beachesl Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 This is only me jumping to the wildest conjecture[]. England participating would mean big big bucks. I know that the organizers of the tourny were not happy with England not qualifying. From >BBC website today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7250730.stm How would they resolve the difficulty a vacancy would leave? Denmark replaced a banned Yugoslavia at the 1992 Euro Cup in Sweden and went on to win the darn thing[:0]. There would be no time to set up any qualifying, and the replacement process would be open-ended, there is no set procedure. Of course, FIFA and UEFA taking on a heavyweight like Spain is different than taking on third world countries like Kenya, Belize, Greece, Canada and Poland. I would not expect that an issue like this would come to an ultimate head. ------------------- Fifa warns Spain of possible ban Blatter has sent out a strong warning Spain may be banned from international competition if their government tries to intervene in the election process of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Fifa president Sepp Blatter is unhappy with a rule forcing Spain's non-Olympic sporting federations to hold elections before the Beijing Games. "Spain would not be able to play at Euro 2008 and their clubs wouldn't continue in Europe," he said. "A confrontation like this is no good for football or for the government." Greece escaped a lengthy ban from international competition prior to the 2002 World Cup because of their government's involvement in footballing matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N-A Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Was just reading the very same article. I think that Spain will be able to over come this matter and take its place at Euro 2008 but anything is possible in football like with Yugoslavia and Denmark in 1992. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 quote:Originally posted by beachesl How would they resolve the difficulty a vacancy would leave? Denmark replaced a banned Yugoslavia at the 1992 Euro Cup in Sweden and went on to win the darn thing[:0]. There would be no time to set up any qualifying, and the replacement process would be open-ended, there is no set procedure. Well, Denmark were in the same qualifying group as Yugoslavia in 2002, so that's why (i assume) they were chosen to replace them. So it would either have to be Northern Ireland or Scotland (best third place team) to replace Spain in this case, I would think. England would still be out-of-luck. [8D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Blatter is backing a totally corrupt federation, one condemned in the courts and with a recent ruling that says the new sport centre for the national team in Las Rozas is illegal in planning and financial terms and should be demolished. Villar the Spain president is constantly in court, his board regularly skimming off funds for personal pleasure. And rightly so, because of financial wrongdoing, the Spanish government has witheld funding for this year, I believe, though not exactly sure what that means. In any case, the court is backing the new law forcing all those not qualifying teams to go to elections, and Villar is being accused of hiding behind FIFA to not have to face the heat before the Eurocup. Because the Eurocup is where you dish out the favours in the form of hotels, drink, food and free tickets to those you hope will vote for you when you want to do elections. His chief rival, Mateo Alemany, has rightly come out saying that the FIFA norm is meant for countries without democracy, as a minimum parameter for democratic independence of football institutions. But then Blatter uses the supposed statutes to protect democracy to back up its travesty when his buddies happen to be the real dictators. Of course there is absolutely no way Spain will be left out of the Eurocup. England can go fu-ck themselves. And while we are at it, Go Alonso! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 Great time for a showdown though, no? By that I mean between local governance and FIFA. I don't think Blatter could handle the heat which would result from the up-roar if FIFA were to suspend Spain over an issue of local laws, particularly those instituted by a respected democratic state, trying to trump FIFA directives. Might work against war torn Yugoslavia or a relative minnow like Greece, it is not going to work against Spain. Not if the Spanish government can hold it's nerve. As to suspending the La Liga clubs from European competition, stunned if it ever came to that. The dollars and cents of it hits UEFA's wallet pretty hard and as we all know UEFA's wallet is right over and completely attached to, UEFA's heart. This is a good issue to pick a fight over as far as I can tell. Well, if you wanted a fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 It is Spanish law. Any organization in any country is governed by law. No entity is allowed to be lawless or not law-abiding. And the law does not intervene in the RFEF, it lumps it in with a ton of other federations and applies a law to it. The law does not even mention the sport of football. Nor does it say anything about how the federation should be run. It simply legislates an election for it. Blatter does not respect this and is letting Villar hide in his skirt. But of course with FIFA in Switzerland, like in an undercover hideaway, you are never going to see them obliged to respond to democratic process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amacpher Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Blatter can do whatever he wants and will never lose my respect after he killed that "39th Premiership game" proposal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 quote:Originally posted by amacpher Blatter can do whatever he wants and will never lose my respect after he killed that "39th Premiership game" proposal. I think a lifetime of running world soccer in the most corrupt and disgraceful manner possible defeats any credit he might get for nixxing the 39th game proposal (which probably occured because the EPL didn't grease his palm enough). