You are here England may quit Fifa after corruption allegation

UK Sports Minister Hugh Robertson said England are not ruling out the possibility of leaving Fifa.

FIFA President looks on during a press conference

His comments come a day after David Triesman, former chairman of the English FA, said four Fifa executive committee members asked for favours in exchange for votes for England to host the 2018 World Cup.

"There is a desire to try to work and change Fifa from the inside," Robertson told BBC Radio. "If Fifa proves unable to do that, then I would say all options are possible."

Triesman told a UK parliamentary committee on Tuesday (May 10) that he was asked for cash, TV rights and a knighthood in exchange for votes in the ballot on who should host the Cup. England garnered the least number of votes.



He claimed Fifa vice-president Jack Warner asked for £2.5 million pounds ($5.1 million) to build a sports school in Trinidad and £500,000 to buy Haiti's World Cup TV rights. Paraguay's FIFA exec Nicolas Leoz demanded the honour, while Brazil's representative Ricardo Teixeira brazenly said: "What have you got for me?" Thailand's Worawi Makudi also asked for TV rights for a friendly match.

All deny the allegations.

Information supplied by the Sunday Times newspaper to the lawmakers also alleged Qatar paid US$1.5 million ($1.9 million) to African soccer head Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast. The Gulf state, which was a surprise choice to stage the 2022 World Cup denied the claims and described it as baseless.

Fifa has responded by asking England and the Sunday Times to provide reports and evidence to back up the allegations of corruption.

But Fifa President Sepp Blatter said he could not vouch for the members that sit alongside him on the executive. "It is my government, but my government is not designated by the president," he said in Zurich on Tuesday. "I cannot say that they are all angels or they are all devils."

If England quits the football governing body, they will be barred from participating in any Fifa-related competitions, including the Fifa World Cup.

(Source: Bloomberg, The Sun, BBC)

original from: www.tnp.sg