Speaking at Securing Sport 2014 in London on Tuesday, Franz Beckenbauer told a select group of the press including HOST CITY that FIFA should make the findings of its investigations into alleged corruption public.

Beckenbauer was on the FIFA Executive Committee during the controversial bidding procedure for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Asked to reveal who he voted for, he said he had to respect the rules of the secret ballot. He also categorically stated that he did not accept, or receive any offers of, lavish gifts in attempts to influence votes. 

But he did say “I was surprised that Qatar won. It was a good bid like all the others, but it’s not possible to play football there in the summer. You have to put a lot of effort into cooling the stadiums. My suggestion would be to host in the winter.” 

In June 2014 Beckenbauer was suspended by FIFA from all football related activities for failing to help with the investigations of FIFA’s ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia. 

Beckenbauer then agreed to take part in the investigation and the ban was lifted. 

He told Securing Sport that he did not initially complete Garcia’s questionnaire because it was in complex legal English and he would have preferred to have answered such questions in German. 

FIFA has indicated that the ethics report, which should now be in its final stages, will not be made public. But Beckenbauer said the report should be made public as soon as it is finished. 

“Rumours are going round and that is very negative,” he said. “If the recent report has been finalised, it should be published. It’s up to FIFA – there is an Executive Committee to make these decisions, but personally, there is nothing to hide.”

Winning bid was my best achievement

Beckenbauer told delegates at Securing Sport that winning the bid to host the 2006 World Cup exceeded all of his many sporting and professional achievements.

Franz Beckenbauer led his national team to world cup victory as captain in 1974 and as manager in 1990. Yet asked by moderator David Walsh of the Sunday Times to name his greatest achievement, Beckenbauer said “Winning the bid for 2006 was the greatest moment of my sporting career.”

The greatest effect of winning the bid was the effect it had on sport in the country, he said. “German football has never been better than now; that is down to the World Cup. We have great infrastructure and full capacities. 

“The way football has developed is fantastic. I feel sorry for other sports: you switch on the television and all you see is football.”

Beckenbauer told delegates in London that hosting the World Cup could have a similar positive effect in England. “It is surprising that England hasn’t won the World Cup since 1966. There is so much talent, such great stadiums and fans, financially there is no problem.

“If England won a bid to host a World Cup, perhaps that might be an incentive for improving the standard of football.”

To find out more about bidding procedures for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win on 28th October

At Securing Sport 2014 on Monday, the International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS) hosted a special closed doors meeting attended by sports ministers and leaders of international organisations, who agreed to take steps to prevent the growing threat of corruption in sports.

The ICSS also announced a partnership with UNESCO the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to safeguard sport against the “unprecedented threat” from corruption, match-fixing and sport betting fraud. 

Ministers at the private meeting came from Portugal, Singapore, Cape Verde and Angola, joined by representatives of UNESCO, the Council of Europe, WADA, Commonwealth Secretariat and OECD.

The participants agreed on the importance of following up on and implementing international conventions and instruments such as the Declaration of Berlin and the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions.

“Sport is now under threat in a way unprecedented in its history and the response to these threats must be united, international, and bold,” said ICSS president Mohammed Hanzab. 

“This special ministerial forum was another important step in engaging key countries and regions, international experts and sport ministers and ensuring that protecting the integrity of sport continues to stay high on the agenda.

“Securing Sport 2014 has today gathered individuals with the power, will, and determination to see that international sport moves in the right direction in the future.”

According to the ICSS, the ministerial meeting highlighted a desire to implement education programs and capacity building initiatives, to support countries and regions to assist them in creating national integrity platforms, and to work together to create programmes to preserve the integrity of sport.

Under the agreement with UNESCO, ICSS will host around around 100 government officials, technical experts and leaders in sport at a “special technical meeting” in Doha in the first half of 2015. This will be the first time international experts have met to implement the detailed recommendations on the manipulation of sport competitions outlined within the ‘Declaration of Berlin’.

“This meeting of international experts will play an important part in the ICSS’s drive to mobilise international efforts and enhance the integrity and credibility of sport,” said Hanzab.