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachesl Posted February 26, 2008 Author Share Posted February 26, 2008 fROM bbc WEBSITE Last Updated: Tuesday, 26 February 2008, 09:30 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version NI wait on Uefa's Spain decision Nigel Worthington's side could get a back-door pass to the finals Uefa has warned Spain they could be thrown out of Euro 2008, which may open the door for Northern Ireland. Uefa may step in if the Spanish government tries to interfere in the election process of the Spanish FA. Spain topped their qualifying group for the European Championship, with NI finishing in third place. "Uefa and Fifa deal with these sort of issues very seriously. These are no empty threats - we will back them up," said Uefa spokesman William Gaillard. "It is similar to 1992 when Yugoslavia was suspended and Denmark, who finished second in the group, came in," added Gaillard. Denmark went on to win the tournament in Sweden after beating Germany 2-0 in the final. Spain and second-placed Sweden qualified for this summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland from Group F, with Nigel Worthington's side missing out. "We have heard nothing about this," said Irish FA president Raymond Kennedy. "There has been no communication and it is obviously an internal matter." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 UEFA is very subtle: "It is similar to 1992 when Yugoslavia was suspended and Denmark, who finished second in the group, came in," added Gaillard." Yes, very subtle. There is a civil war in Spain right now. People are killing each other, the Spanish government is occupying certain regions militarily. The ever-sensitive UEFA is at it again, probably because Villar is lobbying them constantly and they are complying. What the Spanish federation should do is comply with Spanish law and shut up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N-A Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 NI dashed hopes of a place in Euro 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7276585.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 quote:Originally posted by N-A NI dashed hopes of a place in Euro 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7276585.stm Basically the Spanish federation shunned the courts and followed the way shown by FIFA, voting overwhelmingly in assembly to have its elections in November. All the Spanish gov't can now do is pressure them or try to legally attack them, but the RFEF decision essentially protects the national team from interference and ensures its Eurocup participation. And the RFEF exec will simply take the flack, as they are used to doing. I wonder if a team could participate in an international sport competition representing a country if the country did not approve its presence. Not that the Spanish authorities would risk that, they may be in the right but politically it would be suicide. All said, I hope Villar does not win in the fall as he is a crook, but a shrewd one, and with a lot of support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Villar sounds like Thaksin. Does he happen to own a football club? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Soju Villar sounds like Thaksin. Does he happen to own a football club? Villar is a former player, Athletic Bilbao, and tends to pull a lot of weight in certain regional federations. His power is not business, it is a populist way of running football in Spain. He's Basque, and the Basque teams, who in the past were more powerful, support him, and for years he catered to the Catalans or the Canary Island teams, clubs in regions that felt discriminated or had "special needs" and needed to feel there was someone pulling for them in the RFEF. Then he has control of things like promoting refs from lower divisions to the top, so that the refs tend to be Villar guys; if you are critical, even if your official ratings are good (and the RFEF officially rates refs for league work), you can get less games or even be demoted, or can find yourself never reffing a top flight game in spite of being recognized you are tops. And of course knowing this, no competitive team in Spain wants to get on Villar's bad side, as it is perceived he sways the refs. So they pander to him, except for the clubs with more maverick or nutty presidents. The press and most independent observers are radically opposed to him, as is the Zapatero government through the Sec of State for Sport, Lissavetzky, who came up with the electoral law and would like him out for his corrupt practices, but the inner workings of football tend to support him. The reality is that Spain clubs and the Spanish national team perform equally well (or poorly depending what you think of quarter finals for the grown ups and an occasional world championship for the kids) with him, there is not real difference having him or not having him. In the nuts and bolts he is probably quite competent, and regardless of his presence football is growing in Spain and strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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