Caribbean and world football mogul Jack Warner said yesterday England’s 2018 World Cup bid had been undermined by British media allegations of corruption inside FIFA.
Speaking for the first time since Russia was awarded the event last Thursday in Zurich, Warner said FIFA’s executive committee had been insulted by the British media.
“Suffice it to say the FIFA ex-co (executive committee) as a body could not have voted for England having been insulted by their media in the worst possible way at the same time,” the Guardian newspaper in Britain quoted Warner as saying.
“To do so would have been the ultimate insult.”
Just three days before the secret ballot vote by FIFA’s ex-co, BBC’s Panorama alleged that three members were involved in bribery and also implicated Warner in a 2010 World Cup ticket scandal.
On Thursday, England secured the support of just two ex-co members as they tumbled out in the first round of voting, despite fielding a highly impressive bid.
Warner, a government minister in Trinidad and Tobago, is a powerful FIFA vice-president and is president of CONCACAF, the continental governing body for the North, Central America and Caribbean region.
He was repeatedly wooed by high profile members of England’s bid team including Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince William and football superstar David Beckham.
A member of FIFA’s ex-co, Warner was lambasted by sections of the British media which claimed he had promised England’s CONCACAF’s support.
Prior to the vote, Warner never publicly endorsed any bid. (CMC)
