FA demands answers from Fifa over Sepp Blatter’s World Cup 2018 claims

The Football Association has written to Fifa demanding answers to “important questions”, following Sepp Blatter’s revelation that a deal had been fixed to hand Russia the 2018 World Cup before the vote.
The FA spent £21m on England’s bid for the tournament but the outgoing president claimed last month that an agreement had been made by senior figures in the organisation for the event to go to Russia. In the vote in December 2010, England secured just one vote apart from its own and Russia won easily.
After Blatter’s revelation the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, immediately instructed the governing body’s lawyers to review its position and the opinion of a senior QC has been sought. As a result, the FA on Friday sent a series of questions to Fifa.
An FA spokesman said: “The FA has been reviewing its legal position and, as a result, has written to Fifa asking a series of important questions about the process by which the 2018 World Cup was awarded to Russia.
“The questions are all based on statements made by Mr. Blatter in the interviews he gave to the Tass news agency and the Financial Times last week. In the meantime we reserve the FA’s position legally.”
It is understood the questions include when exactly the agreement was made for Russia to host the World Cup, and who the people involved in that agreement were.

Cristiano Ronaldo: I want to retire with 'dignity', not in USA, Qatar or Dubai

Cristiano Ronaldo said Friday that he wants to end his career “with dignity” and not playing in “the United States, Qatar or Dubai”. The Real Madrid and Portugal star, the subject of a new documentary that premiered on Monday in London, said Thursday in an interview on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show that he expected to play six or seven more seasons and hoped to finish his career at the highest level. The remarks ostensibly referenced the recent wave of top players who have finished their careers outside of Europe’s top leagues, among them MLS imports Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa, along with Xavi, the lifelong Barcelona midfielder who signed with Qatari club Al Sadd in May. “That does not mean it’s bad play in the leagues of the United States, Qatar or Dubai, but I do not see myself there,” Ronaldo said. Ronaldo, who turns 31 in February, became Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer last month and has th...

Falkirk chairman calls for restructure of ‘outdated’ Scottish league

The format of the Scottish league is outdated and should be restructured with a 16-team Premiership to help boost football in the country, says the chairman of second-tier promotion-challengers Falkirk . Speaking at the club’s AGM, Doug Henderson said the slide of Scottish football, from falling attendances to the poor performance of the national side and their top clubs in Europe, would continue unless steps were taken to change the current system. Scotland were the only team from the British Isles not to qualify for next year’s European Championship and Celtic , Scottish champions for the past four seasons, regularly fail to make any impact in European competition. Scottish football’s top four tiers are currently organised into a 12-team Premiership with three lower divisions each containing 10 teams. “Reflecting economic reality and the need for premier division full-time football, I believe that we must put vested interest aside and reform our lea...

Young people to lose access to unemployment benefits as part of welfare reforms

YOUNG people will not be able to get unemployment benefits until they turn 25 under reforms introduced by the Turnbull Government today. The coalition has unveiled wide-ranging welfare reforms in parliament today, including changes to the Newstart program. It hopes to stop people aged 22 to 24 getting Newstart or the Sickness allowance, and they will instead be shifted to the Youth Allowance payment. This will reduce the amount of money that they will be able to get, costing a single person living away from home about $90 a fortnight. They will also be required to study in order to qualify for the payments. “The key aim of this measure is to provide incentives for young unemployed people to obtain the relevant education and training to increase employability,” according to an explanatory memorandum for the bill. However, it says Youth Allowance does allow students to earn a higher amount of money from part-time or casual work than Newstart, before this begins imp...

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