FA Chair Greg Dyke has questioned whether any World Cup has been secured without "a pile of bungs" after allegations of corruption surrounding football's showpiece spread to the '06 tournament in Germany, according to Glenn Ebrey of the LONDON TIMES. German FA (DFB) President Wolfgang Niersbach has stepped down while an investigation takes place "into claims that corrupt payments were made to officials during the bidding process." Dyke expressed some sympathy for Niersbach, whom he described as "a good bloke," but "voiced fears" that every World Cup could have been tainted by corruption. Dyke: "It's like The Archers, it's like a soap opera, every week something is happening. You begin to be convinced almost no World Cups have been allocated without a pile of bungs. I don't know where it ends, you need a completely reformed organization" (LONDON TIMES, 11/11). The BBC reported Niersbach denies any wrongdoing but said that he had taken the decision to quit in order to "protect the DFB." In October, Germany's Organizing Committee President Franz Beckenbauer said that he made a "mistake" in the bidding process, but denied that votes were bought (BBC, 11/11). The PA reported Dyke insisted the organization will not let FIFA "off the hook" but expects it to "take time before getting answers." Dyke doubts the FA's issues will be resolved by FIFA's first reply but said that the organization is "prepared to wait." When asked when he expects to hear from FIFA, Dyke said, "Do you mean answered, or answered satisfactorily? I think we'll get an early answer but with that we'll then go back to our barrister. A lot of people put in money -- I believe Birmingham city council put in £250,000, for instance -- so when all that stuff came out from Blatter, we said, ‘Let’s go and talk to our lawyers,’ because we needed to work out what the legal basis for getting our money back was, if you can, and we went to a QC" (PA, 11/11).
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: The AP reported in a "clash of sports mired in crisis," the FIFA ethics committee will study Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko's role in his country's "damaging doping scandal." Besides being sports minister, Mutko also serves on the FIFA exec committee and is "running the World Cup organizing committee" ahead of the '18 tournament in Russia. Mutko was not linked to financial corruption in the WADA inquiry, "which alleged bribery and extortion by other Russian sports officials." Still, WADA commission Head Dick Pound said that Russia "practiced state-sponsored cheating and cover-ups of doping in track and field and other sports." Pound: "It was not possible for him to be unaware of it" (AP, 11/10). In London, Peter Lansley wrote Dyke urged FIFA to "consider suspending" Mutko from his role on its exec committee after the Russian sports minister was accused of being "complicit" in the WADA report into drug misuse in Russian athletics. Dyke stopped short of suggesting that Russia "should lose their right to stage the 2018 World Cup," but did question Mutko’s position as chair of the organizing committee after WADA accused him of being "aware" of the alleged doping and its cover-up. Dyke: "Whether someone who is involved in all that can stay on the board of FIFA is something FIFA needs to address very quickly. He's head of the organizing committee, Minister for Sport... It's not bad, is it? He's got about six jobs. It will be up to FIFA" (INDEPENDENT, 11/10).
WORTH 'ZERO': Also in London, Ben Rumsby reported Mutko "launched an astonishing attack" on both Britain and Dyke as he continued to "lash out" over his country being blamed for the "biggest doping scandal ever seen." Mutko "slammed" the U.K.'s anti-doping system, claiming it was worth "zero" and "worse" than Russia's if it failed to catch his nation's drug cheats at the 2012 Olympics. In remarks reported by Russia's Interfax news agency Mutko said of Britain, "If you're accusing our athletes today then I'm afraid your system is zero and worse than ours." He branded Dyke's intervention "absurd," saying, "So, should I raise the issue of suspending the British football federation from FIFA" (TELEGRAPH, 11/11)?
