The ruling could not have been more clear.

One of soccer’s six regional bodies had engaged in discriminatory behavior against a female official by hindering her chances of getting a seat on its board and a leadership position with the sport’s global governing body, FIFA.

The official, Mariyam Mohamed, also convinced judges at sports’ top court that an influential Kuwaiti sheikh had actively interfered in elections held by the Asian Football Confederation in 2019 to achieve his desired outcome.

The full ruling, which has not been published, was obtained by The New York Times. In it, a panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland concluded that the inaction by Asian soccer officials over several months amounted to a “denial of justice” for Mohamed. Yet two months since the decision was announced, the effect of what appears to be a powerful denunciation of ethics breaches and a disregard for women’s rights has had all the effect of a snowball hitting a tank.

Nothing has happened.

The tainted elections will not be rerun. The men who offered Mohamed inducements to drop out have not been punished. And soccer’s leaders have taken no action.

FIFA said in an email it had no comment, even though it previously insisted it would follow up on the court’s findings with soccer officials in Asia. Asian soccer’s governing body also declined to comment, saying its leaders had nothing to add to a January statement in which they had pledged the organization would review the findings.

For Mohamed, the silence has been maddening.

“It’s just a game for them, justice denial, the same process that I was in,” she said in a phone interview. “They’re waiting for time to pass by, and hoping I get fed up. Now the verdict has come, and it’s just very sad. I don’t know where else to go now.”

Mohamed, who filed her complaints to the Asian federation’s disciplinary department in May 2019, says she initially celebrated the ruling, but came to realize it may amount to a Pyrrhic victory.

She has not been contacted by officials from the AFC, she said. Nor has she heard from ethics investigators from FIFA, even though the organization’s rules state that gender discrimination is “strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.”

The case and its aftermath have highlighted how power works in global sports. It shows how a tainted Gulf royal linked to other cases of corruption has been able to exert significant control over one of soccer’s largest governing bodies even though he has no official role in its affairs. And it shows how a strategy of delay can be its own kind of injustice.

Mohamed’s case had roots in FIFA’s response to its own problems with discrimination: To address a lack of women on its governing board, the organization since 2013 set aside specific seats for women, starting with one voting member in 2013 and now a minimum of one from each of FIFA’s six regional confederations.

Mohamed, a former soccer player and coach from the Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, had hoped to win the AFC’s spot in a vote in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in April 2019. It did not take her long to realize that the power brokers of Asian soccer had already decided the election’s outcome.

She filed her first complaints about the election to the Asian confederation’s disciplinary department a month later. Emails show the organization responded to her inquiries by insisting it had begun an investigation, although it appears little was done. The AFC, citing confidentiality, refused to supply any evidence of its investigation to the court.

At a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last July, the AFC hardly put up a defense. Its lawyers offered no witnesses to challenge Mohamed’s testimony that a top confederation official and the head of the soccer federation of Qatar had been present in a luxury hotel suite when the Kuwaiti sheikh, Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, told Mohamed he had decided that his preferred candidate, Mahfuza Akhter Kiron of Bangladesh, would be elected as the AFC’s female representative to the FIFA Council.

Mohamed was told she should drop her candidacy, and do so within 24 hours. She later claimed, in testimony that went unchallenged by the AFC, that Sheikh Ahmad attempted to mollify her by saying he had so much sway in international soccer circles that he could obtain for her “any other position of her choosing at the AFC or FIFA” in exchange for her withdrawal.

By this point, Sheikh Ahmad had no official role in soccer, having resigned his position on the FIFA Council in 2017 after allegations emerged in a U.S. federal court that he had bribed Asian officials. But Mohamed’s decision to take her case to court provided a rare public glimpse into his continuing stature as a power broker in global sports through his role as the president of the Olympic Council of Asia, an organization created by his father in 1982.

At a 2013 International Olympic Committee meeting, for example, Sheikh Ahmad’s support helped Thomas Bach secure the IOC presidency and also deliver the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo. Since he was indicted in a forgery case unrelated to sports in 2018, he has “self-suspended” from two prominent Olympic roles. But his opinion still carries weight.

Before the AFC’s 2019 elections, his legal troubles did not seem to be an issue. A list of his favored candidates was distributed to AFC voters on the eve of the elections and, aware of the talks with Mohamed and of Sheikh Ahmad’s preference for a different candidate, the leaders of several federations pressured Mohamed to drop out, she said. She declined to withdraw, and lost the vote, 31-15. Every candidate on Sheikh Ahmad’s list, however, was elected to seats on the AFC’s executive board or, as in Kiron’s case, as a confederation representative to FIFA.

