ARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2015 42 SPORTS Soccer body’s leaders meet amidst latest scandal storm Platini hits back over FIFA payment row PARIS, Oct 19, (Agencies): UEFA chief Michel Platini on Monday admitted he had no written contract for a $2.0 million payment from FIFA president Sepp Blatter as his chances of replacing the Swiss veteran as head of the world body nosedived ahead of a key FIFA council meeting 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 star player for France and Juventus told Le Monde that, although he had nothing in writing, he had made a “man to man” agreement with Blatter over the contested remuneration. Platini added that, as he understood it, under Swiss law “an oral contract is worth a written contract”. FIFA is based in Zurich and is subject to Swiss law. FIFA chief Blatter, who is also serving a 90-day suspension amid a huge corrup- tion scandal engulfing the game, said last week that the payment made to Platini in 2011 for consultancy work carried out years previously, was “a gentleman’s agreement”. Platini, who also had a spell as France coach, told Le Monde he felt Blatter was seeking to “kill me politically” over the payment which looks to have doomed any chance of his succeeding him. He had been seen as favourite to take over in February until he was named in a Swiss criminal investigation into Blatter’s management of FIFA. “It was a contract I had with Platini, a gentleman’s agreement,” said the 79- year-old Blatter in an interview with Swiss media RROTV. The suspensions on Blatter and 60-year- old Platini, were announced as Swiss authorities conduct a criminal investiga- tion into corruption allegations at the scan- dal-tainted world football governing body. Platini told Le Monde he felt “shame at being dragged through the mud”. He explained that Blatter had wanted him to work alongside him at FIFA after the Swiss took over but he turned down the request as he was organising that year’s World Cup which France hosted and won. Blatter then came back and asked for his services as an advisor, asking “how much 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 million Swiss francs per year (around $770,000 at the time). Platini added: “I am not a money 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 the September.” He said several months passed with no payments to him and he asked at the time if there was a problem. Blatter said that it was difficult to pay him three times the 300,000 Swiss francs that FIFA’s secretary general was earning at the time. Quoting Blatter, Platini said: “‘So we will draw up a contract for 300,000 Swiss francs 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, but Platini’s chances of succeeding Blatter have been badly hit by the payment row. The Frenchman’s comments to Le Monde come just a day ahead of an extraordinary 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 top meeting in Zurich. Blatter and Platini will both be banned from attending the gathering, which will hear the first recommendations from FIFA’s reform committee, tasked with suggesting changes within the organisa- tion’s corridors of power. In Singapore, The president of the Malaysian soccer champions has called on FIFA to investigate the local football association (FAM), saying they had failed to tackle corruption and were hoarding broadcast revenues from the clubs. Tunku Ismail ibni Sultan Ibrahim, whose Johor Darul Ta’zim FC have won back-back Super League titles and are through to the final of the regional AFC Cup, said the FAM were culpable for the country’s slide to a worst-ever FIFA rank- ing of 171st after a record 10-0 defeat to United Arab Emirates last month. A combination of pictures made on June 3, 2014 shows UEFA President Michel Platini (left), taken on Feb 22, 2014 in Paris and FIFA President Sepp Blatter taken 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 look into DFB claims BERLIN, Oct 19, (AFP): German prosecutors said Monday they were looking into, but not yet formally investigating, claims that Germany bribed football officials to win the right to host the 2006 World Cup. “This could be about corruption, fraud or breach of trust”, Frankfurt chief prosecutor Nadja Niesen told SID sports news agency, an AFP subsidiary. “We will examine the available documents. But we are still at the very beginning and have not yet launched an investigation. This could happen if we can confirm there is initial cause for suspicion”. Germany won the right to host the 2006 World Cup by beating South Africa by 12 votes to 11 after New Zealand’s Charles Dempsey abstained in the final ballot. On Friday, Der Spiegel news weekly published a report claiming that the German Football Association (DFB) had a slush fund to buy votes. The claims sent shock waves