Sports

LONDON –– World Cup football sponsors Adidas and Sony voiced concerns over allegations that bribes were paid to secure the 2022 tournament for Qatar, an issue that is overshadowing this week’s kickoff in Brazil.

With its four yearly showpiece event only four days away, football’s governing body FIFA is on the defensive and is conducting an internal investigation into the decisions to hold the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 Cup in Qatar.

Qatar’s bid in particular has attracted controversy from the outset because of the extreme summer heat during the months when the World Cup is played and the tiny country’s lack of domestic football tradition. If it goes ahead, the tournament is expected to be switched to a date later in the year, creating scheduling headaches for broadcasters and European club football clubs.

The signs of unease from some of FIFA’s paymasters will raise pressure on the body, led by its Swiss President Sepp Blatter, to take a firm line on Qatar and underlying concerns about how it is run.

“The negative tenor of the public debate around FIFA at the moment is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners,” said German sportswear company Adidas, which has signed up as FIFA sponsor until 2030.

Japanese consumer goods company Sony said it expected the allegations to be “investigated appropriately”.

Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper has printed what it says are leaked documents showing bribes were paid to secure the event for Qatar, which Qatar denies.

Former US prosecutor Michael Garcia, leading FIFA’s internal investigation, is due to report in July, around a week after this year’s World Cup final.

Going public 

It is unusual for sponsors to say anything publicly on such a sensitive issue and the comments from Adidas and Sony reflect concern over the knock-on effects on their image.

“This underlines that companies need to make sure that any high profile association enhances their reputation rather than damages it,” said Andy Sutherden, Global Head of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship at communications firm H+K Strategies.

FIFA earned almost $1.4 billion last year, including more than $600 million from the sale of broadcasting rights and more than $400 million from sponsors and other marketing partners.

Sony and Adidas are among six main FIFA sponsors who collectively paid around $180 million last year. Sony’s sponsorship agreement, which also included the 2010 World Cup, expires this year, giving it particular leverage as it negotiates a new deal.

The Sunday Times printed new accusations on Sunday, just four days before the 2014 tournament kicks-off in Brazil, alleging that then-Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam, a Qatari, had brokered meetings between Qatari officials and governments to discuss bilateral trade deals.

Qatar denies Bin Hammam was connected to its bid for the World Cup. Bin Hammam has not commented. FIFA has already banned Bin Hammam for life from football over accusations he paid bribes to win votes for a bid to become FIFA president. That ban was overturned but another was imposed for conflicts of interest.

PARIS — France's World Cup chances suffered a severe blow when influential winger Franck Ribery was ruled out with lower back problems on Friday. Coach Didier Deschamps also said that attacking midfielder Clement Grenier was out of the finals in Brazil with a groin problem as Les Bleus suffered their third injury since the 23-man squad was unveiled. Second-choice goalkeeper Steve Mandanda also pulled out. Ribery and Grenier will be replaced in the squad by Morgan Schneiderlin and Remy Cabella. The replacements have to be validated by world governing body FIFA as they are made after the 23-man squad submission deadline, which was on June 2. "We will hand over those two files and they will take the time they need to reply," said Deschamps.

BUENOS AIRES — Colombia used two penalty kick goals to ease past Jordan 3-0 in a warm-up for the World Cup on Friday. Twice Jordan's national team, which did not qualify for the international football championship, committed hand balls, once in each half. James Rodriguez and Juan Cuadrado converted. Rajaei Ayed Fadel hit the ball with his arm in the 40th minute to set up Rodriguez's goal. Anas Bani Yaseen grabbed a ball in the goal crease with both hands in the 83rd minute, earning a red card. Cuadrado made the penalty. Fredy Guarin finished the scoring for Colombia in the 90th with a hard shot past goalkeeper Mohammad Shatnawi. Colombia opens World Cup play on June 14 against Greece. It is also grouped with Ivory Coast and Japan.

LONDON — The revenue generated by football clubs in the Premier League struck a record £2.53 billion ($4.23 billion) in the 2012/13 season as the English topflight remained the world leader.

An annual review conducted by consultants Deloitte shows that revenues among the 20 Premier League sides swelled by £165 million, with over 60 per cent of the growth driven by Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool.

“Once again the global appeal of the Premier League has continued to drive commercial revenue growth, particularly at the highest ranked Premier League clubs,” said Deloitte sports business group partner Dan Jones. “Matchday revenue also increased by 6 per cent with fewer unsold seats at Premier League games than ever before.”

