Fifa, football’s world governing body, refuted its former vice-president Jack Warner’s claim that he was allowed to purchase World Cup television rights at a nominal cost in return for helping Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s election campaigns.
Fifa accepted that Warner had acquired Caribbean rights for multiple World Cups for a nominal fee but said that this was from 1986, rather than from 1998, as Warner had claimed.
Fifa said that it was normal practice at the time for rights to be awarded in developing markets such as the Caribbean and Africa for small fees. The governing body said that its approach helped to maximise worldwide television coverage and provide national associations and confederations with income for the development of football.
It said that Warner’s allegations included “several inaccuracies and falsehoods” and the rights process had nothing to do with the 1998 or 2002 election campaigns that were won by Blatter. “To imply the contrary is completely false,” Fifa said. Fifa added that the Caribbean rights for the 2002 World Cup were approved by the Fifa executive committee at meetings in late 2001 and not after the 2002 elections.
Last month, Warner said that he had acquired Caribbean rights for the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups for $1 (€0.77) in a deal in 1998, just after Blatter had beaten Lennart Johansson to become Fifa president. Warner said that he and former Fifa vice-president Mohamed Bin Hammam had played “critical roles in support of Mr Blatter” during the “brutal campaign.” Warner also said that he was offered the rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups for a nominal fee before resigning from Fifa in June 2011 after being investigated for alleged bribery by the governing body.
Warner, who was president of the Caribbean Football Union and president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, had considerable influence over a large section of the Fifa electorate. Blatter retained his presidency in June 2011 after his only rival, Bin Hammam, was barred from running due to corruption allegations.