Thursday, 31st July 2008

DATA BOX

Developing Markets Driving Demand For Mobile Devices
Ipsos Media CT Research results published on Info IQ

Consumers are reporting strong intentions to buy mobile devices this year. Consumers in 11 key markets around the world, especially the fast-growing economies of India, China, and Brazil, have strong demand for mobile devices—including cell phones, MP3 players, hand-held gaming devices, and laptop PCs, according to research conducted by Ipsos MediaCT which tracks digital technology ownership use and purchase intent, as well as associated online and mobile behaviors.

There is a shift in from consumer purchasing behavior in the developing world, in some countries, consumer demand is being driven by consumers who are looking to replace older models while in other countries new buyers are driving demand. In fast growing urban China, nearly half of urban Chinese households will buy a mobile phone this year, but since virtually all households (98%) already own at least one, the market for new buyers is saturated.

By contrast, in urban Brazil, 29% of households do not yet own a mobile phone. That provides a large opportunity to sell to new household buyers. In fact, of the households in urban Brazil that intend to buy a mobile phone this year, nearly one in four households (22%) will be first-time buyers. Urban Brazil is a hot spot for new buyers of mobile devices and leads the world in household demand for hand-held gaming devices, MP3 players, and mobile phones.

However with three times more people, total mobile device sales in urban China may actually exceed those sold in Brazil. A complex picture is emerging, but one thing is clear—consumer demand for mobile devices is especially strong in developing countries, particularly for mobile phones and MP3 players.


DID YOU KNOW?

Female hockey players from Britain are to wear red contact lenses to beat the smog in Beijing during next month's Olympics.The pollution is likely to be so severe at next month's Olympic Games that the women's hockey squad - dubbed the Lionesses - are trialling the bizarre-looking contacts despite the effect they have on the ladies' looks. According to The Sun, the lenses will help their eyes to focus on the fast-moving hockey ball in the haze and smog. Players are also helped by the fact that the lenses act like sun glasses, cutting out glare and reducing the amount they frown, which can cause them to tire more quickly and to suffer headaches. News.WebIndia123.com, 30th July 2008


SPORTS SHORTS

* Tickets for the Beijing Games have officially sold out, setting off "yellow bull" scalpers who want big profits for tickets to the Olympics' hottest events. Despite threats of fines and possible detentions of up to 15 days, scalpers are offering thousands of pricey tickets on scores of websites, making enforcement efforts all but a farce. But that's exactly what scalpers, known in Chinese as "huang niu" or yellow bulls, are doing. Officials did not reply to emailed requests for an interview about widespread profiteering, although a series of measures have been put in place aimed at thwarting scalpers who buy up large amounts of tickets and then resell them later at inflated prices. Sports City, 30th Jul 2008

* Dispute between Olympic rights holders and China escalated yesterday when two crews from European Broadcasting Union were thrown out of a Beijing public areas and refused the right to film. The EBU, representing 43 countries, complained to organisers about harassment and the lack of press freedom. CBC Canada also described the excessive level of security as "suffocating" and criticized the IOC, saying it was not doing enough to support global broadcasters that paid billions of dollars for the right to televise the Games, money that ends up in IOC hands. A third complaint came from Mexico’s TV-AZTECA, who said police harassed its crew and Chinese minder in a public area. Irate broadcasters said they would continue to pressure Beijing over the restrictions preventing them from televising the Games to the world. The Australian, 30th Jul 2008

* Blocks on internet sites in the Main Press Centre in Beijing and other Olympic venues have not been removed. Sites such as Amnesty International or any search for a site with Tibet in the address could not be opened at the Main Press Centre, which will house about 5,000 print journalists when the Games open on August 8. In bidding for the Games seven years ago, Chinese officials said the media would have "complete freedom to report." And in April, Hein Verbruggen and Kevan Gosper - senior IOC members overseeing the games - said they'd received assurances from Chinese officials that Internet censorship would be lifted for journalists during the Games. Gosper, however, issued a clarification Tuesday. He said the open Internet extended only to sites that related to "Olympic competitions." Sports Business, Sportcal, 30th Jul 2008

