WARNER… all of this stems from a lost bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) — Former FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner has blasted the United States, saying charges against him and other FIFA officials are motivated by the Americans’ desire to host the World Cup.
News of Warner’s attack came after South Africa admitted yesterday that it paid US$10 million in 2008 but denied it was in any way a bribe to FIFA for the 2010 World Cup in the latest twist to the massive corruption scandal engulfing world football’s governing body.
Two separate investigations are being carried out by American and Swiss authorities for alleged rampant and long-running corruption within FIFA, with several top officials arrested and accused by US investigators of taking tens of millions of dollars in bribes.
“All of this stems from a lost bid to host the 2022 World Cup,” said Warner, who is one of nine FIFA officials indicted on corruption charges by Swiss and US authorities.
“They lost to Qatar, a small country, a Muslim country… No country in the world have divine right to host the World Cup.”
The next two World Cups will be hosted in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
Warner’s attack on the US came in an eight-minute Facebook video in which he cited an article from the satirical website The Onion.
In the video he holds up a copy of The Onion spoof headlined ‘FIFA Frantically Announces 2015 Summer World Cup In United States’.
The satirical story was published on Wednesday by The Onion.
The 72-year-old Warner surrendered to police in Trinidad and Tobago last Wednesday but has maintained his innocence all week. He was released after paying $400,000 in bail.
He is a former president of CONCACAF, the governing body for the game in North and Central America and the Caribbean, as well as the former Caribbean Football Union president.
Warner also questioned why the story appeared “two days before the FIFA election” when Sepp Blatter was re-elected as president.
“If I was so bad and if FIFA was so bad, how come the head of FIFA is not?” he asked referring to Blatter’s election on Friday to a fifth term.
Blatter, who has been FIFA’s head since 1998, was not charged in the indictment.
The biggest scandal to rock world football erupted last Wednesday when seven FIFA officials were arrested in their Zurich hotel as part of the US probe.
They and seven others were charged for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies that ran from 1991 to present day, and accused of taking or conspiring to solicit for US$150 million in bribes.
An example cited in US papers was the 2004 selection process for the 2010 World Cup, with investigators claiming that South African officials paid US$10 million to Warner in order to secure the bid.
South African Football Association President Danny Jordaan confirmed yesterday that the organising committee made a payment of US$10 million in 2008 but insisted this was not a bribe.
“I haven’t paid a bribe or taken a bribe from anybody in my life. We don’t know who is mentioned there (in the indictment),” Jordaan told the Sunday Independent.
“How could we have paid a bribe for votes four years after we had won the bid?” Jordaan said, adding that the payment was South Africa’s contribution towards CONCACAF’s football development fund.
Meanwhile, Blatter has accused US investigators of using the arrests as an attempt “interfere with the congress” that returned him to power.
The 79-year-old Swiss has argued that while many hold him “ultimately responsible for actions and reputation of the global football community”, he “cannot monitor everyone all of the time”.
In an interview published yesterday by Swiss tabloid SonntagsBlick, Blatter said he “has been treated with zero respect” in the last few days.
He also said he was “very disappointed” by UEFA President Michel Platini, who has openly asked him to step down from the top job.
Platini has said UEFA will review relations with FIFA on June 6, while English Football Association chief Greg Dyke indicated England could be ready to back a European boycott of the World Cup.