VANCOUVER, (Reuters) – The head of Canada’s soccer association yesterday said he did not bribe FIFA to win the rights to host the women’s World Cup and said that a senior executive of the sport’s governing body who has been charged with corruption had done a lot of good for the game.
Canadian Soccer Association President Victor Montagliani noted that Jeffrey Webb, the arrested head of the North American, Central American and Caribbean confederation CONCACAF, had led an anti-racism campaign and started the process of changing governance at CONCACAF.
“It would be very hard to say you wouldn’t respect somebody of that nature,” Montagliani told reporters at a press conference to open the month-long FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, which is also a member of CONCACAF.
“Having said that, if the allegations (from) last week are true, then obviously that would change a lot of people’s opinion. I hope it’s not because obviously we know there’s no room in the game for those kinds of things.”
Webb was one of seven powerful figures arrested in Zurich on May 27 two days before FIFA’s annual congress, stunning world soccer. Sepp Blatter, the president of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), has not charged and he was elected to a fifth four-year term but then unexpectedly resigned on Tuesday.
The charges by U.S. prosecutors include allegations that millions of dollars were paid in bribes in FIFA’s selection process to host men’s World Cups and other major tournaments.
Asked whether he had paid a bribe to FIFA so Canada could host the women’s tournament, Montagliani replied: “Absolutely not.” He said the Canadian bid was the last viable one standing at the time of the selection.
The tournament starts in Edmonton on Saturday with the hosts playing China.
A FIFA spokeswoman would not say if Blatter planned to attend the women’s tournament final on July 5 in Vancouver. She said the match was weeks away and that any travel plans would be confirmed at a later date.
Montagliani, who last year described Webb as an inspiration to him, said that until the arrest it would have been difficult to believe the charges.
“With all due respect, you and your colleagues were saying the exact same thing,” Montagliani said. “So you need to maybe look in the mirror a bit and maybe not put people on the pedestal so that you can whack the hell out of them after.”