* Directors of Real Madrid want the club to end their pursuit of ace striker Cristiano Ronaldo. Fed-up board members told president Ramon Calderon on Monday that they couldn't risk missing out on signing other players while waiting for the Manchester United winger. The Spanish giants have already set the wheels in motion to get Hamburg's Rafael van der Vaart instead, The Sun reported. Some directors also openly disagreed with paying a world-record 80million pounds fee for the Portugal ace. Calderon will now also try to land Valencia idol David Villa, who will cost around 30million pounds. News.WebIndia123.com, 30th July 2008

* With the start of the new Liga BBVA season drawing ever closer it was a football friendly that topped the charts in what was a quiet week in the Spanish sports TV ratings. Real Madrid kicked off its 2008-09 preparations by taking part in Austrian club Linz LASK's centenary celebrations on Sunday and La Sexta's coverage of the clash was the most-watched sports programme for the week ending July 27. A total of 1.19 million viewers (a 9.3% share) watched on as goals from Julio Baptista, Raul and Javier Saviola wrapped up a 3-2 win for the Spanish champion. Sports Media, 30th Jul 2008

* The Media Development Authority of Singapore has granted Singapore Press Holdings a Niche TV License to launch Razor TV, an interactive web service that offers live local content and VOD programs. The technology behind Razor TV is being developed through a grant from the Interactive Digital Media Office (IDMO), hosted by MDA. The five-year Niche TV License establishes SPH as the first media company in Singapore to develop a new genre of TV with live web studio streaming and real-time audience interactivity. MDA introduced the Niche Subscription TV License in 2007 to bolster growth of IPTV services in Singapore by offering operators flexibility in rolling out services for different market segments. There are currently eight nationwide and niche commercial and trial IPTV/VOD service providers. Worldscreen, 30th Jul 2008

* Eurosport, the international cable and satellite sports broadcaster, has acquired the rights to Japanese soccer’s top-tier J.League for the rest of the 2008 season. The Eurosport 2 channel will televise the top match live every Saturday at 12 noon CET. The broadcaster said it is the first time fans in Europe will have access to live coverage of the Japanese league on a weekly basis. Eurosport 2 will also air a 30-minute highlights programme every Wednesday. Sportcal, 30th Jul 2008

* PT Excelcomindo Pratama (XL), Indonesia’s third largest mobile operator by subscribers, reported that its net profit for the first six months of this year grew 15-fold on the corresponding period of 2007, driven by a doubling of its subscriber base and foreign exchange gains. XL posted net profit of IDR631.3 billion (USD69.25 million) for the January-June period, against IDR41.04 billion a year ago, while its revenue climbed 59% to IDR5.84 trillion. The operator, whose main shareholders are Telekom Malaysia (83.79%) and Emirates Telecommunications (close to 16%), said its customer base leapt 124% year-on-year to 22.9 million by 30 June, although it said increased competition was exerting a squeeze on profit margins. Wireless Federation, 30th July 2008

* Malaysian mobile operator DiGi Telecommunications (DiGi) has announced results for the three months ending 30 June 2008, showing revenues up 13% year-on-year to MYR1.19 billion (USD366 million). Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached MYR557 million. Whilst subscriber figures grew by six million over the twelve months to June 2008, results over the three months between March and June of this year were less impressive, with the cellco signing up only 84,000 new customers. DiGi attributed the slow level of customer growth in the period to a general market slowdown. The operator still remains in third place in the mobile market, and faces competition from Celcom, Maxis Mobile and new entrant UMobile. Telegeography.com, 30th July 2008

* China Netcom (CN), the cooperative partner of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the fixed communications service sector, has announced plans to jointly provide high-definition Olympic programs to TVB, one of Hong Kong's biggest free television broadcast companies, with PCCW Global. China Netcom, PCCW Global and TVB have signed a strategic agreement in Hong Kong, which says that China Netcom and PCCW Global will provide high-definition multimedia service solution to TVB and the television signals will be a two-way transmission between Beijing and Hong Kong. The transmission solutions of the two companies include optical fiber and satellite transmission service and double-end high-definition video transmission equipment. In addition, a 24-hour support service in Hong Kong will be offered to TVB to ensure the quality and the stability of the video transmission during the Olympic Games. ChinaTechNews.com, 31st July 2008

