ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2015

42SPORTS

Soccer body’s leaders meet amidst latest scandal storm

Platini hits back over FIFA payment rowPARIS, Oct 19, (Agencies): UEFA chiefMichel Platini on Monday admitted hehad no written contract for a $2.0 millionpayment from FIFA president SeppBlatter as his chances of replacing theSwiss veteran as head of the world bodynosedived ahead of a key FIFA councilmeeting in Zurich on Tuesday.

In his first interview since being hand-ed a 90-day suspension from all football-related activities by FIFA, the former starplayer for France and Juventus told LeMonde that, although he had nothing inwriting, he had made a “man to man”agreement with Blatter over the contestedremuneration.

Platini added that, as he understood it,under Swiss law “an oral contract isworth a written contract”. FIFA is basedin Zurich and is subject to Swiss law.

FIFA chief Blatter, who is also servinga 90-day suspension amid a huge corrup-tion scandal engulfing the game, said lastweek that the payment made to Platini in2011 for consultancy work carried outyears previously, was “a gentleman’sagreement”.

Platini, who also had a spell as Francecoach, told Le Monde he felt Blatter wasseeking to “kill me politically” over thepayment which looks to have doomedany chance of his succeeding him.

He had been seen as favourite to takeover in February until he was named in aSwiss criminal investigation intoBlatter’s management of FIFA.

“It was a contract I had with Platini, agentleman’s agreement,” said the 79-year-old Blatter in an interview withSwiss media RROTV.

The suspensions on Blatter and 60-year-old Platini, were announced as Swissauthorities conduct a criminal investiga-tion into corruption allegations at the scan-dal-tainted world football governing body.

Platini told Le Monde he felt “shame atbeing dragged through the mud”.

He explained that Blatter had wantedhim to work alongside him at FIFA afterthe Swiss took over but he turned down therequest as he was organising that year’sWorld Cup which France hosted and won.

Blatter then came back and asked forhis services as an advisor, asking “howmuch do you want?”

Platini said he replied: “A million.”Asked to specify which currency he

said: “Whatever you want, rubles,pounds, dollars.”

He said Blatter agreed to pay a millionSwiss francs per year (around $770,000at the time). Platini added: “I am not amoney man” and said he told Blatter to“choose what you want to pay me”, say-ing he had full trust in FIFA.

Blatter was duly elected to head FIFA

and Platini said: “I started working in theSeptember.”

He said several months passed with nopayments to him and he asked at the timeif there was a problem.

Blatter said that it was difficult to payhim three times the 300,000 Swiss francsthat FIFA’s secretary general was earningat the time.

Quoting Blatter, Platini said: “‘So wewill draw up a contract for 300,000 Swissfrancs and give you the balance later.’

“But later never came.”FIFA’s congress is due to meet on

February 26 to elect a new president, butPlatini’s chances of succeeding Blatterhave been badly hit by the payment row.

The Frenchman’s comments to LeMonde come just a day ahead of anextraordinary meeting of the FIFA execu-tive committee, called to discuss the spi-ralling crisis which erupted in May with

the arrest of FIFA officials ahead of a topmeeting in Zurich.

Blatter and Platini will both be bannedfrom attending the gathering, which willhear the first recommendations fromFIFA’s reform committee, tasked withsuggesting changes within the organisa-tion’s corridors of power.

In Singapore, The president of theMalaysian soccer champions has calledon FIFA to investigate the local footballassociation (FAM), saying they had failedto tackle corruption and were hoardingbroadcast revenues from the clubs.

Tunku Ismail ibni Sultan Ibrahim,whose Johor Darul Ta’zim FC have wonback-back Super League titles and arethrough to the final of the regional AFCCup, said the FAM were culpable for thecountry’s slide to a worst-ever FIFA rank-ing of 171st after a record 10-0 defeat toUnited Arab Emirates last month.

A combination of pictures made on June 3, 2014 shows UEFA President MichelPlatini (left), taken on Feb 22, 2014 in Paris and FIFA President Sepp Blattertaken on Oct 4, 2013 in Zurich. Platini has admitted that there is no written con-tract for the FIFA 1.8 million euro payment paid by Blatter, it was reported on Oct

19 in an interview given to French daily newspaper Le Monde. (AFP)

2006 WC bribery

Prosecutors lookinto DFB claimsBERLIN, Oct 19, (AFP): Germanprosecutors said Monday they werelooking into, but not yet formallyinvestigating, claims that Germanybribed football officials to win theright to host the 2006 World Cup.

“This could be about corruption,fraud or breach of trust”, Frankfurtchief prosecutor Nadja Niesen toldSID sports news agency, an AFPsubsidiary.

“We will examine the availabledocuments. But we are still at thevery beginning and have not yetlaunched an investigation. Thiscould happen if we can confirmthere is initial cause for suspicion”.

Germany won the right to hostthe 2006 World Cup by beatingSouth Africa by 12 votes to 11 afterNew Zealand’s Charles Dempseyabstained in the final ballot.

