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By Andrew Warshaw
October 7 – The bidding war for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has exploded into controversy with allegations of dirty tricks.
With the vote less than two months away and sensitivities becoming frayed, South Korea’s FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-Joon (pictured) has lobbed a political grenade into the process with a veiled attack against 2022 rivals the USA.
Digressing from his original address at the Leaders in Football conference in London, Chung sensationally charged that an unnamed rival deserved a “red card” for allegedly undermining his country’s candidacy.
FIFA rules strictly forbid any of the nine candidates speaking openly about other bids and Chung’s allegations were privately denounced by US insiders as totally unacceptable – even though no-one was prepared to speak on the record.
In his address, Chung claimed there were “lingering suspicions” that a 2022 bid rival had planted stories that China might bid for 2026 in order to sway support away from other Asian Confederation countries – thereby giving the United States a clear run for 2022.
“In spite of [China’s] denial the atmosphere within the AFC is not free from lingering suspicion that the rival bidding country might have entertained a wishful thinking to sway the bidding competition in its favour,” were his exact words.
“FIFA attaches great value to the spirit of fair play and gentlemanly behaviour in football.
“My Asian colleagues believe that, if true, such attempts definitely deserve a yellow card, if not red.”
Chung’s remarks could have been prompted by fellow FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer’s personal Twitter account.
Yet Blazer, the United States’ most influential football administrator, simply tweeted a headline, “China 2026 bid strengthens United States 2022 campaign“, which appeared on insideworldfootball.
Initial reports that China was lining up a bid for 2026 came not from the USA, however, but out of Beijing itself last July, with Chung’s apparent own goal now running the risk of putting himself firmly in the firing line.
It was no surprise after his remarks that he failed to show up at a subsequent news conference about Korea’s World Cup bid though Korean bid officials were quick to point out that he had not deliberately stayed away and was never scheduled to appear.
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