* Sri Lanka Telecom's June quarter net profit jumped 168% to 1.5 billion rupees ($13.95 million), a local business website, quoted by a Reuters report, said. The website www.lbo.lk cited a Sri Lanka Telecom statement in its report published ahead of the results. An official from Sri Lanka Telecom said it had given the quarterly results to the bourse although he was unable to confirm the numbers. A stock market official confirmed it had received the results and hoped to publish them on Thursday morning. Telecomasia.com, 30th July 2008

* Tennis greats Roger Federer and Bjorn Borg are to play doubles together for the first time in a special exhibition game planned for Macau, China on November 20. And they could be going up against their respective greatest rivals Rafael Nadal and John McEnroe. The Tour of Champions event will be held at a top Macau hotel and will start with a one set showdown between old adversaries Borg and McEnroe, followed by a best-of-three-set clash between Federer and either Nadal or James Blake. The event then moves on to the “Showdown of Champions” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Nov 18 at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil. The possible participation of Rafael Nadal in Malaysia will hinge on Spain’s Davis Cup fortunes. News.WebIndia123.com, The Star, 30th July 2008

* The Singapore Slingers have become the third club to withdraw from Australia’s National Basketball League in two months after financial and logistical conditions proved prohibitive. Last month the Sydney Kings and the Brisbane Bullets, two of the top teams in the league, were forced to pull out after running into financial problems. The NBL said the Slingers concluded increasing cost of air travel mitigated against competing in the league in the 2008-09 season, and is also thought to be eager to form their own league in Asia. There are now 10 teams in the NBL and only the New Zealand Breakers comes from outside Australia. Sportcal, 30th Jul 2008

* Christopher Chew has been appointed affiliate sales director for the Asia Pacific at NBC Universal’s Global Networks. Based in Singapore, Chew will help expand the distribution of NBC Universal’s entertainment channels across Asia Pacific and enhance the company’s relationships with platform operators in the region. Prior to joining NBC Universal Global Networks, Chew was the director of television and new media for Asia Pacific for the NBA, based in Hong Kong. He was responsible for sales and marketing of NBA’s content to satellite, cable and IPTV platforms throughout the region. Worldscreen, 30th Jul 2008

* German pay-television channel, Premiere, is certain that it will win the rights to show Bundesliga matches, the top-tier domestic football league in Germany, according to Reuters. German weekly, Focus, reported earlier this week that News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch was sounding out the possibility of buying the entire Bundesliga TV rights package for €450 million. The article did not quote sources and a News Corp spokesman declined to comment. Sports Business, Sportcal, 30th Jul 2008

* ESPNU will kick off its fourth season of live college football games with the launch of its new high definition network, ESPNU HD. The first ESPNU event to be televised in high definition will be a NCAA basketball meeting between Vanderbilt Commodores and Miami Hurricanes in Ohio on August 28. The network will showcase more than 70 live college football games, with all of its live Thursday and Saturday fixtures available on HD. In its first year, ESPNU HD plans to air more than 200 HD events, including exclusive coverage of college football, basketball, lacrosse, baseball, softball, volleyball, wrestling and hockey. The ESPNU service is the fourth HD service ESPN has launched within its family of networks. Sports Media, 30th Jul 2008

* When Liverpool Football Club (LFC) squared off against FC Lucerne in a pre-season match on July 16, the game was streamed live to the LFC's Web site via a ViewCast Niagara Pro streaming video encoder. A product of ViewCast Corporation, a leading global provider of audio and video encoding communication products, the Niagara Pro offers easy-to-use, professional-grade performance for the LFC to make its pre-season games available to all fans globally. Advanced-Television, 31st July 2008

* Formula One teams have agreed to create an association to safeguard their interests, according to F1 team, Ferrari. All 10 current F1 teams have agreed to join the association, which will meet with the sport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the commercial rights holders to draw up a new framework for the sport. The move comes as FIA gets ready to introduce significant rule changes from as early as 2009. The FIA said last month that it would enter a "wide-ranging consultation" with the teams to review the governance of the sport as well as future technical regulations. Sport Business, Sportcal, Sports City, 30th Jul 2008

* Freddie Prinze, Jr. is set to take a behind-the-scenes role contributing to World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) weekly TV and pay-per-view offerings. “Freddie Prinze, Jr.’s passion, energy and creativity make him an excellent fit for WWE,” said the WWE chairman, Vince McMahon. "Bringing on board an experienced Hollywood writer, actor and producer like Freddie will increase the level of entertainment to millions of viewers and passionate WWE fans," added Chris McCumber, the executive VP of marketing digital and brand strategy at USA Network, WWE’s U.S. broadcast partner. Worldscreen, 30th Jul 2008


MORE NEWS

Elsewhere/New Media: German DVB-H Verging on Collapse

The German mobile TV package in DVB-H technology, backed by publishing houses Burda and Holtzbrinck together with South African media company Naspers, appears to be on the verge of folding.

