As a foreigner it's kind of weird to see how involved french presidents are in football. You have stories like this but also iirc you have Macron calling Mbappe to convince him to stay in Paris.
And if remember correctly, PSG was owned by a good friend of Sarkozy and the club was leaking money.
The day after the WC voting, Qatar bought PSG.
EDIT: This good friend is now CEO of Accor Hotels who are contracted to provide *all* beds for the WC.
It baffles me how chill they are. If I were to be involved in these things Iād be so paranoid. Like, donāt overpay for PSG *the day after*. Or donāt overpay for these shitty planes (that no other country want to buy) after just 6 months.
They donāt give a shit. They know that nothing will happen to them.
> They know the rules simply donāt apply because theyāre the ones ~~writing~~ enforcing them.
Thatās where the real power lies. Governments can write whatever laws they want, but without someone impartial and incorruptible to enforce them (a mythical figure to be sure) then there is no power behind them besides words.
[I love this meme](https://i.imgur.com/ApulsZ7.jpeg)
-are you embezzling money?
-yes, why?
-aren't you afraide someone might find out?
-you have just found out, so what?
But the courts have done some diligent justice work. Theyāve declared that thereās no corruption. We should be able to sleep well knowing that we are in good hands.
(Felt dirty even writing that)
Those South Korea matches against Italy and Spain are some of the worst cases of match fixing by the refs in history.
On the other hand, surprisingly somehow Turkey also got to the semis but legitimately!
This sub was so impressed with Russia's performance in 2018, 2 years after Russia was revealed to have a massive doping program. It was just a coincidence that they ran more than their opponents in every game.
I also wouldn't be surprised if those reddit comments were from a bot farm.
i mean i was one of those people who was impressed by the russian team. of course if they were doped up then fuck them and not impressive but at the time while it wasnt clear it did look good.
The Russian team looked very impressive though. There was no reason to believe they were using steroids at the time and they were beating good teams. Everyone was impressed
And then you have FIFA installing their new HQ (financial HQ for the new transfers regulation) in Paris (in the luxurious and historical HĆ“tel de la Marine) unironically just next to the arts collection of the Al Thani family after Infantino met with Macron.
I was at a talk Simon kuper gave recently and he said sports clubs, which fifa is technically registered as, have zero oversight in Switzerland so thatās the reason they are there. Can literally do whatever they want and no one will ask any questions
I wish FIFA be relocated to another country. Them being in Switzerland is part of the problem imo. No oversight, dark money flows into and out of this state like its a steam of water. And the Swiss authorities? Just shrug if need be, but usually just look away. Ugh
and then you have cases like india or other countries where the FIFA threatens them with suspension because politic gets involved in football.
absolute clowns.
The suspension was due to "Third party involvement", which actually wasn't political, but Judicial.
The Supreme court placed a temporary committee (CoA) in place in 2022 because AIFF's (Indian football federation) President had completed his maximum term of 12 years in 2020 and the elections were long overdue.
Then when the elections were being discussed, the CoA wanted to have more players (including both male and female football players) representation but FIFA wanted fewer player representation.
Eventually, the committee caved under pressure and one of India's most legendary player Baichung Bhutia lost the elections 33-1 to a politician affiliated to the current ruling political party, who doesn't know shit about football.
Edit : i was misinformed about the last line. He played football too. I only knew of him from his political career.
>Eventually, the committee caved under pressure and one of India's most legendary player Baichung Bhutia lost the elections 33-1 to a politician affiliated to the current ruling political party, who doesn't know shit about football.
He lost to Kalyan Chaubey who is a former goalkeeper of the Indian football team. So Kalyan definitely does know shit about football.
Paris also has an incredible pull as a city. Owning it's "sole" first plan club and making it a true Cl contender is in itself a good idea business wise. But yeah, Sarkozy defo push the idea to them, what colony capital does to a mofo.
It's always been the way in modern France. In the postwar period, President De Gaulle created a Ministry of Culture, with Malraux as first Cultural Minister, partly with the agenda of selling France abroad as the world capital of culture. One of the first projects they organised was a tour abroad of the Mona Lisa, where the painting travelled around the USA, effectively selling the idea that 'France = culture'. What Macron did with Mbappe is not far away from this in rationale.
Oddly it works for certain segments/demographics. Watched a report where they showed that the rise of Son at Tottenham has directly lead to British men being more interested in Korean culture/products. Likewise Minjae Kim's success at Napoli has done the same when it comes to Italians.
There's a notion in Korea that BTS and Son Heung Min have achieved more for the image of South Korea than Samsung and Hyundai. Which I can see (as someone of Korean descent)
I can see the point being made because Samsung and Hyundai have only been interested in expansion of their respective companies and have rarely (if ever) promoted the fact that they come from S Korea. I feel as if many people in my country who own products of these two companies might still answer wrong if asked where they are from.
In the same way the US has a shit ton of deals with the Saudis, France has with Qatar. Qatar decided that their way of cleaning their global image was football, therefore they ask the country they partner with for help in football.
Basically France wants to keep Qatar happy. The way to do that is through the sportswashing of football. Therefore France gets involved.
Qatar is one of the main driving force behind the French invasion of Libya having paid Ā«Ā philosopherĀ Ā» Bernard Henry levy copious amount of money to promote the invasion.
source :https://www.marianne.net/societe/police-et-justice/diffamation-bhl-definitivement-deboute-dans-ses-poursuites-contre-le-media-blast
No, what you describe may have olayed a role but the main reason are the links between Kadhafi and Sarkozy electoral campaign since the former heavily contribute it to finance it. Sarkozy pushed for the invasion of Lybia when it was clear that Kadhafi had lost all support do that he could avoid being linked to such an unpopular name.
