MLS chief hopes for Beckham stay

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber believes David Beckham's five-season stay in the United States has "delivered on all aspects" and says he hopes the former England captain remains in American soccer.
Beckham, 36, is gearing up for what could be his last match with LA Galaxy - the MLS Cup final against Houston Dynamo on November 20 - as his contract expires at the end of the month.
There has been no word yet from Beckham as to what his plans will be when the current deal comes to an end, though a move to Ligue 1 big spenders Paris St-Germain is believed to be the most likely option.
However, Garber - who played a major role in bringing Beckham to the USA from Real Madrid in 2007 - hopes that the veteran midfielder will still be playing in the MLS next season.
"I certainly hope to see him back,"Garber said. "David, (his personal manager) Simon Fuller and Tim Leiweke of (Galaxy owners) AEG will go through a process after the Cup to try to determine what David's future is but I certainly hope to have him back.
"David has delivered for us on all aspects of our expectations, both on and off the field. David had a terrific year this year. It would be hard to argue that he wasn't one of the most important players on our fields and really contributed to his team and to the league competitively.
"Off the field, he continues to be an important part of what drives some of the popularity of our league both here and around the world. He remains a very popular guy. His presence on the sports pages but also on the 'people pages' continues to grow as opposed to wane here in America and we benefit from that.
"MLS wouldn't be what it is today if David didn't decide to come and play in Major League Soccer. All of us appreciate everything that he has done."
Garber admitted Beckham's time at LA Galaxy has not all been plain sailing, with the former Manchester United star coming under plenty of criticism for travelling back to Europe for loan moves to AC Milan and international appearances with England, but stressed that the figures show his overall impact to have been extremely positive.
"It hasn't been perfect - I don't think any relationship is ever perfect, there were certainly some things we might have done a little differently - but all in all it has been really a big success," Garber said. "We measure David's success very quantitatively.
"Galaxy games on the road have our highest average attendance, with a few exceptions the LA Galaxy are our highest rated team on television, LA Galaxy kit sales are among the highest and without a doubt there is more attention for David off the sports pages than any other MLS player.
"I travel quite a bit outside of the United States on football-related business and people seem to ask about two things - when are the Cosmos coming into Major League Soccer and how is David Beckham doing?"

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Fifa to re-examine bribes inquiry, says Sepp Blatter

"We will give this file to an

independent organisation
outside of Fifa so they can delve into

this file and 

extract its conclusions and present 

them to us"

Documents relating to the case are believed to show senior Fifa officials were paid kickbacks in return for granting World Cup television and sponsorship rights during the 1990s.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: "This is an issue which has been raised by the national associations and members."

He also announced the creation of three 'task forces' to drive through reforms

 Blatter said the executive committee will examine the documents relating to the company, International Sport and Leisure, at a meeting in Tokyo in December

 World football's governing body has repeatedly blocked attempts by journalists to have the documents released.

Last year, lawyers acting for Fifa and its senior officials paid 5.5m Swiss francs (£3.9m) to settle the case and keep their identities secret

But last November a BBC Panorama investigation claimed that the two officials were former Fifa president Joao Havelange and his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira, a Fifa executive committee member and chairman of the World Cup organising committee for Brazil 2014

The programme said Teixeira received £6m in bribes via a front company called Sanud which was registered in the tax haven of Liechtenstein.

The Brazilian Fraud Squad has now opened an investigation into the allegations. Reports say it wants to make a request to the Swiss courts to have the documents released as part of its inquiries.

Regarding the ISL case, Blatter said: "The executive committee has at my request agreed that in the meeting of 16-17 December we will re-open this file.

"If there are any measures to be taken they will not be taken by the executive committee - it is not the body that can take sanctions or release anyone

"So we will give this file to an independent organisation outside of Fifa so they can delve into this file and extract its conclusions and present them to us."

Blatter also detailed an overhaul of Fifa's ethics bodies and expanded on the three "task forces" and a good governance committee to drive through reforms.

He laid out a two-year timetable for implementing the reforms. The governance committee would include representatives of clubs, leagues, players, referees and women's football.

One task force would look into changes to the FIFA statutes, a second would look at changes to the ethics committee and a third would be responsible for introducing changes to make FIFA more transparent.

These would be added to an existing task force aimed at making the sport itself more attractive in time for the 2014 World Cup.

All proposals were passed by the executive committee and Blatter said he wanted concrete results by the time of the FIFA Congress in June 2013.

Blatter said Fifa's road-map for the future was ambitious but he was pleased with the progress made thus far.

  

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