No bribes were paid, says Frank Lowy

Sydney: Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy admitted on Tuesday the country “never stood a chance” in bidding for the 2022 World Cup and denied it paid any bribes. Australia secured only one vote despite ploughing Aus$43 million ($32 million) into its pitch. It was competing against the United States, Japan, South Korea and Qatar, which was controversially awarded the tournament.

“We never stood a chance,” he said in an interview with broadcaster Sky News, as Fifa grapples with two separate investigations by American and Swiss authorities into alleged rampant and long-running corruption within the organisation. One of the probes is looking into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. “I’m not the best loser in the world. I have nightmares about all the work we did. And we didn’t get anywhere,” he added.

Lowy, the founder and head of global shopping centre empire Westfield, refused to say whether he believed Qatar secured the World Cup through corrupt payments. “I don’t want to make any accusations I can’t prove,” he said. “But awarding the World Cup to a country where it is 50-odd degrees during the games, I mean how would you think it was done?” Lowy has himself come under pressure to explain how Aus$500,000 from Australia’s bid allegedly ended up in the pocket of Jack Warner, the former Fifa vice president and head of football’s governing body in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf).

FIFA needs ‘painful’ reform: IOC chief
In Lausanne, Olympic chief Thomas Bach said that scandal-plagued Fifa needs “painful” but necessary reform.The IOC president said the crisis at football’s world governing body was bigger than the bribes-for-votes furore over the awarding of the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City.“We know from our experience that putting everything on the table can be painful but it’s absolutely necessary. We’ve seen that in our past,” he said at the International Olympic Committee’s Lausanne headquarters.

“It’s only by doing that that the IOC restored its credibility.”He added: “We can only encourage Fifa to pursue the reforms that it has chosen to carry out. We appreciate that Fifa should be ready for substantial reforms.” Bach said the scale of the 2002 Games affair was nothing in comparison to the storm enveloping Fifa.