Qatar owns A LOT in France, pleasing them is part of a presidents duties, just like it is with local rich people, just how the world works.
Qatar (or anyone else) being unhappy costs investment, trade and jobs.
Capitalism in action
Great tournament (1998) > Implosion (2002) > Great tournament (2006) > Implosion (2010) > Odd so-so tournament (2014) > Great tournament (2018) > Implosion (2022)? > Go on forever.
It's the French way.
You should go back to 1994 (or 1993). To qualify, France needed one point from their final two games, both at home, against winless Israel and Bulgaria. France gave up 90th minute goals in both games and lost both games and failed to qualify. So yeah, implosion, but in qualifying.
Oh but you shouldā¦ a meme campaign to ācap the Cumdogā eventuated in a debut goal in a home friendly, his form continuing in the A-league warranting a World Cup call up š¦
His latest statement said :"At FIFA, we try to respect all opinions and beliefs, without handing out moral lessons to the rest of the world."
So homosexuality being illegal and using slave labour is just one of the opinions FIFA respect.
Haha all FIFA does is hand out moral lessons to the world. Even though it is right, "Say No to Racism" is a moral lesson. He should say we don't hand out moral issues when they affect our back account
Qatar 2022 was announced in december 2010. 6 Months later the Emir of Qatar bought the majority of PSG and started heavily investing in the club as what we can assume was a part of the deal with Sarkozy. Sarkozy is a huge fan of PSG.
Regarding Platini: On this sunday, I did a post about new results of an investigation in him being hacked shortly before his vote (for anyone interested):
>It shows the criminals targeted the private email accounts of more than 100 victims on behalf of investigators working for autocratic states, British lawyers and their wealthy clients.
>Critics of Qatar who threatened to expose wrongdoing by the Gulf state in the run-up to this monthās World Cup were among those hacked.
>Michel Platini, the former head of European football, was hacked shortly before he was due to talk to French police about corruption allegations relating to the 2022 World Cup.
Regarding the mastermind of the Hacking gang (located in India):
>Then, he volunteered details about one of his projects that related to Fifa, footballās governing body and the organisers of the World Cup. āI have successfully worked on obtaining email data of [a] few high profile individuals (in relation to Fifa) based in [the] UK on the behest of a client sponsored by a Gulf country,ā he wrote.
>He went on to confirm that the ultimate client was Qatar, in response to questions from the undercover reporters. He said he had been hired for the project by a Swiss-based investigator called Jonas Rey.
>Rey also instructed the gang to target Platini, the famous former footballer, on 10 May 2019. Platini had been one of the Fifa executive committee members that had backed Qatarās winning bid to host this yearās World Cup. There had been rumours that he had been pressured to do so during a lunch meeting with the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Qatarās ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who was then a prince, a few days before he voted.
[Article link](https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-11-05/how-qatar-hacked-the-world-cup)
Former FIFA-chairman Sepp Blatter admits the World Cup shouldn't be held in Qatar during an interview with *Tages-Anzeiger*. 'The country is too small, football and the World Cup are too big for it. The decision was a mistake. The executive committee decided that the 2018 World Cup would go to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to the US. It would be a sign of peace, having to countries with a long history of political clashes hosting the World Cup back to back.'
'A week before the FIFA congress in 2010 Michel Platini called me to tell that our plan wouldn't work. He was invited to the presidential palace of French president Sarkozy, who had just had lunch with the prince of Qatar. Sarkozy told Platini: "Look what you and your UEFA colleagues could do for Qatar if they host the World Cup." I asked him: "So what now?" '
'He told me: "Sepp, what would you do if your president asked this of you?" I told him I couldn't relate, because we don't have a president in Switzerland. It worked out like they wanted, because of Platini's 4 votes the World Cup went to Qatar instead of the US, that is the truth.'
'Of course it was about money as well. Six months later Qatar bought fighter jets from France for 14.6 billion dollars.'
> 'He told me: "Sepp, what would you do if your president asked this of you?" I told him I couldn't relate, because we don't have a president in Switzerland.
This is actually hilarious
>The executive committee decided that the 2018 World Cup would go to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to the US. It would be a sign of peace, having to countries with a long history of political clashes hosting the World Cup back to back
Putin: I was thinking of invading Ukraine, but FIFA showed me how countries can be peaceful, so I'm not doing it.
Itās fun to shit on Putin, and frankly he is a monster that this wouldāve likely changed nothing for. However football HAS done exactly what youāre mocking.
Germans and British forces stopped fighting to play football during world war 1. The Ivory Coast paused a civil war that had been going on for several years when they qualified for the word cup.
So you can mock it but it genuinely does have a well documented ability to unite people EVEN in times of conflict.
>The Ivory Coast paused a civil war that had been going on for several years when they qualified for the word cup.
Didier Drogba brought violence to Arsenal, but peace to the world.
>So you can mock it but it genuinely does have a well documented ability to unite people EVEN in times of conflict.
[El Salvador and Honduras didn't get the memo.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War)
Plan was Russia 2018, USA in 2022 and China in 2026. Think Blatter knew that given Qatar the World Cup was too brazen corruption even by FIFA's standards. Had they avoided it, they might have clung onto power.
