Another day, another FIFA corruption revelation. It's almost a sign of the last week or so that this fresh titbit of news isn't as shocking as it really ought to be.
So far, there have been suspicions of bribery over the hosting of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to be held in Russia and Qatar respectively. Now, you can add the 2010 Vuvuzela World Cup to that list - completing the full house of World Cups that were awarded hosting under Blatter's FIFA presidency. It's almost like the 1988 Olympics 100 metre final.
Back in 2004, South Africa were awarded the hosting rights to the 2010 World Cup, with the original voting announced as 14 votes to the South Africans to 10 from the Moroccans. Now, the claim is that the vote was rigged and that Morocco actually won that vote.
According to the Irish Independent, there are tapes of one FIFA offical Ismail Bhamjee stating that the Moroccans actually won the election, and that the Sunday Times gave these tapes to FIFA and Sepp Blatter five years ago.
After talking with everybody... Whose votes went where? We're all colleagues, you know. And then we found out that actually Morocco won by two votes.
This is amidst links that both South Africa and Morocco tried to bribe their way into hosting the event, which is apparently also in these tapes. The South African government have already denied that the $10 million paid to Jack Warner was a bribe for hosting the event.
In any case, it's interesting to wonder how the World Cup would have gone in 2010 if it wasn't in South Africa. Would the world know about the annoyance of the vuvuzelas had Morocco hosted the tournament instead?
According to this 2010 article, it does appear so.
See Also: German Newspaper Make 'Explosive' Claim About The 2006 World Cup
See Also: 5 Other Disgraceful Injustices That FIFA Should Have Bribed The FAI To Keep Quiet Over
Picture Credit Stephen McCarthy /Sportsfile