“This growth will be driven by the revenue from the first season of the Premier League’s new broadcast deals and further commercial revenue growth at the biggest clubs,” he said.

According to Deloitte, the 7 per cent increase in Premier League revenues is the largest absolute growth of any of the “big five” leagues. Among those, German clubs generated revenues of £1.7 billion ($2.85 billion) while those in Spain reaped £1.6 billion ($2.68 billion). Italy’s clubs garnered £1.4 billion ($2.35 billion) while French clubs saw revenues of £1.1 billion ($1.84 billion).
Overall, the “big five” saw revenues increase 5 per cent.

The majority of the Premier League revenue’s growth arose from commercial sources, with the two Manchester clubs accounting for over half of the league’s £129 million ($216 million) commercial revenue increase.

Deloitte noted that the Bundesliga is still ahead of the Premier League by 55 million euros ($75 million) in commercial terms but expects the English league to “comfortably lead Europe” in all three main revenues categories — matchday, broadcast and commercial in the 2013/14 results.

In the year before UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules took effect, over 75 per cent of the Premier League clubs’ revenue increase was spent on wages, which rose by £125 million to £1.8 billion ($3 billion), as clubs spent in anticipation of the extra revenue from the new broadcast deal in 2013/14.

The biggest increase was at Manchester City, with the club spending an extra £31 million ($52 million) compared to the previous year to reach £233 million ($390 million). Though Manchester City remained ahead of its city rival Manchester United in the player cost stakes, United won the 2012/13 Premier League title. City reclaimed the title in the season that’s just ended while United sank to seventh.

“The pattern in spending on wages following previous increases in broadcast deals suggests it’s likely around 60 per cent or more of the revenue increase in 2013/14 will flow through to wages,” said Adam Bull, senior consultant in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte. “On that basis, we would expect Premier League total wage costs to reach a new record level of around £2.2 billion ($3.7 billion).”

PARIS — Michel Platini thinks FIFA must hold another vote for the 2022 World Cup if corruption allegations against Qatar’s winning bid are proven.

The Union of European Football Association (UEFA) president told sports newspaper L’Equipe that he doesn’t regret his own vote for Qatar and still thinks the Gulf nation “was the right choice for FIFA and for world football”.

“But if instances of corruption are proved, there will need to be a new vote and sanctions,” Platini said.

A FIFA prosecutor plans by next week to wrap up his investigation of the 2010 votes for Qatar and 2018 World Cup host Russia.

On a personal note, Platini claimed that “somebody, something” is plotting to discredit his possible candidacy for the FIFA presidency.

Media reports this week cast doubts on Platini’s links to now disgraced Qatari official Mohammad Bin Hammam. London’s Daily Telegraph alleged Platini had “a secret meeting” before the 2010 vote with Bin Hammam, suspected of vote-buying and other irregularities and whom FIFA subsequently expelled in 2012.

Platini told L’Equipe it was simply breakfast with a work colleague. Bin Hammam, like Platini, was a member of the FIFA board.

“I read ‘Platini corrupt?’ in all the newspapers, on news agency wires, on blogs. Honestly, it hurts,” Platini said.

He added: “I saw this colleague 10,000 times in 15 years. Why would I have had a secret meeting with him? I now realise that in the background there is somebody, something, people organising all this. I can feel it.”

“For a year now, everything is being done to discredit me, regardless of what I do. It is easy to feed people who spend their time denigrating you on social networks. There are firms that specialise in this. It’s not hard, you simply have to pay.”

Platini stopped short of accusing FIFA and its president Sepp Blatter of involvement.

“I have no proof,” he said. “I don’t know who is behind all this. But I think lots of interests are at stake, for those at FIFA, for those who want to be there” and “without doubt also for those who want us to overturn the attribution of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar”.

Platini said, however, that none of this will influence his decision on whether to challenge Blatter for the FIFA presidency. 

Platini said he will announce in August, after the World Cup in Brazil, whether he will run in the May 2015 election.

Blatter is looking to next week’s FIFA congress to support his own ambitions for another four-year term.

AMMAN — The national football team is gearing up to meet Columbia, the world's No. 5, in a friendly in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires on Saturday.

Columbia is set to play its first World Cup match on June 14, while Jordan kicks off a series of high level friendlies in preparation for the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Asian Cup 2015 in Australia.

