Gary Meenaghan
If Fifa's banned president Sepp Blatter were the type of man to harbour regrets, he might feel a twinge or two while reminiscing about last January's Asian Cup final in Sydney. Not only did hosts Australia show continental supremacy to lift the trophy, they also proved the country's growing love of football by setting new attendance records. How Blatter must rue his governing body's decision to snub Australia's bid for the 2022 World Cup in favour of Qatar.
That is not to say Australia’s bid was better, but it was undoubtedly less controversial. The Fifa Executive Committee’s decision in December 2010 to elect the gas-rich, football-poor Gulf country to host the sport’s grandest showcase proved the catalyst for intense investigations into the organisation.
The year's best photos: See the story of 2015 as told by some of the most memorable images from around the world
Allegations of corruption soon followed Blatter and Fifa across the globe. Whistled at inside Wembley and booed in Belo Horizonte, the Swiss and his governing body’s popularity plummeted. Yet even he could hardly have imagined quite how much further Fifa would fall in 2015.
In late May, seven Fifa officials were arrested during dawn raids at the hotel where they were staying ahead of the 65th Fifa Congress in Switzerland. The charges included racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion and the officials would later be extradited to the United States. With bedsheets hiding their identities, they were taken from the hotel in unmarked police cars in scenes reminiscent of old mafia films.
Blatter, the Teflon Don, continued unperturbed and was re-elected president two days later, but it was clear his house of cards was about to collapse.
Within a week, investigations by the FBI and Swiss prosecutors had led to 18 senior football executives being charged and Jerome Valcke, Fifa’s secretary-general, being caught up in a US$10 million (Dh36.7m) bribe allegation relating to South Africa’s successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup.
Finally, on June 2 and under intense pressure, Blatter caved and announced he would step down, albeit on his own terms. He revealed an Extraordinary Congress would be held in 2016 to elect a new president. Almost immediately, rumours began to swirl that Russia and Qatar's hosting rights for the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 might be in jeopardy.
In many ways, Russia had benefited from the controversy surrounding Qatar. With the focus of the international sports media trained on the Gulf, awkward questions regarding Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the country’s lack of action in tackling social issues such as racism and hooliganism ahead of a globally inclusive football event went unasked.
Russia’s comfortable situation of operating in the shadows, however, would not last.
In November, a report by an independent commission appointed by the World Anti-Doping Authority essentially accused Russia of operating a state-backed doping programme. Widespread doping, cover-ups and extortion were running through the country’s athletics and spreading into the International Olympics Committee (IOC), it said.
The report led to Russia's athletics federation being provisionally suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in November and the country's track and field athletes being indefinitely banned from global competition. Their participation in August's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is now under threat, although the nation's Olympic Committee is confident its three-month road map will ensure reform and prevent the doping scandal from stopping honest athletes from competing in Brazil.
Rio also has serious issues to contend with. As was the case with the 2014 Fifa World Cup, the 2016 Games is rampant with overspending, missed deadlines and allegations of corruption. But an independent study published in July also found high levels of viruses from human waste at all of Rio's Olympic water venues. German sailor Erik Heil fell ill in August after competing in the heavily polluted Guanabara Bay.
Sport is important because it can unite social classes, bridge bonds between conflicting nations and create healthy, passionate, disciplined individuals. Yet it rarely gets the governance it warrants. The unravelling of Fifa and Russia’s national Olympic Committee this year only strengthens such perceptions.
In 2002, the bribery scandal relating to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City forced an overhaul of the IOC and the hope is something similar can now happen at Fifa. “Enough is enough,” the IOC said in an October statement. “We hope that now, finally, everyone at Fifa has at last understood that they cannot continue to remain passive. They must act swiftly to regain credibility.”
Two months later, Blatter and Michel Platini, the president of European football’s governing body, were banned from football for eight years by Fifa’s Ethics Committee. The two men were found guilty of breaches surrounding a 2 million Swiss franc (Dh7.4m) “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011, but there was not enough evidence to impose a corruption charge. Both men deny any wrongdoing and plan to appeal the ruling.
The decision to ban Blatter was viewed as progress by many media, yet of the five Fifa presidential hopefuls, few – if any – represent the clean break required. Likewise, while Russia’s road map promises a systematic overhaul, the damage has already been done.
The trust in sporting governance is gone and it may take decades for it to be reestablished – but next year is as good a place as any to start the process.
Gary Meenaghan is a freelance sports writer based in the UAE, UK and Brazil.
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The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
RESULTS
Bantamweight: Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) beat Hamza Bougamza (MAR)
Catchweight 67kg: Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) beat Fouad Mesdari (ALG)
Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) beat Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)
Catchweight 73kg: Mosatafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) beat Yazid Chouchane (ALG)
Middleweight: Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) beat Badreddine Diani (MAR)
Catchweight 78KG: Rashed Dawood (UAE) beat Adnan Bushashy (ALG)
Middleweight: Sallah-Eddine Dekhissi (MAR) beat Abdel Enam (EGY)
Catchweight 65kg: Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG) beat Rachid Hazoume (MAR)
Lightweight: Mohammed Yahya (UAE) beat Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 79kg: Souhil Tahiri (ALG) beat Omar Hussein (PAL)
Middleweight: Tarek Suleiman (SYR) beat Laid Zerhouni (ALG)
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
MATCH INFO
Argentina 47 (Tries: Sanchez, Tuculet (2), Mallia (2), De La Fuente, Bertranou; Cons: Sanchez 5, Urdapilleta)
United States 17 (Tries: Scully (2), Lasike; Cons: MacGinty)
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
Profile Books and London Review of Books
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStage%203%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Einer%20Rubio%20(COL)%20Movistar%20Team%20-%204h51%E2%80%9924%E2%80%9D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Remco%20Evenepoel%20(BEL)%20Soudal%20Quick-Step%20-%2014%22%3Cbr%3E3.%20Adam%20Yates%20(GBR)%20UAE%20Team%20Emirates%20-%2015%22%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EGeneral%20classifications%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Remco%20Evenepoel%20(BEL)%20Soudal%20Quick-Step%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lucas%20Plapp%20(AUS)%20Ineos%20Grenaders)%20-%207%22%3Cbr%3E3.%20Pello%20Bilbao%20(ESP)%20Bahrain%20Victorious%20-%2011%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
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World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
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Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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RESULTS
2pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: Najem Al Rwasi, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
2.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Fandim, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
3pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Harbh, Pat Cosgrave, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
3.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Wakeel W’Rsan, Richard Mullen, Jaci Wickham
4pm: Crown Prince of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Jawaal, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
4.30pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup (TB) Dh200,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
SQUADS
India
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, George Worker, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
