January 11, 2010: Head of England World Cup Bid Says 13 FIFA Executive Committee Members Are ‘Buyable’

Andy Anson, chief executive of the English bid team for the 2018 World Cup says that of the 24 members of FIFA’s executive committee who will vote on the World Cup’s allocation, “at least 13 are buyable.” The comments are made to a closed gathering of senior civil servants, including a Downing Street representative, a few journalists, and other members of the bid team at a dinner party in a private room of the InterContinental hotel in Mayfair, London. Anson makes the statement in response to a question about corruption at FIFA, adding that he and his team had come to this conclusion after much thought. According to Patrick Collins, a Daily Mail journalist present: “[Anson’s] colleagues coughed loudly and fixed him with incinerating glares. Somebody explained that the notion of ‘buying’ delegates had never crossed English minds. Anson realised the import of his remark and started to retract. Later, we were spun the line that things had been said which could easily be taken the wrong way.” Following the World Cup’s allocation to Russia, Collins will publish details of the conversation, despite the fact that it was conducted on an off-the-record basis. He will say he is doing so because by its reaction to the numerous corruption allegations made against FIFA during the bidding process the bid team “so lightly shed integrity and self-respect.” [Daily Mail, 12/5/2010]