Saturday, April 27, 2013
Jack Warner blasts Blatter, FIFA
Former soccer official Jack Warner claims FIFA gifted him $6 million toward a training center in Trinidad to support Sepp Blatter's first election as president in 1998.
Warner says a deal in May 1998 with then-FIFA President Joao Havelange ensured backing from the CONCACAF region for Blatter in what turned out to be a tight contest against Lennart Johansson.
"Blatter would never have seen the light of day as president of FIFA" without 30 CONCACAF votes, Warner said in a speech distributed to international media Friday.
It's the latest attack on FIFA since Warner promised a "tsunami" of revelations after the then-FIFA vice president was implicated in a bribery scandal while opposing Blatter's latest election two years ago.
Warner's claim details his ownership of the Trinidad center of excellence, now valued at $22.5 million.
Last week, an integrity panel accused him of fraudulently managing the body running soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Warner says a deal in May 1998 with then-FIFA President Joao Havelange ensured backing from the CONCACAF region for Blatter in what turned out to be a tight contest against Lennart Johansson.
"Blatter would never have seen the light of day as president of FIFA" without 30 CONCACAF votes, Warner said in a speech distributed to international media Friday.
It's the latest attack on FIFA since Warner promised a "tsunami" of revelations after the then-FIFA vice president was implicated in a bribery scandal while opposing Blatter's latest election two years ago.
Warner's claim details his ownership of the Trinidad center of excellence, now valued at $22.5 million.
Last week, an integrity panel accused him of fraudulently managing the body running soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