After reviewing the evidence presented by Mohamed and her lawyers, the CAS panel made clear in the summary of its decision that it agreed with her version of the events. The panel confirmed that the 2019 elections had breached FIFA and AFC rules on gender discrimination. It concluded that Sheikh Ahmad had tried to influence the outcome, and that the AFC had denied Mohamed justice by not making a ruling on her complaint. It did, however, also say that by not bowing out of the elections, Mohamed ensured the sheikh’s efforts to influence the election in her case were not effective.

But the court said it was powerless to order that the flawed elections be annulled, or to punish any of the individuals accused of interfering with them. Any decision on further action was for FIFA, and the AFC, to decide, the court said.

Because of the rules governing the court, the panel’s full findings have been cloaked in secrecy since the verdict was announced on Jan. 25.

“If nothing happens it is a disgrace for FIFA, the AFC, and undermines the authority of CAS indirectly,” said Miguel Maduro, the former FIFA governance head who gave evidence in Mohamed’s case. “This award and what follows tells us at once that CAS has exposed corruption at the highest level of elections in football and at the same time tells us they cannot do anything about it.”

Maduro added that at the very least, FIFA should have initiated an ethics inquiry after the ruling. To date, it has not.

Such a move, though, would be extremely sensitive for soccer’s global leadership. The FIFA official responsible for overseeing the 2019 election, Eduardo Ache, told the CAS panel that soccer’s guidelines to improve female representation were mere recommendations. The panel said Ache’s evidence suggested he was “prepared to accept any discrimination provided at least one woman was elected to FIFA.”

But pressing for discipline in the case also could be uncomfortable for FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, who relies on the support of national and regional soccer leaders to push his agenda. He recently spent two weeks touring Africa, for example, to ensure that his favored candidate, a South African billionaire with no high-level experience in soccer administration, was elected president of the continent’s regional confederation. And he is unlikely to press for discipline against the leader of Qatar’s soccer federation — reportedly present when Mohamed was offered inducements to step aside — or any other Asian leader a year before Qatar hosts the 2022 World Cup.

The longer the full ruling in Mohamed’s case goes unpublished, though, the more it will give the appearance soccer’s leaders are trying to brush a problematic situation under the carpet, said Johan Lindholm, a professor of law at Umea University in Sweden who has published a book on CAS.

“Whether it’s because of bad PR or there are other things going on, then you would probably want to keep it as secret as possible,” Lindholm said.

The ruling could not have been more clear. One of soccer’s six regional bodies had engaged in discriminatory behavior against a female official by hindering her chances of getting a seat on its board and a leadership position with the sport’s global governing body, FIFA.