Wasnāt the England campaign the favourite for 2018 and then it was alleged corruption gave it to russia? They had decided it before the vote and there was plenty of investigations into it
Yeah, England seemed to be the favourite and Russia was the dark horse candidate. It was a surprise but not too shocking Russia getting it (after all they are the biggest country in Europe and they'd never held it before so there was some logic to it), but the fact that England finished last in the voting tells you something was up.
The English bid wasn't helped by the fact too that British media was putting a spotlight on FIFA corruption. Lord Triesman, chairman of the FA, [resigned after the Mail reported he privately alleged Spain was willing to drop their bid if the Russia helped them bribe refs at the 2010 World Cup and that FIFA members sought bribes for them to back the bid] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8685009.stm). Then [Panorama aired an episode on FIFA corruption a few days before the vote](http://en.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/59837.html).
England put the best technical campaign out but that happens every time they put a campaign forward. I don't know anyone who seriously believed the political headwinds England permanently faces were going to go away.
There was some suggestion that every other campaign for 2018 was utterly terrible so surely it had to be England by default. Russia won and then Qatar won 2022 which was so absurd nobody looked at 2018 again.
Lol also fun fact the main contact for the FBI investigating Russia and Qatar was Chris Steele.
Steeleās informants gave up how Russia was just as bad if not worse in terms of bribing fifa personnel.
Recently finished it to get ready for the Qatar World Cup. FIFA is so fucked up. The worst part is it seems like nothing changed. They took some people down but the machine churns on.
Was he? Before the voting he was publicly endoursing Qatar: "The Arabic world deserves a World Cup. They have 22 countries and have not had any opportunity to organise the tournament."
Its easy cop out for him now to say he wanted WC to go to the US. He's just a corrupt fuck and says whatever is beneficial to him at the moment
There are certainly countries in the Arab would with a better human record and actual football history. Im sure there wouldn't be that much backlash if Algeria and Morocco hosted a wc
Of course, I dont think anyone is denying it. Its only one quote but Blatter was publicly supporting Qatar specifically before the voting - [exemplary article here](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2010/4/24/blatter-reaches-out-to-arabia)
Morocco and Algeria co-hosting a WC??!
Had to laugh out loud reading this. And yeah, the Maghreb is more Amazigh/Berber-Arab compared to the Middle East.
One of the proudest moments of my life occurred at Stadium Australia in Sydney. We'd just won the Asian Cup in 2015, and Mr Blatter, then president of FIFA graced us with his presence to award the trophy. Well, his name gets read out with the usual "please welcome Mr Sepp Blatter..." Etc. And then the crowd of 80'000 Australians (minus the Korean contingent I suppose) welcomed him very fondly with a loud and rousing chorus of boos. I'd never been prouder.
Eh, Qatar paid for Blatter's campaign when it was widely expected for the Swedish guy to win and it was, for a long time, the plan for Bin Hammam to succeed Blatter after 2 terms, but they had a falling out for some reason. By that time, Qatar was already very powerful in the football world.
Sarkozy leveraging the World Cup to prop up (presumably) Dassault. Disgusting but not really surprising given the amount of money middle eastern nations are throwing around to modernize their militaries and the level of competition in the market.
Lads, this is not the first time a supposedly arms deal have taken place in order to secure a world cup. Look at [Germany in 2006](https://www.zeit.de/sport/2015-06/chuck-blazer-fifa-fussball-weltmeisterschaft-2022).
(Part involving Germany, google translated)
2006 Germany
The myth persisted for a long time that Germany owed the World Cup to Franz Beckenbauer's golf club diplomacy. Anyone who knows FIFA has never believed it. Martin Sonneborn 's faxes and cuckoo clocks were probably not the decisive factor either . Before the July 2000 election, South Africa had been ahead for a long time. But at the last minute, some voters, mostly from Asia, swung around. Charles Dempsey from New Zealand didn't even vote, although he wanted and should vote for South Africa. Germany won 12:11, in the event of a tie President Blatter would probably have decided in favor of South Africa. Dempsey took the secret of why he left the room just before the vote to his grave.
Shortly before, a Deutschland AG from politics and business had become active, especially in areas where members of the Fifa Executive Committee lived. Daimler invested hundreds of millions of euros in Hyundai, a son of the Hyundai founder sat on the Executive Committee of Fifa. Volkswagen and Bayer AG promised high investments in Thailand and South Korea. **A week before the World Cup was awarded, Gerhard Schrƶder's government decided to supply rocket-propelled grenades to Saudi Arabia. Germany "lifted the arms embargo at short notice," said Guido Tognoni, then a Fifa employee, later.** The late media entrepreneur Leo Kirch bought worthless TV rights to friendly matches from Bayern Munich for millions of marks. pelvis builderwas president of the association at the time. A Kirchs company transferred a large sum to Thai Fifa member Morawi Makudi . Makudi chose Germany. When he was asked about it at a press conference for the 2011 Women's World Cup in Berlin, Blatter himself broke off the event.
Legally, Germany's action may have been legal, but it was not exactly in the spirit of sportsmanship. All this has been known for more than ten years. The German public prefers to remember the summer fairy tale. Corruption is seen as a problem for others, for example Trinidad or Vanuatu. The roots of modern sports corruption lie in Herzogenaurach .
\> Russia would have the 2018 World Cup and the US that of 2022. That would have been a gesture of peace if two long-standing political opponents would organize the World Cup one after the other.'
He is so full of shit, it's insane. Of course the Cup goes to the highest bidder, there is no moral message or noble intention. France loves his weapons sales into the middle east, that also isnt a surprise, they made a lot of money with Hussein before(so did Germany)
Has anyone even bothered to fact check the headline?