Jordan is 64th in the latest FIFA rankings, and sixth among AFC teams. 

The squad regrouped last week following the end of most matches on the local agenda as technical director Hosam Hasan named the preliminary lineup to face Columbia, with many stars like goalie Amer Shafie, league top scorer Hamzeh Dardour, and Amer Deeb missing. 

Observers noted the coach had dropped these players for their conduct in training or matches and not for technical competency. Missing from the squad due to injury and other personal reasons will be Shadi Abu Hashhash, Khalil Bani Atiyeh, Anas Jbarat and Thaer Bawab.

The Asian Cup qualifiers included 25 teams playing in five groups of four teams each. 

The top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team qualified to the tournament set for January 9, 2015. Jordan advanced to the Asian Cup finals after finishing second in Group A qualifiers behind leader Oman. The team will play in Group D with 2011 holder Japan, Iraq and Palestine.

Teams qualifying automatically to the finals include 2011 Asian Cup champions Japan, third-placed South Korea, host and runner-up Australia, AFC Challenge Cup 2012 winner North Korea, and the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup champ Palestine.

The Jordan Football Association has scheduled six other matches aimed at giving the lineup optimum competitive experience against leading teams as it prepares for the third participation in the Asian Cup. 

Apart from the Columbia match, Jordan will host Uzbekistan on September 3, China on September 9, Malaysia on October 11, South Korea on November 14, the UAE on December 31 and Bahrain on January 4, 2105 ahead of the kickoff in Australia.

Jordan reached the Asian Cup twice: In the 13th cup, the squad lost to Japan in the quarterfinals and jumped to the best ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarterfinals where it lost to Uzbekistan.

SAO PAULO — With just over a week to go before the World Cup kicks off, Brazil is racing to get its stadiums, airports, roads and phone networks ready before hundreds of thousands of football fans descend on the country.

Airports in nearly all 12 host cities are swarmed with construction workers laying parking lots, installing check-in counters and kicking up clouds of dust with long-delayed expansions.

Workers at several stadiums are still struggling to set up cell phone networks that can withstand tens of thousands of smartphones. Temporary bleachers in Sao Paulo's stadium, which will host the opening game on June 12, have still not been tested under the full weight of fans.

After more than 13 years of intermittent construction, trains are finally making test runs on a metro that will deliver ticket holders to the stadium in the northeastern city of Salvador.

Only about half the projects promised for the World Cup have been delivered and many of those are only partly done, souring the mood in a country obsessed with football but increasingly sceptical about the benefits of hosting the show.

The late rush means most of the critical infrastructure will be in place and few doubt that the first World Cup in Brazil since 1950 will be one to remember.

President Dilma Rousseff promises Brazil will be fully ready on time even as she recognises delays with some big projects.

"Nobody does a [subway] in two years. Well, maybe China," she said with a smile during a meeting with foreign journalists on Tuesday night, calling delays "the cost of our democracy".

Still, frustrations over broken budgets, sloppy planning and missed opportunities to build a more enduring legacy fuelled a wave of protests last year and still loom over the World Cup.

The cycle of dire warnings and a late scramble to get ready is a familiar one ahead of the World Cup and the Olympics, and host nations usually manage to silence sceptics in the end. Even by those standards, though, Brazil is cutting it close.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in January that Brazil was further behind than any other host country he could recall with just five months to go.

Now he and other FIFA officials are putting on their game faces and adopting a more optimistic tone.

"I am sure it will be a great, great success," Blatter said. "The Brazilian spirit of the game and the Brazilian ability to play football makes this World Cup very, very special."

Throughout the country, Brazil's flag and iconic yellow jerseys are multiplying on the streets. Blending dogged pride with defiance of sporadic protests, some Brazilians have taken to Twitter with the hashtag #VaiTerCopaSim — or "Yes, there will be a World Cup".

The Brazilian team, which has already won the World Cup a record five times, is widely favoured to win again. If it does, home fans will put on a party to remember.

Not ready yet

For organisers, however, it is still too early to celebrate. Workers in Sao Paulo and Natal have spent the last week installing seats in stadiums that were supposed to be ready in December.

The Sao Paulo Stadium staged a weekend game to test its readiness but used about half the seating capacity and just a quarter of the temporary bleachers, some of which had not cleared safety checks.

Pick-up and drop-off areas at the airport in Belo Horizonte have been redirected around a crane. Workers in orange jumpsuits mingle with travellers in the main concourse.

