By Andrew Warshaw
January 28 – With FIFA mired in its worst ever corruption scandal, presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has stirred up the debate by alleging UEFA has been equally guilty of wrongdoing but has got away with it.
Champagne did not identify UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, another FIFA presidential candidate, by name in comments to a European Parliament news conference on Wednesday. But he cited dubious cases that have occurred during Infantino’s time running European football on a day-to-day basis.
There have long been rumours about alleged bribery in the bidding contest for the 2012 European Championship, won by Ukraine and Poland. “Was there an investigation for the vote in 2007 for the Euro 2012? No,” said Champagne who noted that UEFA does not have an independent ethics committee, unlike FIFA.
In Greece, Olympiakos was allowed to play in this season’s Champions League despite the club president being implicated in a scandal linked to organized crime. Fans in Greece claim a conspiracy, with UEFA’s deputy general secretary being the son of an Olympiakos vice-president. It is also claimed UEFA pressured its Turkish federation in 2011 to withdraw title holder Fenerbahce from the Champions League, later imposing a ban from the competition for additional seasons. Fans of rival clubs were furious that Fenerbahce were allowed to avoid relegation.
“Look at the controversies regarding the way match-fixing is dealt with in Greece and Turkey,” said Champagne, the only one of the five FIFA presidential candidates to go to Brussels for what should have been an open debate among contenders. “So we need to open that.”
Champagne also disclosed that if he wins the FIFA presidency, he would re-examine the controversial ruling to play the Qatar 2022 World Cup in winter and would instead consider May and June, a period which was proposed by Europe’s clubs but thrown out by Fifa.
“I’ve lived in this region,” said Champagne. “If we have kickoff times of 9pm and 11pm, conditions would be better than the 1994 World Cup final in Pasadena. If I’m elected, I will re-open that because European and African leagues will be completely distorted.”
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