through football-mad Germany, where the 2006 World Cup is still referred to as a ‘summer fairytale’. Steffen Seibert, spokesman for German 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) and FIFA. We are confident they will accomplish 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 German sportswear giant Adidas, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, in order to buy the votes of four Asian members of FIFA’s 24-strong executive com- mittee. The magazine claimed the DFB then transferred 6.7 million euros — the equivalent of the borrowed Swiss francs at the time — to a FIFA account in 2005 to repay Louis-Dreyfus. Corinthians extend Brazilian lead Red Bull Grella sets record with goal after 7 seconds NORTH CAROLINA, Oct 19, (Agencies): New York Red Bulls mid- fielder Mike Grella scored the fastest goal in Major League Soccer history when his deflected shot found the net after only seven seconds against the Philadelphia Union on Sunday. Grella beat the previous record by Australian international Tim Cahill, also for the Red Bulls, in 2013 by one second. The fast start paved the way for an emphatic victory by the Red Bulls as they added three more goals before half time, including a second by Grella, in the 4-1 win. The result officially clinched top spot in the 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 the playoffs, after a 4-0 away thumping of the Chicago Fire, but are only one point ahead of the Columbus Crew and two in front of fourth-placed Toronto FC. In the Western Conference, the Portland Timbers took a huge step towards securing a playoff berth with a 5- 2 win at the second-placed Los Angeles Galaxy. Trailing 1-0 at the break after a Robbie Keane strike, the Timbers stormed back and scored five times in the second half, three of which were inside 10 mins. Portland’s fourth goal, by Liberian midfielder Darlington Nagbe, came just 18 sec after play had restarted following a second Keane goal. The win lifted the Timbers to fourth in the West with 50 points, two points clear of the Seattle Sounders and Sporting Kansas City, and three in front of sev- enth-placed San Jose Earthquakes. The top six teams in each conference advance to the post-season. Seattle secured a 1-1 away draw against the Houston Dynamo. In a drab encounter devoid of many chances, Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins secured Seattle a point with an 82nd min equaliser. ❑ ❑ ❑ Renato Augusto and Vagner Love scored two goals each as Corinthians increased their Brazilian league lead to eight points with a crushing 4-1 win at Atletico Paranaense on Sunday. Atletico had not won in eight games in the top flight and proved no match for Sao Paulo’s Corinthians. Attacking midfielder Augusto’s two goals, either side of a Vagner Love strike, settled the contest by half time. Love added his second in the 62nd min after a consolation goal from Paranaense mid- fielder Bruno Mota. Corinthians’ attacking trio of Love, Augusto and Jadson have now scored 27 goals between them in 31 matches this season. ❑ ❑ ❑ Boca Juniors missed a chance to seal the Argentine league title on Sunday after going 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 Boca an unassailable eight-point lead over Rosario Central with two games to go but the capital club were outplayed by the home side. “We need to grow in these games and not play like this”, said Boca striker Carlos Tevez. “Racing were the better team”. Boca had Daniel Diaz sent off for a stopping a goal bound shot with his hand after half an hour, and then Cristian Erbes followed him after 76 mins for a second yellow. Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Steven Gerrard (left), heads the ball away from Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Chara in the second half of an MLS soccer game in Carson, California on Oct 18. Timber won 5-2. (AP) SOCCER SOCCER Emirati player jailed DUBAI, Oct 19, (RTRS): Emirati footballer Abdullah Qassem was jailed for three months after insulting national team coach Mahdi Ali in a video, local media reported. The 29-year-old had made inde- cent gestures and criticised Ali after the coach had not included him in the team, The National newspaper reported on Monday. Qassem, along with a second unnamed Al-Dhafra player who filmed the rant, were given the three-month sentences by the Abu Dhabi Court of Misdemeanours, the paper said. The duo were found guilty of using telecommunications services to offend and hurt the feelings of others, and displaying a recording that breached public ethics through the web. The duo had already been sus- pended by their club. Qassem’s lawyer had argued the video was published without his client’s consent and that he was a vic- tim in the crime. He also said Ali had not wished to press charges. SOCCER