In Manaus, passengers complain of the clouds of dust from the airport's ongoing expansion, while tractors are still working on new parking lots outside.

Even at new airports where the dust has settled, terminals promised for the World Cup may not be used for the tournament because they were delivered with so little time for inspection.

The second of two new terminals promised for the World Cup in the capital Brasilia was delivered last month but regulators have not yet authorised it for operation. A new airport west of Natal was only cleared for international arrivals on Tuesday.

Getting to and from some airports is also a headache as projects meant to smooth the connection to downtown areas are instead snarling traffic.

In Curitiba, 16km of the road to the airport is now a construction zone funnelling cars from four lanes to as few as one, doubling or tripling what had been a 30-minute ride.

A light rail project promised for the World Cup in Cuiaba will not enter service this year, but dozens of workers still swarm the work site where rails pass outside the airport. Driving from there to the city centre can now take up to two hours.

In some places workers have even reversed course, filling in trenches they had dug in order to cover up work sites with squares of grassy sod.

Determined to highlight signs of progress, Rousseff has inaugurated a series of high-profile public work projects, although construction continues on many of them

On Sunday, she celebrated the opening of a $700 million bus corridor across Rio de Janeiro, running from the airport at the north end of town to a booming beachside borough in the south. Only half the stations are open and just two of a planned seven bus lines will be ready in time for the World Cup.

At the expanded airport terminal Rousseff visited earlier in the day, construction was covered over with plywood barriers.

She played down the World Cup connection, saying they are long-term investments. "We're not making airports or projects of this scale for the World Cup. We do it for all Brazilians."

Still, the tournament offered a clear deadline for big transportation programmes such as Salvador's metro, which languished for years after work first started in 2000.

Tests on the long-awaited metro line were suspended after a worker died in an accident and service is now set to begin June 11, on the eve of the tournament opener.

LONDON –– Chelsea described Frank Lampard as “one of the very greatest players to have represented the club” after England’s 2014 World Cup vice-captain brought the curtain down on an outstanding 13-year Stamford Bridge career.

“Any Chelsea supporter who has had the good fortune to watch ‘Super Frank’ Lampard in full flow will know we have never seen his like in our midfield before and we will be very blessed to again see his equal,” the club said in a statement on Monday.

The midfielder, who turns 36 on June 20, announced earlier in the day that he was leaving the 2012 European champions.

“‎Frank Lampard’s momentous career as a Chelsea player will end when his contract expires at the end of this month,” the club said.

“Lampard has not yet announced his destination but all at Chelsea wish him every success for the future. He leaves with our enormous gratitude for the major part he played over 13 years packed with unforgettable victories, trophies lifted and records set.

“He blazed a trail during his long Chelsea career. Only Ron Harris and Peter Bonetti played more than his 648 games and Lampard famously leads our all-time scoring chart,” the club added. 

“His goal touch allied with all-round quality and fantastic stamina helped change the way football views the modern central midfield player.”

Chelsea said the former West Ham United player’s consistency set him apart from the rest.

“Lampard’s brilliance was not just limited to the deluge of goals he netted over his years at Stamford Bridge — 211 in total at an average of over 16 a season — nor was it confined to the significance of so many of those strikes,” the statement read.

“What really stands him out as one of the all-time greats was his extraordinary consistency.”

He netted 20 or more goals for five consecutive seasons and according to statistics compiled for Premier League assists, he has supplied the second-highest figure in that competition’s history. 

MUSCAT/RIO DE JANEIRO –– The fate of the 2022 football World Cup could be decided within weeks after the man leading the internal investigation into how Qatar won the right to host it announced on Monday he would complete his probe next week and report back in July.

Former US prosecutor Michael Garcia appears to hold the future of Qatar’s multibillion dollar World Cup bid in his hands after new allegations of bribery brought loud calls for the tournament to be moved if corruption is proved. 

In a statement, he set out a timetable that would see him file a report just after this year’s World Cup ends in Brazil.

Garcia, who heads an investigative committee for world football’s governing body FIFA, was in the Middle East, where he was expected to meet Qatar football officials as part of the probe. Speaking to Reuters in Muscat, capital of nearby Oman, he declined further comment on the inquiry, noting that he was “restrained by ethics”.

Qatar has strongly denied reports in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that bribes were paid to officials to bring the sporting world’s biggest global event to the tiny Gulf emirate, where temperatures during the summer when the tournament is played can soar above 50^oC.

