AFP/Getty Images
Analaysing Blatter's UEFA draw-rigging accusations
The former FIFA president has now alleged that UEFA rigged a number of draws, but didn't confirm which ones.
“They don't exist in FIFA [how convenient! ed.], but I've seen it done. Technically it's possible, I personally witnessed it being done at the European [UEFA] level.
“How? The balls are put in a fridge. Those who extract them already know which ones they're going to pick”.
He continued by accusing a former president of the Italian FA, Artemio Franchi, who has two stadiums (Fiorentina and Siena's) named after him.
“Only one man had the power to do this: Artemio Franchi. He did it for club tournaments.
Beyond questioning the veracity of these statements, we can speculate about three more things:
a) it is a rather 'Italian' tactic to reveal a little, enough to warn those currently in power that there's (presumably) a lot of mud on them, and that it can all go away if the person making the statements received a favour in return, especially if said person is facing a lot of flak;
b) putting balls in the fridge was one of the many tricks unmasked by the Tangentopoli (kickback city) scandal in the early 90's. Whoever said that Sepp didn't like Italy?
c) As one of our readers pointed out in the Italian version of this piece, it is rather convenient to pick on someone who has passed away, like Franchi, and who can't defend himself;
@EdoDalmonte