The ruling could not have been more clear. One of soccer’s six regional bodies had engaged in discriminatory behavior against a female official by hindering her chances of getting a seat on its board and a leadership position with the sport’s global governing body, FIFA. The official, Mariyam Mohamed, also convinced judges at sports’ top court that an influential Kuwaiti sheikh had actively interfered in elections held by the Asian Football Confederation in 2019 to achieve his desired outcome. The full ruling, which has not been published, was obtained by The New York Times. In it, a panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland concluded that the inaction by Asian soccer officials over several months amounted to a “denial of justice” for Mohamed. Yet two months since the decision was announced, the effect of what appears to be a powerful denunciation of ethics breaches and a disregard for women’s rights has had all the effect of a snowball hitting a tank. Nothing has happened. The tainted elections will not be rerun. The men who offered Mohamed inducements to drop out have not been punished. And soccer’s leaders have taken no action. FIFA said in an email it had no comment, even though it previously insisted it would follow up on the court’s findings with soccer officials in Asia. Asian soccer’s governing body also declined to comment, saying its leaders had nothing to add to a January statement in which they had pledged the organization would review the findings. For Mohamed, the silence has been maddening. “It’s just a game for them, justice denial, the same process that I was in,” she said in a phone interview. “They’re waiting for time to pass by, and hoping I get fed up. Now the verdict has come, and it’s just very sad. I don’t know where else to go now.” Mohamed, who filed her complaints to the Asian federation’s disciplinary department in May 2019, says she initially celebrated the ruling, but came to realize it may amount to a Pyrrhic victory. She has not been contacted by officials from the AFC, she said. Nor has she heard from ethics investigators from FIFA, even though the organization’s rules state that gender discrimination is “strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.” The case and its aftermath have highlighted how power works in global sports. It shows how a tainted Gulf royal linked to other cases of corruption has been able to exert significant control over one of soccer’s largest governing bodies even though he has no official role in its affairs. And it shows how a strategy of delay can be its own kind of injustice. Mohamed’s case had roots in FIFA’s response to its own problems with discrimination: To address a lack of women on its governing board, the organization since 2013 set aside specific seats for women, starting with one voting member in 2013 and now a minimum of one from each of FIFA’s six regional confederations. Mohamed, a former soccer player and coach from the Maldives, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, had hoped to win the AFC’s spot in a vote in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in April 2019. It did not take her long to realize that the power brokers of Asian soccer had already decided the election’s outcome. She filed her first complaints about the election to the Asian confederation’s disciplinary department a month later. Emails show the organization responded to her inquiries by insisting it had begun an investigation, although it appears little was done. The AFC, citing confidentiality, refused to supply any evidence of its investigation to the court. At a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last July, the AFC hardly put up a defense. Its lawyers offered no witnesses to challenge Mohamed’s testimony that a top confederation official and the head of the soccer federation of Qatar had been present in a luxury hotel suite when the Kuwaiti sheikh, Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, told Mohamed he had decided that his preferred candidate, Mahfuza Akhter Kiron of Bangladesh, would be elected as the AFC’s female representative to the FIFA Council. Mohamed was told she should drop her candidacy, and do so within 24 hours. She later claimed, in testimony that went unchallenged by the AFC, that Sheikh Ahmad attempted to mollify her by saying he had so much sway in international soccer circles that he could obtain for her “any other position of her choosing at the AFC or FIFA” in exchange for her withdrawal. By this point, Sheikh Ahmad had no official role in soccer, having resigned his position on the FIFA Council in 2017 after allegations emerged in a U.S. federal court that he had bribed Asian officials. But Mohamed’s decision to take her case to court provided a rare public glimpse into his continuing stature as a power broker in global sports through his role as the president of the Olympic Council of Asia, an organization created by his father in 1982. At a 2013 International Olympic Committee meeting, for example, Sheikh Ahmad’s support helped Thomas Bach secure the IOC presidency and also deliver the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo. Since he was indicted in a forgery case unrelated to sports in 2018, he has “self-suspended” from two prominent Olympic roles. But his opinion still carries weight. Before the AFC’s 2019 elections, his legal troubles did not seem to be an issue. A list of his favored candidates was distributed to AFC voters on the eve of the elections and, aware of the talks with Mohamed and of Sheikh Ahmad’s preference for a different candidate, the leaders of several federations pressured Mohamed to drop out, she said. She declined to withdraw, and lost the vote, 31-15. Every candidate on Sheikh Ahmad’s list, however, was elected to seats on the AFC’s executive board or, as in Kiron’s case, as a confederation representative to FIFA. After reviewing the evidence presented by Mohamed and her lawyers, the CAS panel made clear in the summary of its decision that it agreed with her version of the events. The panel confirmed that the 2019 elections had breached FIFA and AFC rules on gender discrimination. It concluded that Sheikh Ahmad had tried to influence the outcome, and that the AFC had denied Mohamed justice by not making a ruling on her complaint. It did, however, also say that by not bowing out of the elections, Mohamed ensured the sheikh’s efforts to influence the election in her case were not effective. But the court said it was powerless to order that the flawed elections be annulled, or to punish any of the individuals accused of interfering with them. Any decision on further action was for FIFA, and the AFC, to decide, the court said. Because of the rules governing the court, the panel’s full findings have been cloaked in secrecy since the verdict was announced on Jan. 25. “If nothing happens it is a disgrace for FIFA, the AFC, and undermines the authority of CAS indirectly,” said Miguel Maduro, the former FIFA governance head who gave evidence in Mohamed’s case. “This award and what follows tells us at once that CAS has exposed corruption at the highest level of elections in football and at the same time tells us they cannot do anything about it.” Maduro added that at the very least, FIFA should have initiated an ethics inquiry after the ruling. To date, it has not. Such a move, though, would be extremely sensitive for soccer’s global leadership. The FIFA official responsible for overseeing the 2019 election, Eduardo Ache, told the CAS panel that soccer’s guidelines to improve female representation were mere recommendations. The panel said Ache’s evidence suggested he was “prepared to accept any discrimination provided at least one woman was elected to FIFA.” But pressing for discipline in the case also could be uncomfortable for FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, who relies on the support of national and regional soccer leaders to push his agenda. He recently spent two weeks touring Africa, for example, to ensure that his favored candidate, a South African billionaire with no high-level experience in soccer administration, was elected president of the continent’s regional confederation. And he is unlikely to press for discipline against the leader of Qatar’s soccer federation — reportedly present when Mohamed was offered inducements to step aside — or any other Asian leader a year before Qatar hosts the 2022 World Cup. The longer the full ruling in Mohamed’s case goes unpublished, though, the more it will give the appearance soccer’s leaders are trying to brush a problematic situation under the carpet, said Johan Lindholm, a professor of law at Umea University in Sweden who has published a book on CAS. “Whether it’s because of bad PR or there are other things going on, then you would probably want to keep it as secret as possible,” Lindholm said.