The allegations of corruption at the heart of football’s governing body threaten to overshadow the run-up to the four-yearly World Cup, which begins in 10 days in Brazil.

“After months of interviewing witnesses and gathering materials, we intend to complete that phase of our investigation by June 9, 2014, and to submit a report to the Adjudicatory Chamber approximately six weeks thereafter,” Garcia said in a statement released by FIFA and referring to a FIFA panel.

“The report will consider all evidence potentially related to the bidding process, including evidence collected from prior investigations.”

Six weeks from June 9 is July 21, a week after this year’s tournament ends with a final in Rio de Janeiro.

As a former US attorney, Garcia tried some of the highest profile anti-terrorism cases in the United States. He also investigated the prostitution case that brought down a governor of New York. 

Peter Goldsmith, a member of FIFA’s Independent Governance Committee, became the latest international football official to say that the decision to hold the event in Qatar must be revoked if corruption is proved.

“I believe that if these allegations are shown to be true, then the hosting decision for Qatar has to be rerun,” Goldsmith, a former British attorney-general, told BBC radio. 

FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who has said the decision to award the 2022 tournament to Qatar was a mistake due to the summer heat, refused to comment on the bribery allegations on Monday.

He and FIFA’s secretary general, Jerome Valcke, were both in Brazil preparing for kick-off of this year’s tournament. Valcke also refused to comment.

FIFA’s secretary-general, Jerome Valcke, declined to comment when approached by reporters at an event in Rio de Janeiro.

Losing the hosting rights would be a blow to Qatar’s efforts to raise its global profile, though its oil and gas wealth would allow it to absorb substantial financial losses. Any rerun of the bidding could favour the losers in the FIFA vote held in 2010 — Australia, the United States, Japan and South Korea.

The sport was rocked when the Sunday Times reported on Sunday that it had evidence that around $5 million was paid to officials in return for votes for Qatar’s successful bid, allegations organisers have “vehemently” denied. The former official at the centre of the allegations, a Qatari who was the head of football in Asia at the time of the decision to award the cup to his native country, has yet to comment publicly on the allegations. 

The former official, Mohammad Bin Hammam, was barred from football for life in a separate case in 2011 for attempting to bribe officials while mounting a bid to replace Blatter as FIFA head. That ban was overturned but replaced with a new lifetime ban for conflicts of interest.

The Sunday Times published what it said were leaked e-mails and account records showing Bin Hammam had overseen payments to officials from national football associations in return for their support for Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 tournament.

Qatar said Bin Hammam was not a member of its bid team, and that its bid won the day on the merits. It is spending billions to hold the event, including building giant air-cooled stadiums which it said will make it possible to play in one of the hottest parts of the world in the heat of summer.

BERNE — Players should be given more of a voice in how football is run to prevent "scandal after scandal", the world players' union said on Monday in the wake of accusations bribes were paid to win Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

The international game has been rocked by a British Sunday newspaper's report that around $5 million was paid to officials in return for votes for Qatar's successful bid.

The Qatari organisers have vehemently denied the accusations. Peter Goldsmith, a member of the Independent Governance Committee of world football body FIFA, said on Monday the decision to award the tournament to Qatar should be revoked if the accusations prove true.

"Presently, players and players' interests are too often neglected or ignored in the decision-making process," the world player's union FIFPro said in a statement, saying it noted the Qatar accusations with concern.

"This is a sad reflection on the game's poor governance, which is clearly behind the times. It is unacceptable that administration of the game continues to be plagued by scandal after scandal."

The scandal threatens to overshadow the build-up to this year's World Cup just days before it gets under way in Brazil.

A former US prosecutor, Michael Garcia, has been hired to conduct an internal investigation into the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a rich Gulf state where temperatures soar above 50° in the summer, months when the tournament is meant to be held.

The Sunday Times newspaper said it had obtained thousands of e-mails and other documents that showed that the then head of football in Asia, a Qatari, had been responsible for payments to other officials to win votes for Qatar.

Qatar says the official, Mohamad Bin Hammam, played no role in its successful bid to host the World Cup.

Bin Hammam has since been barred from football for life after being found guilty in 2011 of attempted bribery to secure votes for his own bid to lead FIFA. 

That ban was later annulled, but he was banned for life a second time in 2012 for "conflicts of interest" while head of football in Asia.