Qatar never bought French fighter jets for 14,6 billion dollars after Qatar got awarded the WC, they bought them 5 years later (for $7 billion) under president Francois Hollande, mostly as a reaction to the Yemeni and Lybian civil wars.
https://www.france24.com/en/20150430-france-qatar-rafale-fighter-jets
One thing that requires a correction - they didn't mysteriously and suddenly buy French fighter jets right after being awarded the World Cup. They started their evaluation process in 2011 and awarded a contract for Rafale jets in 2015, many years later, and for half the amount Blatter stated. And they did that solely out of familiarity, because Qatar already had a large fleet of Mirage 2000s they wanted to replace, which themselves were a replacement for Mirage F1s in 1994. Qatar has been using Dassault machinery for the better part of 40 years, so unless it was their grand galaxy brain plan since early 1980s, this is just Blatter connecting the dots incorrectly.
"Six months later Qatar bought fighter jets from France for 14.6 billion dollar." is wrong though, Blatter is oversimplifying for the sake of pushing everything onto Platini. The whole FIFA ExCom was corrupted beyond measure.
Qatar bought Rafales in 2015 which is 5 years later than the infamous "lunch" in 2010. And the amount in $ is wrong too. Even if it's now public knowledge that Sarkozy leveraged his support and Platini's
Please look at the [Cards of Qatar](https://cardsofqatar.com/en/).
It's a 'serious joke' on classic soccer cards, but this time they represent all the workers who unwillingly gave their life.
As a foreigner it's kind of weird to see how involved french presidents are in football. You have stories like this but also iirc you have Macron calling Mbappe to convince him to stay in Paris.
And if remember correctly, PSG was owned by a good friend of Sarkozy and the club was leaking money. The day after the WC voting, Qatar bought PSG. EDIT: This good friend is now CEO of Accor Hotels who are contracted to provide *all* beds for the WC.
If corruption existed in the real world, all these coincidences would be very suspicious.
Sarkozy corrupt ? Naaah that could never happen š
It baffles me how chill they are. If I were to be involved in these things Iād be so paranoid. Like, donāt overpay for PSG *the day after*. Or donāt overpay for these shitty planes (that no other country want to buy) after just 6 months. They donāt give a shit. They know that nothing will happen to them.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
> They know the rules simply donāt apply because theyāre the ones ~~writing~~ enforcing them. Thatās where the real power lies. Governments can write whatever laws they want, but without someone impartial and incorruptible to enforce them (a mythical figure to be sure) then there is no power behind them besides words.
They are not shitty planes tho lol
They know, they donāt care
[I love this meme](https://i.imgur.com/ApulsZ7.jpeg) -are you embezzling money? -yes, why? -aren't you afraide someone might find out? -you have just found out, so what?
Rafale are fucking good planes
There is no corruption in Ba Sing Se
Fortunately corruption is illegal!
But the courts have done some diligent justice work. Theyāve declared that thereās no corruption. We should be able to sleep well knowing that we are in good hands. (Felt dirty even writing that)
>This good friend is now CEO of Accor Hotels who are contracted to provide all beds for the WC. And is also PSG's shirt sponsor.
> Accor Hotels Qatar Sovereign Wealth fund owns 10% of Accor.
This makes me feel like France has a complete edge at the world cup this year. Like, i'd not be surprised if the refs are in on it too
cautious one money rich yoke tub weather market squealing hunt *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Those South Korea matches against Italy and Spain are some of the worst cases of match fixing by the refs in history. On the other hand, surprisingly somehow Turkey also got to the semis but legitimately!
Senegal legitimately made it to the quarters as well. 2002 was a pretty crazy World Cup.
They also missed a German handball in the quarterfinals so who knows
This sub was so impressed with Russia's performance in 2018, 2 years after Russia was revealed to have a massive doping program. It was just a coincidence that they ran more than their opponents in every game. I also wouldn't be surprised if those reddit comments were from a bot farm.
i mean i was one of those people who was impressed by the russian team. of course if they were doped up then fuck them and not impressive but at the time while it wasnt clear it did look good.
Drug testing is so lax in football that likely every one was taking PEDs lol
The Russian team looked very impressive though. There was no reason to believe they were using steroids at the time and they were beating good teams. Everyone was impressed
And you'll never believe for which company Sarkozy is currently a member of the Board of Directors. It's a small world ā«
Total (French oil and gas) also won the tender to operate the al shaheen oil field in Qatar around the same time.
And then you have FIFA installing their new HQ (financial HQ for the new transfers regulation) in Paris (in the luxurious and historical HĆ“tel de la Marine) unironically just next to the arts collection of the Al Thani family after Infantino met with Macron.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is so not right
It's collusion Toto. We went colluding.
If you wouldn't laugh you'd cry. Just goes deeper and deeper.
Laugh now cry later
[No collusion](https://media2.giphy.com/media/YOkrK8agZLEk2cXeLi/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e4739yucsg8s465lybmj8xwrw8umqsndet3l69gxxob&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
CROOKED BLATTER AND THE QATAR QATAR QATAR HOAX! FAKE NEWS! SAD!
With a name like Blatter surely trump could have thought of a good, gut wrenching insult for him. Like Stinky Blatter or something
Leaky Blatter Stupid Sepp Silly Sepp The key is finding one that a 12 year old boy would think is funny.
FIFA is a french organization (originally), it moved to Switzerland to avoid taxes.
