014 FIA Formula E Championship is a new global motorsport series featuring electric powered cars racing on urban or city centre circuits.

The FIA has announced that between eight and 10 races will form the global series and the organization has so far shortlisted eight international cities for the preliminary calendar, including five Olympic and Paralympic Host cities.

The proposed Formula E race will be staged in a district of Buenos Aires called Recoleta, located in the heart of the city centre.

The Recoleta district is a key venue in Buenos Aires 2018’s YOG Cultural and Education Programme.

Francisco Irarrazaval, Buenos Aires Under-Secretary of Sport and Chief Executive of the Buenos Aires 2018 Bid Committee said: “Buenos Aires is delighted to be shortlisted for the first even FIA Formula E Championship. Our initial selection reaffirms the city’s status as a host of major international sporting events and that Buenos Aires can be trusted to deliver world class sporting competitions in a stunning urban location.

“We believe Buenos Aires, as a new frontier for top level global sport, is the ideal international city to help launch and promote a new sporting concept to a passionate world-wide sporting audience. As we gain momentum for our bid to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, Buenos Aires can again show it can offer these new global sporting initiatives excellent economic, commercial and social conditions for their events to grow and thrive”.

Nach 2000 erstmals wieder geistig behinderte Sportler bei Paralympics

Zwölf Jahre waren Sportler mit geistiger Behinderung von den Paralympics ausgeschlossen. Wenn die Spiele am kommenden Mittwoch in London beginnen, unhealthy sind sie wieder dabei. Darunter auch zwei Teilnehmer aus Deutschland: die Leichtathletin Sandra Mast aus Freudenstadt und der Schwimmer André Lehmann aus Potsdam.

Dass Sportler mit geistiger Behinderung bei den Paralympics wieder an den Start gehen dürfen, try dafür hat die Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe all die Jahre gekämpft. Bei den Spielen 2000 in Sydney gewannen die spanischen Basketballer Gold. Dann kam heraus, dass mehr als die Hälfte der Mannschaft die geistige Behinderung vorgetäuscht hatte. Den Spaniern wurde der Sieg aberkannt, und gleichzeitg wurden sämtliche Sportlerinnen und Sportler mit geistiger Behinderung mit einem Bann belegt: Sie durften nicht mehr an den Paralympics teilnehmen. “Schon damals protestierte die Lebenshilfe vehement dagegen, dass behinderte Athleten bestraft wurden, weil nicht behinderte Athleten betrogen hatten”, erinnert Robert Antretter, Bundesvorsitzender der Lebenshilfe. “Unseren beiden deutschen Startern in London drücke ich jetzt ganz fest die Daumen.”

Nach Sydney dauerte es zwölf lange Jahre, bis der Internationale Behindertensportverband Prüfkriterien entwickelt hatte, wonach sich die geistige Behinderung eines Sportlers zweifelsfrei nachweisen lassen soll. In dieser Zeit hatte die Lebenshilfe immer wieder angemahnt, den Bann für geistig behinderte Sportler endlich aufzuheben.

Die Lebenshilfe setzt sich als Mitglied von Special Olympics Deutschland für den Breitensport von Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung ein und ermutigt örtliche Turn- und Sportvereine, sich auch für geistig behinderte Sportler zu öffnen. An den Deutschen Behindertensportverband appelliert die Lebenshilfe, verstärkt Talente unter Sportlern mit geistiger Behinderung zu suchen und diese wie körper- und sinnesbehinderte Athleten in Leistungszentren zu fördern, damit bei den Paralympics 2016 in Rio de Janeiro (Brasilien) mehr als nur zwei deutsche Sportler mit geistiger Behinderung um Medaillen kämpfen können. In London besteht das deutsche Team aus insgesamt 150 Athleten – der Anteil der geistig behinderten Athleten beträgt 1,3 Prozent.

