ZURICH – FIFA’s ethics committee will probe former Football Association’s chief Lord Triesman’s alleged claims about rival bidders in the 2018 and 2020 World Cups swiftly, a senior official said yesterday.
Asked if the committee announced on Monday would report on possible breaches by Lord Triesman or possible substance of his alleged claims, such as bribery, Jerome Valcke, secretary general of world football’s governing body replied: ‘On both.’
‘We will look into it as soon as possible,’ Valcke told journalists, adding that he hoped the ethics committee would give an overview by the time the 2010 World Cup kicks off in South Africa on June 11.
Lord Triesman quit as head of England’s bid team for the 2018 World Cup on Sunday and also stepped down as president of the FA following claims published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper that he had accused Spain and Russia of bribery.
Triesman allegedly told a former aide that Spain were planning to bribe referees at this summer’s World Cup and offer their support to Russia’s bid for the 2022 World Cup if they were to help. The England 2018 World Cup bid team faxed letters of apology to both associations. FIFA have requested an FA report on the affair. Last week Triesman, accompanied by David Beckham, handed over England’s bid book for the 2018 World Cup to FIFA chief Sepp Blatter in Zurich.
England staged the World Cup for the first and only time in 1966, which was also the only occasion they have lifted the trophy.
The chief of Russia’s bid, Aleksey Sorokin, has called for football’s governing body to ‘take appropriate measures’. – Nampa-AFP