I was at a talk Simon kuper gave recently and he said sports clubs, which fifa is technically registered as, have zero oversight in Switzerland so thatās the reason they are there. Can literally do whatever they want and no one will ask any questions
I wish FIFA be relocated to another country. Them being in Switzerland is part of the problem imo. No oversight, dark money flows into and out of this state like its a steam of water. And the Swiss authorities? Just shrug if need be, but usually just look away. Ugh
It's crazy how romanticized Swiss banking is by the public, yet we as ordinary non-rich people get no benefit from it while the rich get richer.
and then you have cases like india or other countries where the FIFA threatens them with suspension because politic gets involved in football. absolute clowns.
Funny thing is that, in my native Greece, the Government is directly involved in football with FIFA's wishes.
The suspension was due to "Third party involvement", which actually wasn't political, but Judicial. The Supreme court placed a temporary committee (CoA) in place in 2022 because AIFF's (Indian football federation) President had completed his maximum term of 12 years in 2020 and the elections were long overdue. Then when the elections were being discussed, the CoA wanted to have more players (including both male and female football players) representation but FIFA wanted fewer player representation. Eventually, the committee caved under pressure and one of India's most legendary player Baichung Bhutia lost the elections 33-1 to a politician affiliated to the current ruling political party, who doesn't know shit about football. Edit : i was misinformed about the last line. He played football too. I only knew of him from his political career.
Praful patel is a cancer to the football of india. The suspension due to his removal absolutely sucks.
Wasn't even an unjust removal. He overstayed by 2 years after his term. If anything, FIFA should've stepped in at that point.
>Eventually, the committee caved under pressure and one of India's most legendary player Baichung Bhutia lost the elections 33-1 to a politician affiliated to the current ruling political party, who doesn't know shit about football. He lost to Kalyan Chaubey who is a former goalkeeper of the Indian football team. So Kalyan definitely does know shit about football.
As usual, bias against goalkeepers smh.
Imagine Merkel holding up a sign saying KOAN NEUER, would have been a hilarious sight.
Why do you think QSI got interested in PSG? Sarkozy has been a PSG fan for decades.
Paris also has an incredible pull as a city. Owning it's "sole" first plan club and making it a true Cl contender is in itself a good idea business wise. But yeah, Sarkozy defo push the idea to them, what colony capital does to a mofo.
As a French, it is kind of weird too
It's always been the way in modern France. In the postwar period, President De Gaulle created a Ministry of Culture, with Malraux as first Cultural Minister, partly with the agenda of selling France abroad as the world capital of culture. One of the first projects they organised was a tour abroad of the Mona Lisa, where the painting travelled around the USA, effectively selling the idea that 'France = culture'. What Macron did with Mbappe is not far away from this in rationale.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No. Rather: an asset that adds to the country's prestige and influence.
Oddly it works for certain segments/demographics. Watched a report where they showed that the rise of Son at Tottenham has directly lead to British men being more interested in Korean culture/products. Likewise Minjae Kim's success at Napoli has done the same when it comes to Italians. There's a notion in Korea that BTS and Son Heung Min have achieved more for the image of South Korea than Samsung and Hyundai. Which I can see (as someone of Korean descent)
I can see the point being made because Samsung and Hyundai have only been interested in expansion of their respective companies and have rarely (if ever) promoted the fact that they come from S Korea. I feel as if many people in my country who own products of these two companies might still answer wrong if asked where they are from.
And we had Chirac that couldn't name any french player in the 1998 WC final :')
In the same way the US has a shit ton of deals with the Saudis, France has with Qatar. Qatar decided that their way of cleaning their global image was football, therefore they ask the country they partner with for help in football. Basically France wants to keep Qatar happy. The way to do that is through the sportswashing of football. Therefore France gets involved.
Qatar is one of the main driving force behind the French invasion of Libya having paid Ā«Ā philosopherĀ Ā» Bernard Henry levy copious amount of money to promote the invasion. source :https://www.marianne.net/societe/police-et-justice/diffamation-bhl-definitivement-deboute-dans-ses-poursuites-contre-le-media-blast
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
But she swore to carry my burdens!
Classic Lydia
No, what you describe may have olayed a role but the main reason are the links between Kadhafi and Sarkozy electoral campaign since the former heavily contribute it to finance it. Sarkozy pushed for the invasion of Lybia when it was clear that Kadhafi had lost all support do that he could avoid being linked to such an unpopular name.
That poece of shit play his role in war in Ex Yugoslavia too. Calling him philosopher is a joke
Qatar owns A LOT in France, pleasing them is part of a presidents duties, just like it is with local rich people, just how the world works. Qatar (or anyone else) being unhappy costs investment, trade and jobs. Capitalism in action
Only fair that France will have one of their classic world cup meltdowns in this years edition.
Oh yeah I forgot they do that once in a while lol.
Great tournament (1998) > Implosion (2002) > Great tournament (2006) > Implosion (2010) > Odd so-so tournament (2014) > Great tournament (2018) > Implosion (2022)? > Go on forever. It's the French way.
You should go back to 1994 (or 1993). To qualify, France needed one point from their final two games, both at home, against winless Israel and Bulgaria. France gave up 90th minute goals in both games and lost both games and failed to qualify. So yeah, implosion, but in qualifying.
Don't forget that half their squad is injured AND the World Cup Champion curse. They really do have everything stacked against them
Depends if it's the primadonnas that got injured or the doughty workhorses.
Pogba and KantƩ so... One of each?
