I heard on the radio that all the money donated by FIFA's sponsors (adidas, Mastercard etc.) to run the World Cup was put into this Swiss bank 'ISL'. Apparently ISL went bankrupt so FIFA have lost all their sponsor's money for Korea/Japan 2002.

more good news, eh!? :rolleyes: :D :p

Are you trying to tell me that FIFA actually need that money!?
All these 'fat cats' need to do is stick their fat hand into their pockets and you'll be surprised how many billion they pull out of it, they are probably to lazy to do that in the first place...

ISL are the Swiss company that market the majority of football (e.g. next time you watch an ITV Champions League broadcast, see the end credits, and it'll show you that it is an ISM\ISL\Carlton co-production).

FIFA and ISL have a close financial relationship so that the world governing body pumped money into the marketing machine in the hope of a huge return on the investment. However, the comparative financial failure of the FIFA World Club Championships (causing this year's event to be postponed), the sale of TV rights to state broadcasters (e.g. in the UK) for knock-down prices, and the lack of sponsors willing to risk huge sums of money on exposure at the 2002 World Cup have led to ISL being unable to recoup their costs. Ultimately, FIFA has lost all of its investment, meaning that the 2002 World Cup is in financial crisis. In an extreme case, should the money not be forthcoming, Japan and Korea may be forced to abandon their stadium projects and the tournament may be either abandoned or moved to a country that is already equipped to hold a tournament without extra investment, e.g. one that has held a big tournament in the recent past like France again, England, Holland\Belgium, USA. More likely is that FIFA will either go on the offensive and ask for contributions from the richest leagues, ask Kirsch to sell the TV rights off to digital TV companies on a Pay-Per-View basis for all countries in order to maximise revenue, or to scale down the tournament, perhaps from 32 clubs to 24 or 16. Either way, the fans will suffer.

And PhiLLer - FIFA are far from fat cats. While ISL is a profit organisation, FIFA has restricted them to such tight margins that they have had to go bankrupt. FIFA themselves are often thought of as a rich boys club, but are a not-for-profit oranisation, short of sponsors, revenue, and two-coins-to-rub-together.

There is a difference between saying you are something and being something.
Fifa tend to insist that they are a non-profit organization, they are also listed as a non-profit organization.But these guys such as Sepp Blatter and all them chaps do earn quite a bit more than the average hard-working dad would earn in a month, you'd have to agree on that one with me.
The likes of Sepp Blatter do have quite a few pennies, there's no disputing that!

Sepp Blatter has been working, unpaid, this year. Have you?

One thing is for sure - the governing body of the game are a load of twats, and then there's bloody "Step Ladder"...

FIFA is going like the game... downhill

Fifa is going downhill, let's hope that the game will go uphill though(for a change)

Unpaid, my ass!
You could be Sepp Blatter's personal assistent and they'd still try and tell you that he has been working unpaid this year.That is bollocks, do you know how much bonus he gets and he does get paid.He defenitely wouldn't stay on a year doing is job and not being paid.I did get payed!
Sepp Blatter is one of the nice guys at FIFA but if you think of all them other ones

it is going to be sad if they cannot held the wc in korea and japan, and yes i must agreed that the fans will suffer from it..