On Friday, Der Spiegel newsweekly published a report claimingthat the German FootballAssociation (DFB) had a slush fundto buy votes.

The claims sent shock wavesthrough football-mad Germany,where the 2006 World Cup is stillreferred to as a ‘summer fairytale’.

Steffen Seibert, spokesman forGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel,said in Monday’s press briefing that“light must be shed on the allega-tions”.

“But it’s not up to the govern-ment, it’s the job of the DFB(German Football Association) andFIFA. We are confident they willaccomplish the task”.

Spiegel claims the DFB bor-rowed 10.3 million Swiss francs(9.53 million euros, $10.83 mil-lion) in 2000 from the now-deceased former CEO of Germansportswear giant Adidas, RobertLouis-Dreyfus, in order to buy thevotes of four Asian members ofFIFA’s 24-strong executive com-mittee.

The magazine claimed the DFBthen transferred 6.7 million euros— the equivalent of the borrowedSwiss francs at the time — to aFIFA account in 2005 to repayLouis-Dreyfus.

Corinthians extend Brazilian lead

Red Bull Grella sets recordwith goal after 7 secondsNORTH CAROLINA, Oct 19,(Agencies): New York Red Bulls mid-fielder Mike Grella scored the fastestgoal in Major League Soccer historywhen his deflected shot found the netafter only seven seconds against thePhiladelphia Union on Sunday.

Grella beat the previous record byAustralian international Tim Cahill, alsofor the Red Bulls, in 2013 by one second.

The fast start paved the way for anemphatic victory by the Red Bulls as theyadded three more goals before half time,including a second by Grella, in the 4-1 win.

The result officially clinched top spot inthe Eastern Conference for the Red Bulls,with just one regular season game left.

DC United are holding second place,which guarantees a first-round bye in theplayoffs, after a 4-0 away thumping ofthe Chicago Fire, but are only one pointahead of the Columbus Crew and two infront of fourth-placed Toronto FC.

In the Western Conference, thePortland Timbers took a huge steptowards securing a playoff berth with a 5-2 win at the second-placed Los AngelesGalaxy.

Trailing 1-0 at the break after a RobbieKeane strike, the Timbers stormed backand scored five times in the second half,three of which were inside 10 mins.

Portland’s fourth goal, by Liberian

midfielder Darlington Nagbe, came just18 sec after play had restarted followinga second Keane goal.

The win lifted the Timbers to fourth inthe West with 50 points, two points clearof the Seattle Sounders and SportingKansas City, and three in front of sev-enth-placed San Jose Earthquakes.

The top six teams in each conferenceadvance to the post-season.

Seattle secured a 1-1 away drawagainst the Houston Dynamo.

In a drab encounter devoid of manychances, Nigerian striker ObafemiMartins secured Seattle a point with an82nd min equaliser.

❑ ❑ ❑

Renato Augusto and Vagner Lovescored two goals each as Corinthiansincreased their Brazilian league lead toeight points with a crushing 4-1 win atAtletico Paranaense on Sunday.

Atletico had not won in eight games inthe top flight and proved no match forSao Paulo’s Corinthians.

Attacking midfielder Augusto’s twogoals, either side of a Vagner Love strike,settled the contest by half time. Loveadded his second in the 62nd min after aconsolation goal from Paranaense mid-fielder Bruno Mota.

Corinthians’ attacking trio of Love,Augusto and Jadson have now scored 27goals between them in 31 matches thisseason.

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Boca Juniors missed a chance to sealthe Argentine league title on Sunday aftergoing down 3-1 away to Racing in a bad-tempered match that saw two Boca play-ers sent off and another four booked.

Three points would have given Bocaan unassailable eight-point lead overRosario Central with two games to go butthe capital club were outplayed by thehome side.

“We need to grow in these games andnot play like this”, said Boca strikerCarlos Tevez. “Racing were the betterteam”.

Boca had Daniel Diaz sent off for astopping a goal bound shot with his handafter half an hour, and then CristianErbes followed him after 76 mins for asecond yellow.

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder StevenGerrard (left), heads the ball away fromPortland Timbers midfielder DiegoChara in the second half of an MLSsoccer game in Carson, California on

Oct 18. Timber won 5-2. (AP)

SOCCER

SOCCER

Emirati player jailedDUBAI, Oct 19, (RTRS): Emiratifootballer Abdullah Qassem wasjailed for three months after insultingnational team coach Mahdi Ali in avideo, local media reported.

The 29-year-old had made inde-cent gestures and criticised Ali afterthe coach had not included him in theteam, The National newspaperreported on Monday.

Qassem, along with a secondunnamed Al-Dhafra player who filmedthe rant, were given the three-monthsentences by the Abu Dhabi Court of

Misdemeanours, the paper said.The duo were found guilty of

using telecommunications services tooffend and hurt the feelings of others,and displaying a recording thatbreached public ethics through theweb.

The duo had already been sus-pended by their club.

Qassem’s lawyer had argued thevideo was published without hisclient’s consent and that he was a vic-tim in the crime. He also said Ali hadnot wished to press charges.

SOCCER