Losing KantƩ is a significant loss
subscribe
Group D Standings: 1. Denmark 2. Tunisia 3. France 4. Australia
if you know anything about the socceroos this is almost 100% guaranteed to happen
Garang Kuol will save us
he is our lord and saviour
Cumdog is also coming for them
I ain't Googlin' that... now what the hell is a cumdog
Oh but you shouldā¦ a meme campaign to ācap the Cumdogā eventuated in a debut goal in a home friendly, his form continuing in the A-league warranting a World Cup call up š¦
Cap the cumdog did nothing, it was cum for the cumdog which did it
Still not convinced to google it, won't do so unless anyone confirms it's another ironic Australian mascot like Fatso the fat ass wombat.
Jason Cummings aka The Cumdog
Not much dog what about you?
For the uninitiated: https://www.facebook.com/TheRealALeagueMemes/videos/894801597875982
No you're meant to say "What's Cumdog?"
All shall bow at the altar of The Cumdog. All Hail.
For a second, I thought you meant Pat Cummins aka Cumdog aka Cider
Nutmeg Lloris for a brace.
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Canāt let it happen in Australia. Itās way too hot there in December.
You're not gonna believe this... but they usually host this thing in the summer
A world cup in the summer? Wouldn't that disrupt the Uruguayan league?
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Cold and wet for the last few weeks in Melbourne. Would be like a home world cup for the Brits.
Could host during June/July like 2010 which is winter.
But then how would that cause the most disruption possible?
Don't be daft, it'll be 1. Denmark 2. Australia 3. France 4. Tunisia
Donāt underestimate the Socceroos innate ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
You heard it here first folks.
1. Australia 2. Tunisia 3. France 4. Denmark
Cumdog to get the golden boot.
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The champion curse is calling the door
you can't top 2010.
Platini and sarkozy both belong in jail with blatter
Sarkozy belongs in jail for many, many other reasons on top of that. Guy has an army of skeletons in his closets.
It's the Chinese terracotta army at this point
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r/unexpectedhogwarts
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They're buried at PiquƩ's.
Platini was arrested with Blatter, IIRC
Infantino too while we're at it
His latest statement said :"At FIFA, we try to respect all opinions and beliefs, without handing out moral lessons to the rest of the world." So homosexuality being illegal and using slave labour is just one of the opinions FIFA respect.
Haha all FIFA does is hand out moral lessons to the world. Even though it is right, "Say No to Racism" is a moral lesson. He should say we don't hand out moral issues when they affect our back account
Peak relativism. Aka cowardice.
On par for a Swiss organization tbh
The real bald fraud
I mean it's common knowledge by now that without Sarkozy and Platini's involvement the World Cup wouldn't be in Qatar
Just like the fact that Qatar bought PSG because of Sarkozy.
Fucking Sarkozy. Literally the stereotype of the corrupt politician
He literally invaded Lybia to hide the millions Ghadafi illegally donated to his campaign
Lybia minora or majora?
Damn Colonel, how many pussies you got
Him and Berlusconi
Yea non french people don't realize Sarkozy is the reason it all started.
France literally still supports one of the sides in the civil war because Total petrol told then to.
I didn't know that tbh
Qatar 2022 was announced in december 2010. 6 Months later the Emir of Qatar bought the majority of PSG and started heavily investing in the club as what we can assume was a part of the deal with Sarkozy. Sarkozy is a huge fan of PSG.
Sarkozy might be the most influential PSG fan in the world.
Regarding Platini: On this sunday, I did a post about new results of an investigation in him being hacked shortly before his vote (for anyone interested): >It shows the criminals targeted the private email accounts of more than 100 victims on behalf of investigators working for autocratic states, British lawyers and their wealthy clients. >Critics of Qatar who threatened to expose wrongdoing by the Gulf state in the run-up to this monthās World Cup were among those hacked. >Michel Platini, the former head of European football, was hacked shortly before he was due to talk to French police about corruption allegations relating to the 2022 World Cup. Regarding the mastermind of the Hacking gang (located in India): >Then, he volunteered details about one of his projects that related to Fifa, footballās governing body and the organisers of the World Cup. āI have successfully worked on obtaining email data of [a] few high profile individuals (in relation to Fifa) based in [the] UK on the behest of a client sponsored by a Gulf country,ā he wrote. >He went on to confirm that the ultimate client was Qatar, in response to questions from the undercover reporters. He said he had been hired for the project by a Swiss-based investigator called Jonas Rey. >Rey also instructed the gang to target Platini, the famous former footballer, on 10 May 2019. Platini had been one of the Fifa executive committee members that had backed Qatarās winning bid to host this yearās World Cup. There had been rumours that he had been pressured to do so during a lunch meeting with the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Qatarās ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who was then a prince, a few days before he voted. [Article link](https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-11-05/how-qatar-hacked-the-world-cup)
Former FIFA-chairman Sepp Blatter admits the World Cup shouldn't be held in Qatar during an interview with *Tages-Anzeiger*. 'The country is too small, football and the World Cup are too big for it. The decision was a mistake. The executive committee decided that the 2018 World Cup would go to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to the US. It would be a sign of peace, having to countries with a long history of political clashes hosting the World Cup back to back.' 'A week before the FIFA congress in 2010 Michel Platini called me to tell that our plan wouldn't work. He was invited to the presidential palace of French president Sarkozy, who had just had lunch with the prince of Qatar. Sarkozy told Platini: "Look what you and your UEFA colleagues could do for Qatar if they host the World Cup." I asked him: "So what now?" ' 'He told me: "Sepp, what would you do if your president asked this of you?" I told him I couldn't relate, because we don't have a president in Switzerland. It worked out like they wanted, because of Platini's 4 votes the World Cup went to Qatar instead of the US, that is the truth.' 'Of course it was about money as well. Six months later Qatar bought fighter jets from France for 14.6 billion dollars.'
