Normally, the days before electing the World Cup hosts, the contenders will get a lot of media attention, but this year corruption allegations, vote-selling, undercover journalist investigations and accusations of bid collusion has caught the eye of the people.
The British newspaper The Sunday Times published a tape, in late October, of two high-profiled FIFA members, Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii, offering the undercover journalists, pretending to be lobbyists for the USA bid, their votes for the USA to become hosts of the World Cup in exchange for money. FIFA's Ethics Committee decided to ban the two for 3 years, along with four other officials.
The England bid amazingly didn't care for the investigation performed by The Sunday Times and they actually sent a letter to FIFA trying to convince them that the England bid actually had nothing to do with the investigation.
FIFA did not appreciate the investigation, either. The Chairman of the Executive Committee, Claudio Sulser, and even FIFA President Sepp Blatter expressed their resentment towards the UK media.
When the BBC published their plans to air a documentary on corruption within FIFA only three days before the election for the World Cup 2018 and 2022 hosts, the English Bid Committee and even senior figures in the Britsh Government weren't particularily pleased. They went as far as to say that the BBC were "unpatriotic".
The BBC went on to air the documentary investigating three members of FIFA receiving bribes during the periods of 1989 and 1999, despite protests from politicians and anyone wanting England to become hosts of the 2018 World Cup, as they believed this documentary would ruin England's chances.
The first FIFA official mentioned was a gentleman named Nicolas Leoz from Paraguay, and he is the head of South America's football confederation. He was named in court papers in connection with payments totalling £83,000
But the BBC obtained a confidential ISL document which actually lists up to 175 secret payments. It showed that Nicolas was paid £384,000 more than first thought.
The second Fifa official named by the programme, Ricardo Teixeira, is head of the Brazilian Football Confederation which is responsible for staging the 2014 World Cup
The second FIFA official named was Ricardo Teixeira, and he is head of the Brazilian Football Confederation.
The ISL list shows a front company in Liechtenstein called Sanud, which Teixeira is heavily involved with, received 21 payments totalling £6m.
The final FIFA official mentioned was Issa Hayato, who is the FIFA vice-president representing football in African nations. This gentleman took bribes totalling £12,900.
These aren't even all of the corruption scandals which has struck FIFA, these are the scandals that have struck in the last month. There seems to be a scandal within FIFA just about every other year, and it is not healthy for football as a sport.
As you probably could of guessed, England did not get the World Cup in 2018, and everybody is blaming The Sunday Times and the BBC, which isn't fair really. They were just doing their jobs, which is to find something to write about, and sometimes you have to investigate and find out something that people aren't going to like.