Hailed as a ‘beacon for future national and international sports policy’, the Declaration of Berlin was adopted by 600 participants from 121 countries at the 5th UNESCO World Sport Ministers Conference (MINEPS V) in May 2013. It seeks to improve and enhance international cooperation between governments and all other sport stakeholders on issues of access, investment and integrity of sport.

In particular, the Declaration of Berlin calls for better sports governance and a zero-tolerance policy against doping and the manipulation of sports competitions, as well as greater collaboration to detect, prevent and monitor such manipulation.

“We are all custodians of sport and we owe it to every athlete and sport fan to protect its integrity and credibility so we can nurture the next generation of sports leaders,” said Hanzab.

Security and good governance are key themes of HOST CITY Bid to Win conference. To find out more about best practice in major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win and join ICSS director general Helmut Spahn and many more experts on 28th October.

The COA is currently pressing ahead with preparations for Buenos Aires’ staging of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, with the event being seen as a potential springboard for a tilt at the Olympic Games itself.

In a statement, the COA said that it would be “an honour” to bid for either edition of the Games and pinpointed Patagonia, utilising the Andes Mountains, as a potential option for a winter Olympics.

An Argentine winter Olympics would break new ground for the International Olympic Committee, with the event having never previously set foot outside the Northern Hemisphere. 

Argentina’s last bid for the summer Games saw Buenos Aires eliminated in the first round of voting as Athens went on to clinch the 2004 event. The Games will take to South America for the first time in 2016 when Rio de Janeiro hosts the event in Argentina’s regional rival, Brazil. 

The COA’s statement comes after the IOC last week praised Buenos Aires’ hosting plans for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, which will focus on engaging with the city’s sizeable inner-city population. The IOC stated that the city had already made “impressive headway” in its preparations for the event, which concluded its second edition in Nanjing, China on August 28.

Buenos Aires was awarded the 2018 Youth Olympics in July 2013. The city beat Colombian city Medellin by 49 to 39 votes in the second round of voting by IOC members. In the first round, Scottish city Glasgow was eliminated after getting only 13 votes, compared to 40 for Buenos Aires and 32 for Medellin.

A major event in the US sporting calendar, the NFL Draft is the selection process where the league’s teams secure the cream of the nation’s talent from the college American football system.

From April 30 until May 2, the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University will host Chicago’s first draft since 1964, the year before it began a long-time residency in New York.

Radio City Music Hall has provided an iconic setting for the NFL Draft since 2006 but a scheduling conflict encouraged the league to seek pastures new.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said: “We look forward to returning the event to the city of Chicago and working with the city, Choose Chicago, and the Chicago Sports Commission to create a week-long celebration of football for our fans. Mayor (Rahm) Emanuel and the city of Chicago presented us with numerous ways to enhance the Draft experience for our fans and incoming players.”

Chicago also hosted the draft in 1938, from 1942 to 1944, 1951 and 1962 to 1964. The 2015 NFL Draft will be the 80th edition.

Emanuel added: “Next year, NFL fans from across the country will travel here or tune in as the future of their team is decided in Chicago. We look forward to working with the Chicago Bears, the NFL, and our neighbourhood partners to make this an event that highlights our world class city and reinvests in our communities.”

A record-breaking audience of 45.7 million people tuned in across the NFL Network, ESPN and ESPN2 to watched Houston Texans make Jadeveon Clowney the first overall pick in 2014, surpassing the previous best audience figure of 45.4 million for 2010.

Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and Los Angeles have also hosted the NFL Draft in the past.

The exit of yet another European city yesterday from the bidding contest for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games is regrettable, but the remaining candidates are strong and the bidding procedure is still the best in the world, IOC Vice President Craig Reedie told HOST CITY on Thursday.

“I regret the Oslo decision. But it’s their call and you have to respect their decision," he said. "It would have been nice to have a Games in Oslo, in a real centre of winter sport.” 

On Wednesday Oslo followed Stockholm, Krakow and Lviv in retracting its candidature for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, leaving Beijing and Almaty as the remaining candidates. Munich and St. Moritz had withdrawn from the race before the applicant stage. 

The party with the largest membership in Norway’s coalition government failed to gain a majority support for Oslo's bid, with cost being cited as the primary concern – despite the country’s large sovereign wealth fund and a plan to use existing winter sports infrastructure. 

