FIFA election campaign thrown into disarray (AP)

Thursday, May 12, 2011 5:22 AM By dwi

GENEVA – Suddenly, the June 1 election to elite a cheater for soccer's governance embody has meet digit crusade theme: corruption.

Just when FIFA President Sepp Blatter hoped he had locate the organization's immorality problems behind him, arts claims that sextet members of the executive committee were participating in felony during World Cup invitation contests hit tangled his effort for a ordinal constituent into disarray.

The 75-year-old Blatter is battling Muhammad containerful Hammam of peninsula for digit of the world's most influential fair jobs.

The accusations were prefabricated in the nation parliament on Tuesday, and FIFA fought backwards on Wednesday, rigorous to wager grounds to backwards up the claims against a lodge of the 24-man assemble that runs world soccer.

Blatter promised to hold the crisis before the election.

"We hit to do it today immediately. We hit meet three weeks to do so," Blatter said in an discourse with Qatar-based network Al-Jazeera.

FIFA helper generalized Jerome Valcke wrote to England's Football Association asking for a rank inform nonnegative "all documentary evidence" from king Triesman, the past cheater of England's 2018 bid.

Triesman told nation lawmakers that quaternary long-standing FIFA officials — Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, economist Teixeira and Worawi Makudi — requested bribes in the 2018 bidding.

Lawmakers were also told in a humbleness from The Sun Times production that peninsula stipendiary $1.5 meg to digit more FIFA officials, Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma, for the 2022 contest. peninsula won the vote, fighting the United States in the test round.

FIFA said it has asked the production for more grounds of aggregation it conventional from a whistleblower within Qatar's bid.

Valcke requested careful grounds in visit to "examine the status thoroughly and with clear-sightedness," FIFA said.

As FIFA's crowning administrator, responsibility falls on Valcke to communicate FIFA's ethics suite to unstoppered authorised investigations against some of the sextet under suspicion.

Leoz's spokesman, counsellor Benitez, called the accusations "pure fantasy and morbid."

"The South dweller sport fusion ever said that its votes were for Espana and no another country," Benitez said.

The peninsula sport federation has denied stipendiary Hayatou, from Cameroon, and Ivory Coast's Anouma, occupation the allegations "wholly unreliable."

Hayatou, the chair of the Confederation of individual Football, "categorically denies" the claims, the individual embody said Wednesday. He threatened jural state to indorse his name.

Bin Hammam played a key persona in delivering the 2022 World Cup to his homeland.

"FIFA is not corrupted," the Asian Football Confederation President said. "We are victims of the popularity of the game."

FIFA's most senior dweller delegate, Chuck Blazer, said the alleged Qatari payments were his "greatest concern" among the arts claims, and he due the production to publicize more details on Sunday.

"If it turns out that what they're locution is based by fact, then I would hit a aggregation to feature on the matter," Blazer said, without elaborating on what state he would seek.

The carry of Warner, Leoz, Teixeira and Makudi in the 2018 oppose won by Russia was described as "improper and unethical" by Triesman.

Warner, a FIFA vice chair from island and Tobago, unemployed Triesman's allegations, locution he "laughed aforementioned hell" when he heard them.

"I never asked anybody for anything," filmmaker told island production Newsday. "When these guys (England) came here, we promised to help. I showed them a locate where they can locate a playground. They promised to become backwards but they never did."

Warner said he thinks arts officials are taste after gaining meet digit votes in the 2018 oppose — digit from its own representative on the executive committee.

"How become not even digit person from aggregation voted for them?" filmmaker told Newsday.

Valcke has questioned ground the claims — which included incidents said to hit occurred in 2009 — were not reportable earlier.

"If it was known, ground has it not become to our attention? We hit called and asked people to let us know some you hit in this process," Valcke said.

Asked if the World Cup votes should be reopened, Valcke said the impact had been conducted cleanly and every famous grounds was examined.

Frank Lowy, the chair of Football Federation Australia, said the allegations meant his country's effort for the 2022 hosting rights was sure from the start.

"I could hit stood on my head for 24 months and we still couldn't hit got it," he said.

Australia conventional only digit balloting and was eliminated in the first round. The effort cost taxpayers about $45 million.

"Out of the 44 votes for the digit World Cups, Australia, England and USA conventional (a amount of) quaternary votes," Lowy told The inhabitant production Thursday.

"So we were in good company. We had condemned precautions before we started the impact on who will be in the competition. With China not in, it was digit of the conditions ground we moved forward. Had they been in, we would sure hit had ordinal thoughts (of pressing ahead)."

British Sports Minister Hugh guard said he had discussed the existence of England breaking away from FIFA along with another countries.

"I hit condemned the temperature from another sport associations around the world, specially we did that in the consequence of the 2018 bid," guard told the BBC. "At the time there is a poverty to essay to impact to change FIFA from the inside. If FIFA is unable to do that then I would feature every options are possible.

"But at the time we rattling such poverty to impact with them and essay to persuade them they need to go finished meet the aforementioned impact that the IOC went finished in the post-Salt Lake City process."

Australia, which was seriously defeated in the 2022 voting, played downbound suggestions it could communicate for a revote.

"Ultimately this is a discourse that needs to be directed to FIFA the governance body," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Wednesday. "We were rattling disappointed. We locate in a effort which was awesome and we pursued that effort in an right and awesome way."

___

AP Sports Writer Rob Harris in author contributed to this report.


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