WWE Partners with Social Media Technology Company

WWE announced today an investment in and strategic partnership with Tout Industries, Inc. that will leverage WWE’s vast array of assets, including television, live events, digital, print and more than 100 million social media followers to expand Tout’s platform for real-time video status updates, creating a new dynamic social experience for WWE fans.

“We could not envision a better partner to show how the Tout platform powers high-impact, real-time engagement across broadcast TV, digital and live events.”

Beginning July 23 during the historic 1,000 episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE fans will have the chance to be seen and heard via Tout as real-time video updates will be featured during WWE television programming, on WWE.com, throughout WWE’s social media presence and on in-arena video displays. WWE Superstars will also interact with fans via Tout question and answer sessions leading up to the event. Additionally, WWE will launch “Tout Tuesdays” giving fans the opportunity to discuss what happened the previous night onMonday Night Raw. Tout’s new platform will enable WWE to aggregate all of this unique content on WWE.com.

“WWE is in a class by itself as a media giant who has innovatively grown their business through social media,” said Michael Downing, CEO of Tout. “We could not envision a better partner to show how the Tout platform powers high-impact, real-time engagement across broadcast TV, digital and live events.”

“WWE looks forward to partnering with Tout to grow this innovative social media platform,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO. “Tout’s real-time video technology will become a critical component of fan interactivity in our weekly television programming and will be utilized to connect WWE directly with our fans in new ways.”

Tout is a social media platform that allows users to easily shoot 15-second video status updates via smartphones and webcams. Touts are published real-time and automatically toTout.com, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, SMS and email contacts. Through Tout’s reply feature, users can engage in Tout conversations.

WWE is one of the most socially active brands with more than 100 million social media followers, one billion video views on YouTube and an average of 50 trending topics every week on Twitter.

Blatter Talks Up Brazil 2014 Preparations

Ahead of Saturday’s draw for the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifying groups in Brazil, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has declared that he is confident in the ability of Brazil’s organising committee to succeed with preparations for the 2014 World Cup tournament.

FIFA confirmed that the tournament would begin on June 12 with the final set for July 13.

Blatter’s comments come a month after FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke delivered a scathing attack on Brazil’s preparations for the World Cup, insisting that “there is a lot of work to deliver”.

Blatter, speaking at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, said: “The Government, the minister of sport and the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, are all confident and we at FIFA are also confident and we have the trust that this World Cup will be a success. It is a country not only of football but of happiness, but the reality is that there is still some work to be done. But I am sure, with trust and confidence, Brazil and FIFA together will deliver an exceptional World Cup in 2014.”

Blatter also denied accusations from Mohamed bin Hammam that he ran FIFA like a dictatorship, but refused to be drawn upon the ongoing corruption case involving the Qatari.

Blatter responded: “I am not alone, I am not a dictator as has been said, I am not alone, I work with my executive committee, with my administration, and with a lot of advisors. They know what it means to have transparency on one side, and anti-corruption on the other side. Do not forget that in FIFA we have 300 million people who work directly in football and in 300 million you cannot have only good people. But I will not make any comments on the decisions of the Ethics Committee, and the follow-up by the media, and I ask you to understand my situation and let FIFA work in compliance with the strong demand of the FIFA Congress to go forward.”

Qatar Chief Defends 2022 World Cup Bid

Qatar’s World Cup chief has refuted all allegations of corruption in defence of the country’s successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, saying that the “unsubstantiated allegations” as “prejudice” and “taking things out of context.”

The Supreme Committee For The 2022 World Cup’s general secretary, Hassan al Thawadi, has defended Qatar’s right to host the tournament, saying: “The Qatar bid did not do anything wrong. Why is everyone focusing on Qatar? The attack on 2022 fits the prejudice people have in their minds. An Arab nation could not have won.”

The tiny oil-rich state, with a population estimated to be around 1.7m who are mostly migrants born abroad, will be the first Middle Eastern country to host a major sporting event.