“A number of cities decided not to go ahead because of domestic decisions taken in those countries, which were presented on the basis of a whole range of issues, some of which were cost,” Sir Craig Reedie told HOST CITY.

“I’m not sure that cost was a particular item in Munich’s decision or if people decided to do something else with their time and their efforts. If that’s the case then certainly the IOC has to look at the situation closely and find out if what they are currently doing is sustainable.

“There is an obligation on the IOC to present the benefits in a better way. We really have to prove that the recent Games have in the main all broken even with a small surplus. London was a good example – a small surplus run by a private company. And the infrastructure and stadium costs built by public money came in below the original estimates and will last for generations.

“We need to get that message across, so that future cities who are considering bids understand the difference. And the IOC makes an enormous contribution to the organising committee’s budget: the estimate for the 2022 Games was US$880.”

Reedie is confident that Beijing and Almaty are good potential host cities. “They passed the examination of the technical working group; they went from candidate city to applicant city. We’ve had a good hard look at them; with certain minor modifications, I think the technical people in the IOC are happy that good Winter Games can be had in both.”

There is no risk of Beijing or Almaty withdrawing due to cost concerns. “Neither of the other two cities have a financial issue,” Reedie said. 

“The Chinese say they have a very happy memory of the Beijing Games and they can see doing it again. The Youth Games in Nanjing were terrific; they are clearly very committed to the Olympic movement and see the opportunity of developing winter sport in their country. 

“In Kazakhstan they see the opportunity of the Games being a catalyst for their city and country, in a way that nothing else ever could be. 

“So I pretty certain that they both will go ahead and impress the evaluation commission; they will produce good bid books and we’ll have good contest to decide in Kuala Lumpur.”

The bidding process will not change - yet

The bidding process for the 2022 Games will not change even though there are just two candidates left.

“You can’t change the rules of the game halfway through the game simply because one city has decided not to go ahead. So we’re happy to have both of them,” Sir Craig Reedie told HOST CITY.

How the IOC will run its bidding process beyond 2022 is currently under review, as part of the Olympic Agenda 2020. 

One suggestion made by four European National Olympic Committees was that the recommendations of evaluation commissions should count as votes in the host city elections. “Having chaired the last evaluation commission, I thought our report was very accurate and we pointed out plusses and minuses for all three cities, so nobody could remotely say they hadn’t been informed,” said Reedie. 

“That said, one of the strengths that the IOC has is that 100 plus members actually decide, and when you’ve got that number of people deciding, you are probably on a much safer basis in terms of the quality of the decision. 

“I think at the moment the IOC has the best election process in world sport. People may think that’s a funny thing to say when a perfectly valid potential city has withdrawn, but it’s just as valid now as it was yesterday. It is an excellent and highly authoritative system. Now whether that system will proceed going forward is what we are going to discuss over the next few months, and no doubt we will discuss in London on 28th October. 

To read the full interview with Sir Craig Reedie, read the next issue of HOST CITY magazine – or better still, register for Bid to Win at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net and join in the discussion on 28th October

TAT governor Thawatchai Arunyik told the Reuters news agency today (Thursday) that he had held encouraging talks with ASO chairman Etienne Amaury over the possibility of holding the Grand Depart in 2016.

This was a stance that ASO quickly refuted, confirming that Thailand could be in line to host a one-day race in association with the Tour - as has recently happened in Japan - but stating that there are no plans to take the race itself so far afield.

“There are talks indeed but not to bring the Tour to Thailand,” an ASO spokesman told Reuters. “There are discussions to settle in Thailand via a criterium, just like we did in Japan with the Saitama Criterium by Le Tour de France.”

Gaining a criterium would be a significant development for cycling in Thailand, even if it represents something of a step down from Arunyik’s earlier claims.

“We are still talking with Tour de France organisers but we are looking at the next fiscal year. So 2016, not 2015,” he had said.

“We’re not sure yet how many stages we will hold, whether it is one or two stages or the whole competition. This is something that still needs to be discussed.

“Thailand is the perfect location for this highly prestigious competition, not to mention that cycling as a sport is enjoying enormous popularity here at the moment.”

Last year’s rapturously received opening stages in Yorkshire, England marked the 20th occasion in the Tour de France’s 101-year history that it has started on foreign soil, although these excursions have been limited to western European countries.