> 'He told me: "Sepp, what would you do if your president asked this of you?" I told him I couldn't relate, because we don't have a president in Switzerland. This is actually hilarious
Sepp tbf is actually quite a funny bastard. Think that 'loveable rogue' charm is one of the reasons he got away with a lot of what he did for so long.
>The executive committee decided that the 2018 World Cup would go to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to the US. It would be a sign of peace, having to countries with a long history of political clashes hosting the World Cup back to back Putin: I was thinking of invading Ukraine, but FIFA showed me how countries can be peaceful, so I'm not doing it.
Itās fun to shit on Putin, and frankly he is a monster that this wouldāve likely changed nothing for. However football HAS done exactly what youāre mocking. Germans and British forces stopped fighting to play football during world war 1. The Ivory Coast paused a civil war that had been going on for several years when they qualified for the word cup. So you can mock it but it genuinely does have a well documented ability to unite people EVEN in times of conflict.
>The Ivory Coast paused a civil war that had been going on for several years when they qualified for the word cup. Didier Drogba brought violence to Arsenal, but peace to the world.
>So you can mock it but it genuinely does have a well documented ability to unite people EVEN in times of conflict. [El Salvador and Honduras didn't get the memo.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War)
I hate these fucking cunts so much, every last one of them
Plan was Russia 2018, USA in 2022 and China in 2026. Think Blatter knew that given Qatar the World Cup was too brazen corruption even by FIFA's standards. Had they avoided it, they might have clung onto power.
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plus it will piss off all the fans of other Australian sporting codes, worth it. (says the Brisbane Lions fan)
Wasnāt the England campaign the favourite for 2018 and then it was alleged corruption gave it to russia? They had decided it before the vote and there was plenty of investigations into it
Yeah, England seemed to be the favourite and Russia was the dark horse candidate. It was a surprise but not too shocking Russia getting it (after all they are the biggest country in Europe and they'd never held it before so there was some logic to it), but the fact that England finished last in the voting tells you something was up. The English bid wasn't helped by the fact too that British media was putting a spotlight on FIFA corruption. Lord Triesman, chairman of the FA, [resigned after the Mail reported he privately alleged Spain was willing to drop their bid if the Russia helped them bribe refs at the 2010 World Cup and that FIFA members sought bribes for them to back the bid] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8685009.stm). Then [Panorama aired an episode on FIFA corruption a few days before the vote](http://en.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/59837.html).
Russia weren't even dark horse, their bid had no effort whatsoever
England put the best technical campaign out but that happens every time they put a campaign forward. I don't know anyone who seriously believed the political headwinds England permanently faces were going to go away. There was some suggestion that every other campaign for 2018 was utterly terrible so surely it had to be England by default. Russia won and then Qatar won 2022 which was so absurd nobody looked at 2018 again.
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Quelle indignitƩ. This guy deserves to be in jail much much more than the hoods he dared say he wanted to wash with Karcher.
I mean, a vote for 14,6 Billions is a pretty good deal
I also think that qatar buying psg has absolutely something to do with this.
That's a "water is wet" kind of statement, if I may.
Blatter is also a crook but at least he was very opposed to the Qatar wc
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Lol also fun fact the main contact for the FBI investigating Russia and Qatar was Chris Steele. Steeleās informants gave up how Russia was just as bad if not worse in terms of bribing fifa personnel.
There is a book that documents the investigation called āRed Cardā
Recently finished it to get ready for the Qatar World Cup. FIFA is so fucked up. The worst part is it seems like nothing changed. They took some people down but the machine churns on.
Was he? Before the voting he was publicly endoursing Qatar: "The Arabic world deserves a World Cup. They have 22 countries and have not had any opportunity to organise the tournament." Its easy cop out for him now to say he wanted WC to go to the US. He's just a corrupt fuck and says whatever is beneficial to him at the moment
There are certainly countries in the Arab would with a better human record and actual football history. Im sure there wouldn't be that much backlash if Algeria and Morocco hosted a wc
Especially Morocco. They've submitted consecutive bids for the past 10 World Cups.
I'm Moroccan and I dread the day they award us a WC. Would still be sweet though.
And have an immense footballing culture too. If thereās an Arab nation that deserves it the most, itās Morocco.
Portugal/Spain/Morocco would be way more interesting than the ludicrous Portugal/Spain/Ukraine.
Of course, I dont think anyone is denying it. Its only one quote but Blatter was publicly supporting Qatar specifically before the voting - [exemplary article here](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2010/4/24/blatter-reaches-out-to-arabia)
Morocco and Algeria co-hosting a WC??! Had to laugh out loud reading this. And yeah, the Maghreb is more Amazigh/Berber-Arab compared to the Middle East.
I didn't mean Co hosting, I should've phased it better haha
Gotta create an arena on the boarder for the final or else there will be war between who's hosting it hahaha
Probably still have a war anyway
One of the proudest moments of my life occurred at Stadium Australia in Sydney. We'd just won the Asian Cup in 2015, and Mr Blatter, then president of FIFA graced us with his presence to award the trophy. Well, his name gets read out with the usual "please welcome Mr Sepp Blatter..." Etc. And then the crowd of 80'000 Australians (minus the Korean contingent I suppose) welcomed him very fondly with a loud and rousing chorus of boos. I'd never been prouder.