A soccer official proved her discrimination case. No one was punished.

International Olympics Committee's president Thomas Bach held a press conference&nbsp;following an Executive Board meeting amid uncertainty surrounding whether the Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead later this year.&nbsp;

ALSO READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/insurers-face-mind-blowingly-large-loss-if-olympics-cancelled-359710" hreflang="en">Insurers face 'mind-blowingly' large loss if Olympics cancelled</a>

Bach started the conference by confirming that the Games will go ahead as planned. IOC chief said that the committee is is "concentrated and committed" in holding the Tokyo Olympics as per the schedule.&nbsp;

"We are fully concentrated and committed towards successful and safe Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Bach went on to talk about complexities of holding the Games, especially during the times of a pandemic, he said: "Organisation of Olympic and Paralympic Games extremely complex challenge. Complexity multiplied when it comes to the organisation of postponed Olympic Games under the conditions of a pandemic. We are learning every day."

He also said that no one can predict the health situation at the time of the games and the fight against the virus is tough. "Fight against the virus is a tough fight. Fighting it for and like Olympic athletes. Nobody, not even scientists, can predict the health-situation in 206 NOCs for the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games from late July to the beginning of September this year," Bach said.&nbsp;

While talking about the vaccinations, Bach said that vaccines are not a 'silver bullet', however, the IOC is encouraging the everyone to accept vaccination. "Vaccination is not the silver bullet which solves all problems. It is part of the countermeasures for Tokyo 2020. We are encouraging everybody to accept vaccination. But athletes should not jump the queue," IOC chief said.&nbsp;

Bach talked about athlete quota during the games, he said: "61 per cent of the athlete quota places for Tokyo 2020 have already been allocated; 25 per cent will be assigned during the remaining qualification period; the final 14 per cent of athletes will be selected through rankings as per the respective qualification system for each sport." &nbsp;&nbsp;

IOC chief also rubbished the speculations regarding the cancellations or postponement of the Games and said such news hurt the athletes' preparations.&nbsp;

"There are many speculations around Tokyo 2020 which are hurting the athletes. There is speculation about cancellation, a Plan B, about everything. Some even make the proposal to postpone to the year 2032. Tell this to an athlete who is preparing now," Bach said.&nbsp;

International Olympics Committee's president Thomas Bach held a press conference following an Executive Board meeting amid uncertainty surrounding whether the Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead later this year.

International Olympics Committee's president Thomas Bach held a press conference following an Executive Board meeting amid uncertainty surrounding whether the Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead later this year. ALSO READ: Insurers face 'mind-blowingly' large loss if Olympics cancelled Bach started the conference by confirming that the Games will go ahead as planned. IOC chief said that the committee is is "concentrated and committed" in holding the Tokyo Olympics as per the schedule. "We are fully concentrated and committed towards successful and safe Olympic and Paralympic Games." Bach went on to talk about complexities of holding the Games, especially during the times of a pandemic, he said: "Organisation of Olympic and Paralympic Games extremely complex challenge. Complexity multiplied when it comes to the organisation of postponed Olympic Games under the conditions of a pandemic. We are learning every day." He also said that no one can predict the health situation at the time of the games and the fight against the virus is tough. "Fight against the virus is a tough fight. Fighting it for and like Olympic athletes. Nobody, not even scientists, can predict the health-situation in 206 NOCs for the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games from late July to the beginning of September this year," Bach said. While talking about the vaccinations, Bach said that vaccines are not a 'silver bullet', however, the IOC is encouraging the everyone to accept vaccination. "Vaccination is not the silver bullet which solves all problems. It is part of the countermeasures for Tokyo 2020. We are encouraging everybody to accept vaccination. But athletes should not jump the queue," IOC chief said. Bach talked about athlete quota during the games, he said: "61 per cent of the athlete quota places for Tokyo 2020 have already been allocated; 25 per cent will be assigned during the remaining qualification period; the final 14 per cent of athletes will be selected through rankings as per the respective qualification system for each sport." IOC chief also rubbished the speculations regarding the cancellations or postponement of the Games and said such news hurt the athletes' preparations. "There are many speculations around Tokyo 2020 which are hurting the athletes. There is speculation about cancellation, a Plan B, about everything. Some even make the proposal to postpone to the year 2032. Tell this to an athlete who is preparing now," Bach said.

