FIFA – What next? It’s an interesting thought that many people must have mulled over. The farce of seven of FIFA’s top officials being arrested on a US warrant by Swiss police on Wednesday at a hotel in Zurich, two days ahead of their leadership conference, was big news.
Yet, two days later Sepp Blatter defied everyone by being elected for a fifth term as FIFA president, despite widespread calls for him to resign. His victory came following the sudden withdrawal of Prince Ali-bin Al-Hussein from the second round of voting.
This year’s FIFA World Cup takes place in Brazil between the 12th June and the 13th July. There are 32 teams taking part in the 20th World Cup. It is the second time Brazil has hosted the Cup, the previous being in 1950.
There are 12 stadiums being used to stage this year’s World Cup. The venues include Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Recife, Manaus and Curitiba. The opening match will be played at the Arena de São Paulo in São Paulo. The final will be played in the famous Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Category: Football / World Cup / Brazil 2014
Should Qatar host the football World Cup in 2022? It is a debatable point…
FIFA has been under pressure to re-run the vote on who should host the 2022 World Cup after new allegations of corruption. The Qatar Bid Committee has however, denied any wrongdoing following recent reports of corruption in The Sunday Times. The newspaper alleged Mohamed Bin Hammam, a former FIFA executive member for Qatar, made payments totalling US$5 million (£2.98m) to football bosses to secure support for the bid.
Category: Sport / Football / World Cup
Germany recently rejected a ‘transfer request’ to transfer Paul, the famous World Cup predicting Octopus, from a zoo in Germany to Spain. Paul shot to worldwide fame during the World Cup after he correctly predicted the outcome of all of Germany’s seven matches in the tournament. Known as Paul the “psychic” octopus the cephalopod then picked a mussel from the “Spanish” tank indicating Spain would win the FIFA World Cup final in South Africa. They did!
His awesome 100% record made him an instant hero in Spain and now Madrid’s Zoo says it wants to put Paul on display in its aquarium. But the Octopus’s owners at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre in Germany said there was no chance of Paul being sold. Here’s how the two and a half year old octopus makes his prognostications: Officials put a mussel inside each of two clear plastic boxes bearing the national flags of the teams in his tank. Paul then makes his choice by opening the lid with his tentacles and devouring one of the treats. Paul now has thousands of fans worldwide including world leaders.
Category: World Cup / Germany-Spain / Paul the Octopus
