Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Fifa is exactly the governing body that the sport of football deserves

It is a matter of great comfort to me, as a football fan, that all the allegations made against the various Fifa delegates have been shown to be utter fabrications.

It is a matter of great comfort to me, as a football fan, that all the allegations made against the various Fifa delegates have been shown to be utter fabrications. I had been a little worried. We know now, though, that they are utter fabrications because the boss of Fifa, Sepp Blatter, a man of unimpeachable honesty and integrity, has said they are — and that’s good enough for me.

It had been alleged that one Fifa delegate, the Paraguyan-born Nicolas Leoz, had demanded a knighthood in return for supporting England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup. But Fifa instigated a rigorous investigation which seems to have consisted of asking Leoz if these allegations were true or not, and the allegations have been proved to be unfounded. That’s what I expected, as someone who has always felt a degree of affection and sympathy for Leoz, ever since Panorama quite unjustly proved that he was as bent as a nine-bob note and had flogged the TV rights to the World Cup to himself. Luckily Fifa took not the slightest bit of notice of this, either.

It has since been alleged that Leoz demanded that Britain’s oldest football trophy, the FA Cup, be renamed in his honour in exchange for his vote as a delegate. I daresay some British functionary, embittered at the humiliation of having lost the bid, will further suggest that Leoz demanded to sleep with Princess Anne and be installed as the chairman of next year’s Man Booker prize. Blatter will undoubtedly instigate a similarly rigorous investigation which will surely clear Leoz once again.

There have been allegations of dishonesty, corruption, soliciting bungs etc against fully nine of the 24 Fifa delegates, including Blatter, and not all of them have come from embittered Brits.

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