'Vaccination not a silver bullet': IOC chief Thomas Bach urges athletes to not jump queue

A blanket ban on Russia at the Rio de Janeiro Games would have had devastating consequences, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Tuesday. 
 
The IOC opted not to ban all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics after revelations of a wide state-backed doping programme across many sports. Instead, it chose a set of criteria for athletes to meet, including a clean doping past and sufficient testing at international events, that so far has allowed more than 250 out of the original 387 Russian athletes to be cleared for Rio. 
 
Bach, speaking at the IOC session in the Brazilian city, said preventing clean athletes from competing and treating them as &quot;collateral damage&quot; would have been wrong. &quot;This blanket ban of the Russian Olympic Committee has been called by some the &#39;nuclear option&#39; and the innocent athletes would have to be considered as collateral damage,&quot; Bach said. 
 
&quot;Leaving aside that such a comparison is completely out of any proportion when it comes to the rules of sport. Let us just for a moment consider the consequences of a &#39;nuclear option&#39;. The result is death and devastation.&nbsp;The cynical &#39;collateral damage approach&#39; is not what the Olympic Movement stands for.&quot; 
 
Several anti-doping bodies, including the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), as well as those from the United States, Canada and Germany, among others, had called on the IOC to implement a blanket ban on all Russian athletes. They expressed disappointment following the IOC&#39;s decision to allow some Russians to compete and accused the Games&#39; ruling body of lacking the leadership and courage to punish Russia. 
 
&quot;What is not acceptable is the insinuation of some proponents of the blanket ban that those who do not share their opinions are not fighting against doping,&quot; Bach said. &quot;On behalf of all these supporters, I reject this insinuation in the strongest terms.&nbsp;We may disagree how we get there but we all work toward the same goal of protecting clean athletes. Despite these discrepancies, we agree we must not allow such a situation to happen again,&quot; he added. Bach said the doping system needed completely restructuring. 
 
&quot;Engagement and not isolation is the key to build a more robust anti-doping system,&quot; he said. 
 
(Reuters)

Thomas Bach said preventing clean athletes from competing and treating them as 'collateral damage' would have been wrong

A blanket ban on Russia at the Rio de Janeiro Games would have had devastating consequences, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Tuesday. The IOC opted not to ban all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics after revelations of a wide state-backed doping programme across many sports. Instead, it chose a set of criteria for athletes to meet, including a clean doping past and sufficient testing at international events, that so far has allowed more than 250 out of the original 387 Russian athletes to be cleared for Rio. Bach, speaking at the IOC session in the Brazilian city, said preventing clean athletes from competing and treating them as "collateral damage" would have been wrong. "This blanket ban of the Russian Olympic Committee has been called by some the 'nuclear option' and the innocent athletes would have to be considered as collateral damage," Bach said. "Leaving aside that such a comparison is completely out of any proportion when it comes to the rules of sport. Let us just for a moment consider the consequences of a 'nuclear option'. The result is death and devastation. The cynical 'collateral damage approach' is not what the Olympic Movement stands for." Several anti-doping bodies, including the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), as well as those from the United States, Canada and Germany, among others, had called on the IOC to implement a blanket ban on all Russian athletes. They expressed disappointment following the IOC's decision to allow some Russians to compete and accused the Games' ruling body of lacking the leadership and courage to punish Russia. "What is not acceptable is the insinuation of some proponents of the blanket ban that those who do not share their opinions are not fighting against doping," Bach said. "On behalf of all these supporters, I reject this insinuation in the strongest terms. We may disagree how we get there but we all work toward the same goal of protecting clean athletes. Despite these discrepancies, we agree we must not allow such a situation to happen again," he added. Bach said the doping system needed completely restructuring. "Engagement and not isolation is the key to build a more robust anti-doping system," he said. (Reuters)

IOC president says blanket Rio ban on Russia would have been disastrous

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