The partners, who form operating company Mobile 3.0, are about to bury their plans, reports German newspaper Bild. Former partner MFD is said to have already bailed out and it seems that it is now just a matter of finding a way to end the project for all concerned without loss of face. The partners have apparently not yet agreed on which party should cover how much of the several million euros already invested, and it also remains unclear if the licence will be sold or returned to the media authorities.

Mobile 3.0 commenced test transmissions on June 1 in large cities. On board the package are nine TV channels and three radio stations, including public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and commercial channels RTL, Sat.1 and ProSieben. Distribution to further cities and towns was envisioned for autumn, before the bouquet was to be introduced on a large-scale commercial basis in time for the Christmas sales period. According to industry sources, transmissions will now cease in the near future.

The reason for Mobile 3.0’s failure to penetrate the market is believed to be mainly due to the lack of marketing cooperation with Germany’s large mobile phone companies, which also applied for the DVB-H licence. After Mobile 3.0 was granted the licence, the companies decided to introduce their own TV mobile phones to the market which can receive conventional digital terrestrial television via DVB-T completely free of charge, thereby torpedoing Mobile 3.0’s business model to charge monthly fees of between €5 and €10.

If the speculation proves to be true, this would mean that, after the DMB package Watcha, which MFD closed in May due to limited customer acceptance and a lack of economic perspectives, the second attempt to establish broadcast-based mobile TV in Germany has failed. Mobile 3.0 declined to comment. RapidTVnews.com, 30th July 2008

Elsewhere/General: UEFA Reports Successful Euro 2008

Euro 2008 organisers have claimed they hosted the best European Championships to date after UEFA on Tuesday announced that the tournament generated record net profits of Eur250 million. Austria and Switzerland's co-hosting of the tournament was widely declared to be a success with entertaining football on the pitch allied to strong organisation off it. "We set ourselves the challenge of organising the best European Championship final round," read a joint statement from Austrian Football Association president Friedrich Stickler, his Swiss counterpart Ralph M. Zloczower and Euro 2008 chief operating officer Martin Kallen. "The results of studies and surveys show that we succeeded."

Income in all areas increased significantly to Eur1.3 billion in comparison to the Eur852 million raised from Portugal's staging of Euro 2004. Some of the income will be used to fund youth and women's tournaments and the rest will be distributed among UEFA's 53 member associations in the form of lump-sum payments and project sponsorship. Organising committee chief Kallen, who held the same position for the previous tournament, added: "It would be fair to say that, from an organisational perspective, we have greatly progressed and improved in almost all areas."

It was in the media area that the tournament proved to be a particular success as UEFA appeared to reap the rewards of concentrating its efforts on this aspect. For the first time in the history of the European Championships, UEFA produced the television signal for the tournament itself through its UEFA Media Technologies subsidiary and a particular emphasis was placed on the tournament's online offerings. No fewer than 62 million visitors and 1.3 billion page views were registered on the official website, www.euro2008.com, and at least 155 million TV viewers followed each of the 31 matches live. With 2.1 million viewers, the Austria versus Germany group-stage match attracted a larger audience than any other in the history of Austrian national broadcaster ORF. A new TV record was also set in Spain, where 14.5 million watched the national team's 1-0 win against Germany in the final live.

The tournament's host cities also gained huge exposure as the perimeter boards bearing the host city names were visible for more than seven hours during live broadcasts, equating to an advertising value of about Eur90 million. Finally, Euro 2008 set new sustainability standards in the public transport sector thanks to the special combi-ticket. Match tickets could be used to travel to and from the match on public transport, at a cost to Euro 2008 SA of Eur5 million. Football Insider, Sport Business, Sports City, 30th Jul 2008

Elsewhere/General: Beijing Guoan Rolls Up To Superleague Formula Grid

Superleague Formula has furthered its global reach by adding Chinese club Beijing Guoan to its roster of competing teams as the clock ticks down to its inaugural race. The Chinese Super League club is set to move into the Beijing Olympic stadium following next month's Olympic Games and becomes the Championship's first Asian club following representation from Europe, the Middle East and South America.