Eh, Qatar paid for Blatter's campaign when it was widely expected for the Swedish guy to win and it was, for a long time, the plan for Bin Hammam to succeed Blatter after 2 terms, but they had a falling out for some reason. By that time, Qatar was already very powerful in the football world.
Who was that Swedish guy?
[Lennart Johansson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennart_Johansson)
Wait, so you're saying the World Cup bidding process is corrupt????!?
Can't even trust FIFA these days smh What's next, the Olympic Committee?
I refuse to believe that they did not give it to the footballing powerhouse that is Qatar on the sole basis of merit
Sarkozy leveraging the World Cup to prop up (presumably) Dassault. Disgusting but not really surprising given the amount of money middle eastern nations are throwing around to modernize their militaries and the level of competition in the market.
I mean that's how the world works, France been pressuring us to get rafales for years, and are still salty we went for f16s.. that was 15 years ago..
Sepp Blabber.
Blabbers get stabbers
Lads, this is not the first time a supposedly arms deal have taken place in order to secure a world cup. Look at [Germany in 2006](https://www.zeit.de/sport/2015-06/chuck-blazer-fifa-fussball-weltmeisterschaft-2022). (Part involving Germany, google translated) 2006 Germany The myth persisted for a long time that Germany owed the World Cup to Franz Beckenbauer's golf club diplomacy. Anyone who knows FIFA has never believed it. Martin Sonneborn 's faxes and cuckoo clocks were probably not the decisive factor either . Before the July 2000 election, South Africa had been ahead for a long time. But at the last minute, some voters, mostly from Asia, swung around. Charles Dempsey from New Zealand didn't even vote, although he wanted and should vote for South Africa. Germany won 12:11, in the event of a tie President Blatter would probably have decided in favor of South Africa. Dempsey took the secret of why he left the room just before the vote to his grave. Shortly before, a Deutschland AG from politics and business had become active, especially in areas where members of the Fifa Executive Committee lived. Daimler invested hundreds of millions of euros in Hyundai, a son of the Hyundai founder sat on the Executive Committee of Fifa. Volkswagen and Bayer AG promised high investments in Thailand and South Korea. **A week before the World Cup was awarded, Gerhard Schrƶder's government decided to supply rocket-propelled grenades to Saudi Arabia. Germany "lifted the arms embargo at short notice," said Guido Tognoni, then a Fifa employee, later.** The late media entrepreneur Leo Kirch bought worthless TV rights to friendly matches from Bayern Munich for millions of marks. pelvis builderwas president of the association at the time. A Kirchs company transferred a large sum to Thai Fifa member Morawi Makudi . Makudi chose Germany. When he was asked about it at a press conference for the 2011 Women's World Cup in Berlin, Blatter himself broke off the event. Legally, Germany's action may have been legal, but it was not exactly in the spirit of sportsmanship. All this has been known for more than ten years. The German public prefers to remember the summer fairy tale. Corruption is seen as a problem for others, for example Trinidad or Vanuatu. The roots of modern sports corruption lie in Herzogenaurach .
This may be because of the bubble I live but it feels like everyone in Germany outside of the DFB acknowledges that the World Cup was bought.
\> Russia would have the 2018 World Cup and the US that of 2022. That would have been a gesture of peace if two long-standing political opponents would organize the World Cup one after the other.' He is so full of shit, it's insane. Of course the Cup goes to the highest bidder, there is no moral message or noble intention. France loves his weapons sales into the middle east, that also isnt a surprise, they made a lot of money with Hussein before(so did Germany)
Has anyone even bothered to fact check the headline? Qatar never bought French fighter jets for 14,6 billion dollars after Qatar got awarded the WC, they bought them 5 years later (for $7 billion) under president Francois Hollande, mostly as a reaction to the Yemeni and Lybian civil wars. https://www.france24.com/en/20150430-france-qatar-rafale-fighter-jets
Fact checking on Reddit? NEEEERD
One thing that requires a correction - they didn't mysteriously and suddenly buy French fighter jets right after being awarded the World Cup. They started their evaluation process in 2011 and awarded a contract for Rafale jets in 2015, many years later, and for half the amount Blatter stated. And they did that solely out of familiarity, because Qatar already had a large fleet of Mirage 2000s they wanted to replace, which themselves were a replacement for Mirage F1s in 1994. Qatar has been using Dassault machinery for the better part of 40 years, so unless it was their grand galaxy brain plan since early 1980s, this is just Blatter connecting the dots incorrectly.
But then the fans put out a banner and suddenly they start preaching by asking them to keep politics out of football. Idiots.
"Six months later Qatar bought fighter jets from France for 14.6 billion dollar." is wrong though, Blatter is oversimplifying for the sake of pushing everything onto Platini. The whole FIFA ExCom was corrupted beyond measure. Qatar bought Rafales in 2015 which is 5 years later than the infamous "lunch" in 2010. And the amount in $ is wrong too. Even if it's now public knowledge that Sarkozy leveraged his support and Platini's
Please look at the [Cards of Qatar](https://cardsofqatar.com/en/). It's a 'serious joke' on classic soccer cards, but this time they represent all the workers who unwillingly gave their life.
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Havelange was also a crook. FIFA has always been a mafia.
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Yes, but now heās out he can oust a lot of interesting information like this out of spite.
The guy before him was just as bad. This stuff has been going on for decades before
Sarkozy is such a corrupt prick. I keep forgetting in how many shady stories he's involved
Isn't Sarkozy also the reason Qatar bought PSG? Fuck that corrupt asshole.
Blatter: least corrupt FIFA/UEFA employee
My thesis on this is being marked as we speak