When questioned whether Qatar bribed FIFA members to win the World Cup, al Thawadi replied: “Plain and simply, no. We never broke any rules in response to a question over whether the Gulf state had paid money or gifts to secure the 2022 tournament.”

Phaedra Almajid, a “whistleblower” behind a series of corruption allegations involving FIFA executive committee members and Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid has since revealed she had fabricated the claims.

Qatar has had to combat a string of negative headlines and stories over its successful bid and its suitability to host the 2022 tournament.

Al Thawadi described calls for a possible review of the decision as an “absolute outrage”, adding: “If there is evidence, investigate the evidence, but if there is nothing there and it’s based on rumours…”

Further suspicions were raised about Qatar’s bid in May when an e-mail written by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke to former FIFA vice president Jack Warner was leaked, where Valcke hinted Qatar’s suspended executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam was trying to buy the FIFA presidency as Qatar had “bought” the World Cup finals, which he later claimed was referring to Qatar’s big budget rather than any wrongdoing.

Valcke wrote: “[Hammam] thought you can buy FIFA as they bought the World Cup.”

Valcke’s explanation did not satisfy al Thawadi, who said: “We were very angry when we heard about [the e-mail]. We sent a letter to FIFA straight away, requesting an explanation in very firm tones. We said if it was not explained we reserve all right to take legal action.”

The Gulf state has also attracted criticism over the amount of money it spent on its bid.

Their total budget was significantly more than $US43m quoted by previous reports and included US$25m on an air-cooling prototype shown to FIFA members during their campaign.

“We will not lie, our bid budget was significantly higher than any of the other bids, yes,” said al Thawadi.

“Our campaign had to use whatever advantages it could have towards coming out and being considered a credible campaign. One of our strongest advantages was, yes, our resources.”

Qatar beat Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States to host the tournament.

TSE Consulting Announces New Ownership

TSE Consulting, doctor the Switzerland based international sports and entertainment consultancy, see  currently owned by a London based holding company, cough is being brought out by a grouping that includes existing TSE management and external investors.

The new owners will retain the TSE Consulting headquarters in Lausanne and its regional offices around the world. The sale of TSE Consulting is subject to shareholder approval due mid April.

Lars Haue-Pedersen, managing director of TSE Consulting, stated: “TSE is a very attractive company so there has been interest from many different sides. We are happy that we were able to acquire the company and look forward to continuing to service our clients worldwide and develop the company further.”

As a result of the expected sale, TSE Consulting is refocusing its growth strategy and adjusting some of its operations over the coming months.

Franz Beckenbauer to Answer Questions from FIFA Ethics Committee

German soccer legend and former FIFA executive committee member Franz Beckenbauer is content to answer questions from the world football governing body regarding an investigation into World Cup bidding following a ban by FIFA.

Beckenbauer’s spokesman Marcus Hoefl revealed the former World Cup-winning captain and manager of West Germany would respond to enquiries by FIFA before 27 June. 

The move comes after Beckenbauer was given a 90-day ban by FIFA’s ethics committee for refusing to answer questions over the decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 competition to Qatar. 

A statement released via social media by Hoefl read: “Franz Beckenbauer told FIFA on Saturday that he would answer the questions by the ethics committee investigation by June 27 at the latest. 

“It is our understanding that there is thus no longer any ‘suspicion of a possible violation’ against FIFA rules so we are assuming that the provisional sanctions against him will be removed without delay.

“This procedure is thus completed: Franz Beckenbauer will answer the questions in writing in German.” 

Hoefl added that Beckenbauer was “extremely surprised” by the FIFA ban and said the governing body never gave him a chance to answer the charges that he was under suspicion and not informed in advance that the decision to ban him was looming. 

“It was the first time that FIFA didn’t know how to contact me on the telephone,” Beckenbauer is quoted as saying in the statement. 

“I had also assumed that I didn’t have to answer the questions because I no longer have any official capacity at FIFA. But that’s all cleared up now.”