Founded in 1992, Beijing Guoan is the only Chinese club based in the Olympic city. The club finished runner-up in the Super League in 1995 and 2007, but has earned three Chinese FA Cup crowns in 1996, 1997 and 2003. "Superleague Formula is a good platform for us to communicate with all the top teams in the world and play together with them," said Li Xiaoming, the general manager of Guoan.

The inaugural Superleague Formula Championship will kick off at Donington Park in the UK - recently announced as the new home for the British Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2010. The first Superleague Formula round will be staged on August 30-31 followed by the Nurburgring in Germany on September 20-21, Zolder (Belgium) on October 4-5, Estoril (Portugal) on October 18-19, Vallelunga (Italy) on November 1-2 and Jerez (Spain) on November 22-23. All Superleague Formula teams will fight it out for Eur1 million prize money at each championship round.

"Our first race is less than two months away and we are delighted to start announcing our final teams for the championship," said Superleague Formula president and CEO Alex Andreu. "We are completing contracts with the final clubs and are looking forward to seeing all the cars on the grid for our group test in Barcelona from July 29 to 31. Football is biggest game in the world and we are thrilled to add another club, another country and another continent in welcoming Beijing Guoan. China has a population of more than 1.3 billion and the popularity of football is enormous. We have no doubt the Beijing Guoan is going to be one of the most wildly popular in the Superleague Formula championship."

Beijing Guoan joins AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, FC Porto, Olympiacos, Borussia Dortmund, RSC Anderlecht, FC Basel, Flamengo, Galatasaray, Sevilla, Corinthians, Rangers and Al Ain on the Superleague Formula grid. Last month, Superleague Formula co-founder Robin Webb disclosed to Football Insider that a Chinese team was on the verge of signing up to the championship, along with two representatives from the Barclays Premier League and one from Russia. Beijing Guoan's addition means that there are now six teams left to announce. Football Insider, Sportcal, 30th Jul 2008


ARTICLES, COMMENTS, INTERVIEWS & OPINIONS

FIFA 'Misled' Detectives on Missing £45m Paid for World Cup TV rights
Commentary by Andrew Jennings for the Telegraph UK, 30th Jul 2008

A Swiss court has ruled that football’s world governing body, Fifa, misled detectives investigating the disappearance of £45 million paid for World Cup television rights. The disturbing revelations highlight the dilemma confronting the Football Association as they seek an honest way to persuade Fifa to award them the right to stage the World Cup in 2018. In an extraordinary decision, three judges in Zug hearing a fraud trial into the collapse of Fifa’s former marketing partner, ISL, ruled earlier this month that football’s governing body “knew more than they told investigators”, that their behaviour “was not always in good faith”, and some of their claims “were not credible”.

Fifa were even ordered to pay £57,000 in costs, despite claiming they had not misled the authorities. The Daily Telegraph has seen the written submission from Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s lawyer, Peter Nobel, claiming that Fifa did act in good faith. “All the facts show and prove that Fifa did not act frivolously,” he said. The court rejected this, ordering Fifa to pay up. Fifa have declined to comment on the court’s costs decision, saying only that they have “taken note of the verdict” and adding that they will appeal against the ruling. During the case earlier this year it was also disclosed that Fifa officials pocketed kickbacks from the agency they employed to sell billion-dollar World Cup television and marketing contracts.

With the FA fine-tuning preparations for the bid company who will run the £15 million 2018 campaign, details from the Zug court case may alarm senior figures at Soho Square who are plotting what is likely to be a fiercely contested World Cup contest.

The latest controversy to rock Fifa is rooted in the collapse of the Swiss-based ISL company, Fifa’s marketing agency of two decades, in the spring of 2001. After a seven-year investigation, six directors came to trial in March this year, accused of embezzling £45 million that should have been paid to Fifa. But the case collapsed on the final day when a defence lawyer flourished a secret memo purporting to reveal that Fifa leaders always knew the money was missing.