Utrecht will host the Grand Depart in 2015 - the sixth time the Tour de France will have started in the Netherlands.

In a marked contrast to its previous assessment, the IOC coordination commission has left Rio de Janeiro confident that Games preparations are back on track. 

Over three days, the monitoring authority noted crucial improvements to venue works, public engagement and the support and coordination of the government. However, the timeframes for finishing construction and accommodation are particularly pressing, the commission observed. 

“We leave Rio satisfied with the progress that has been made since our visit last March,” said Nawal El Moutawakel, chair of the commission. “We remain confident that, despite a very tight schedule, our Brazilian partners will deliver successful Games.” 

The commission scrutinised the construction of venues and hotels particularly closely during the visit. “Although the schedule remains tight, the Rio team clearly demonstrated that they had the situation under control, with good progress being made,” the IOC said in a statement.

“Accommodation was always going to be a challenge with the large number of hotels that have to be built ahead of the Games, but very clear and reassuring information was provided to the Commission that the 68 new hotels under construction were on track.”

Moutawakel said “As we enter the final two years of preparations, we are able to see that the core works are progressing at full speed, particularly in venue construction, where we have been receiving solid development reports. We were also able to see first-hand the advancements being made, during our venue tour on Tuesday.”

The commission visited the Olympic Golf Course, the Olympic Village, the Deodoro Olympic Park, and the Barra Olympic Park, where they were joined by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. 

“The strong commitment of the Brazilian authorities to the success of the Rio 2016 Games has been underlined to us by the presence of President Rousseff during our visit to the Olympic Park yesterday,” said Moutawakel. 

Other government partners that met with the IOC commission included Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão, and General Fernando Azevedo E Silva from the Olympic Public Authority (APO). 

The commission heard that five times more was being invested in city development projects than in venue construction, with three bus rapid transit lines, a new metro, improved sanitation system coverage, better flood control, a city operations centre, and the regeneration of the city’s port area underway.

Despite the country’s descent into recession this year, the coordination commission was told that a large part of Games and civic infrastructure projects are being financed by private funds. 

"With the IOC's guidance and the help of our sponsors, we have the confidence we need,” said Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 organising committee. “It is very rewarding when we look around and see our partners from the city, state and federal governments, building the Games with us."

The commission was also encouraged by marketing activities. “Rio 2016 has begun to engage in earnest with the public this winter and we were able to take stock of what has already been done,” said Moutawakel. “We were pleased to hear that this engagement will continue with upcoming events like ticket sign-up, mascot launch, the Cultural Olympiad and test events.”

The IOC statement described the test event schedule, which will feature more than 40 events in 2015 and early 2016, as “ambitious”, noting that the organising committee is “advancing full speed ahead towards these events”.

A group of 40 female footballers, including some of the biggest names in the women’s game such as the US’s Abby Wambach, Germany’s Nadine Angerer and Brazil’s Fabiana Da Silva Simoes, will file a lawsuit against Fifa and the Canadian Soccer Association on the decision to stage the tournament on the surface.

The players have claimed that the decision to force the teams to play on artificial turf is discriminatory as the men’s World Cup has always been played on grass. The complainants have also suggested that artificial turf can increase the risk of injuries and, on a basic playing level, can alter the traditional bounce and trajectory of the football.

Hampton Dellinger, the US law firm representing the group of players, set a deadline of September 26 for Fifa to open a dialogue with the complainants on the issue, but the governing body appears to be determined to press ahead with its plans.

“We play on artificial turf and there's no Plan B,” Tatjana Haenni, Fifa’s deputy director of the competitions division and head of women's competitions, told the Associated Press news agency.

“(There are) no plans to change that decision. I can't answer if that is fair but that is the way it is going to be. It is according to the competition regulations. It is according to laws of the game so all matches will be on artificial turf.”

Haenni is part of a Fifa delegation on a tour of the host cities of Ottawa, Edmonton, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Moncton.

Hampton Dellinger said earlier this week: “A lawsuit is a last resort but one that unfortunately appears necessary and will be initiated in coming days. As the already drafted legal papers demonstrate, the players and their attorneys are prepared to put before a judge what we believe is a clear - and very unfortunate - case of gender discrimination.