The memo, written by Fifa’s former finance director, Urs Linsi, claimed: “It was a higher-level decision within Fifa not to put too much pressure on ISL.” There was only one level higher than Linsi – president Blatter. The 228-page criminal indictment revealed that ISL paid £9 million in secret kickbacks in the company’s final 18 months. Two in 2000, totalling $130,000 – then worth £89,000 – allegedly went to Nicolas Leoz, the 79-year-old Paraguayan president of South American football and a member of Fifa’s ruling executive, who awarded the contracts to ISL. He denies wrongdoing.

Five of the defendants claimed they had no idea who got bribes. They claimed fellow director Jean-Marie Weber, a close friend of Blatter, organised the payments. He allegedly laundered them through the 'Nunca’ foundation (Spanish for never) in Liechtenstein and onwards to a British Virgin Islands company, which distributed the money to front companies and individuals. A total of £3 million was diverted to the 'Sicuretta’ account managed by Swiss lawyer Guido Renggli, who allowed Weber to remove large sums in cash to distribute to officials. Weber admitted to investigators the money was for “the acquisition of rights”. Weber refused to identify recipients, repeatedly telling the court “these payments were confidential and I must respect that confidentiality”.

Judge Marc Siegwart appeared irritated by Weber’s stonewalling and in the most electrifying moment of the trial said, out of the blue, there was evidence that between 1991 and 1999 ISL paid an additional, staggering £60 million in bribes. He asked the defendants if that was true. One by one, they admitted it was. One defendant gave devastating testimony. Former chief executive Christoph Malms said that after joining ISL in the 1990s he was shocked to discover the business was built on bribes. “I was told the company would not have existed if it had not made such payments,” Malms testified. “I was always told they went to well-known decision-makers in the world of sports politics.”

Malms said kickbacks were usual in the sports marketing and sports political business worldwide. It was the style of the business. Former ISL finance head Hans-Juerg Schmid backed Malms, telling the court: “If we hadn’t made the payments, the other parties wouldn’t have signed the contracts. The other side don’t want to be named, that is the very sensitive aspect of this business.” Two more officials were named. Malms’ lawyer, Werner Wurgler, claimed Blatter had approached his client and told him that if ISL wanted to keep Fifa’s business, Weber had to keep his job at the company. If not, “it would be bad for ISL”. Wurgler also claimed that during the World Cup in France in 1998, then Fifa president Joao Havelange made the same demand.

Anybody at Fifa who knew about the bribes – and who was getting them – could exercise great power over fellow officials, Wurgler said. ISL became a private source of money for Fifa, virtually their private bank. Weber was fined £41,000 for embezzling cash that he refused to account for. Two others were given small fines for false accounting. Three more men were cleared.

How did Fifa end up being dragged into the ISL collapse?
ISL were the governing body’s marketing and commercial partners, with exclusive rights to negotiate their multi-million pound, worldwide TV deals. When they went bust in May 2001 liquidators began to investigate what had happened to the money.

How did £45m go missing?
The money was given to ISL by Brazilian TV company Globo in part-payment for future World Cup rights. ISL were supposed to pass it to Fifa but, needing the cash to keep the company afloat, executives withheld it. When ISL went broke, the money was lost.

When did Fifa know about the payment being withheld?
Fifa president Sepp Blatter claims he first knew about it on April 21, 2001, just before ISL collapsed a month later. Confidential letters seen by The Daily Telegraph purport to show that Blatter had known for three years. Michel Zen-Ruffinen, the former Fifa general-secretary, has claimed Blatter was aware of a letter he sent to ISL’s Jean-Marie Weber mentioning the Globo deal and an expected $22m payment for World Cup rights. Two years later Fifa’s lawyers wrote to them calling ISL’s behaviour “totally unacceptable”. Even when they wrote again, in September 2000, flagging up the missing £45m, Fifa’s executives did not act. ISL then went bust.

Why does any of this matter to England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup?
As ISL liquidator Thomas Bauer delved into the company finances, he discovered evidence of kickbacks being paid to senior Fifa executives, including Nicolas Leoz (below), by ISL in return for their exclusive contract to sell TV rights for Fifa. One Zug defendant claimed the payments were so regular they were “like salaries”. In 2003 Bauer went to court to force ISL executives to repay them.

Separate to that inquiry, magistrate Thomas Hildbrand began an investigation to try to unearth who got the ISL bribes. That investigation is ongoing. And should any more powerful Fifa figures be linked to the scandal over the next two years, it will undoubtedly impact on England’s campaign.