“The discriminatory proposal of Fifa and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) to stage the 2015 Women’s World Cup on artificial turf, coupled with their refusal to discuss ways to fix the mistake, have left the players with no choice. It is now time to ask the courts to stop Fifa and CSA from forcing elite athletes to compete under game-changing, dangerous and demeaning conditions. World-class games cannot take place on second-class surfaces.”

Speaking at last month’s Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester, Fifa Executive Committee members acknowledged that the governing body must become more communicative, to help improve its reputation.

Canada will host an expanded Women’s World Cup next year, with the number of teams growing from 16 to 24, increasing the number of matches from 32 to 52.

Lucerne’s proposal for the 2021 Universiade is set to move forward after receiving backing from the government of the canton of Lucerne.

The local organising committee could base a dossier around its planned bid for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, which was dropped by the Swiss Olympic Association before it was submitted. 

The Swiss Olympic Association instead decided to choose Lausanne for its tilt at the Youth Olympics. Lausanne is facing competition from Romanian city Brasov, with the host due to be decided at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) meeting in Kuala Lumpur in July 2015.

Under the Universiade proposal, the host city of the event would be Lucerne with the various competitions run in central Switzerland’s winter sports resorts.

“This event is very interesting in terms of both sports and value creation,” Health and Social Services Minister Guido Graf said. “The cantons of central Switzerland, Lucerne as a university town and tourism destination can only profit from the winter Universiade.”

The Swiss University Sport Federation (SHSV) has also pledged its support for the bid with director Leonz Eder adding: “Central Switzerland submitted an excellent application document for the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. It is a perfect basis for the organisation of the 2021 Winter Universiade.”

The 2015 winter Universiade will be co-hosted by Granada, Spain and the Slovak cities of Štrbské Pleso and Osrblie. The event will then travel to Almaty, Kazakhstan and Krasnoyarsk, Russia in 2017 and 2019.

The first visit of the IOC Coordination Commission - headed by four-time Olympian and IOC member Frank Fredericks - concluded on Sunday with the local organising committee (BAYOGOC) presenting its plans to bring sport to the inner city, in particular the 2.6 million young people residing in Buenos Aires.

Fredericks said: “Under the expert guidance of CEO Leandro Larrosa, the organisers have really understood the true spirit of the Youth Olympic Games – to put young people at its heart. Thanks to the close cooperation Buenos Aires 2018 has with the all levels of government and the Argentinian Olympic Committee (AOC), the organisation has made impressive headway with strong foundation plans already underway. With its world-famous passion for sport and culture, we truly believe that Buenos Aires will deliver a phenomenal Youth Olympic Games.”

The IOC said “significant progress” has been made on the venue masterplan with a proposed four-cluster concept grouping the sports in a compact framework. In a bid to reflect the culture and spirit of the city, Buenos Aires 2018 has put forward a festival-style concept to feature in each cluster.

Taking inspiration from the ‘Sports Lab’ inaugurated at this year’s edition of the Games in the Chinese city of Nanjing, these festivals will not only showcase and offer sporting experiences to the visitors, but will also provide family entertainment and cultural activities.

Three major development projects will get underway in 2015 including tenders out for the athletics and aquatic venues and the construction of the Youth Olympic Village (YOV) which will begin early next year.

The YOV will be situated in the south of the city, an area of Buenos Aires targeted by the local government in need of urban development. From the YOV, 65 per cent of the athletes will be able to walk to their competition venues. In addition, with the recent launch of the city’s metro-bus link, the IOC said that “excellent” transport links are already in place.

The IOC also said Buenos Aires 2018 has already made “fast progress” by not only discussing the project with the national federations, but using their time in Nanjing this summer to meet with almost all of the international federations to present their preliminary proposals for sport competitions. 

Larrosa added: “This is a life-changing project, not only for young athletes, but for future generations in Argentina and we are happy in the knowledge that the IOC Coordination Commission will be by our side to guide us throughout this exciting process. There is a great social legacy we want to achieve with this Games, we want to get all our kids into sport and inspire kids around the world to do the same.”

Buenos Aires was awarded the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in July 2013. The city beat Colombian city Medellin by 49 to 39 in the second round of voting by IOC members. In the first round, Scottish city Glasgow was eliminated after getting only 13 votes, compared to 40 for Buenos Aires and 32 for Medellin.