LISBON, Portugal — Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho says he didn’t attend a FIFA awards ceremony last January because he had misgivings about the voting procedure.
Mourinho was one of the three finalists for FIFA’s annual coaching award, but the prize went to Spain coach Vicente del Bosque.
Mourinho said in an interview shown Tuesday by Portuguese public broadcaster RTP: "More than one person, two or three people, phoned me to say they’d voted for me and that their vote ended up going to someone else. So I decided not to go."
He had previously said he didn’t go to the Zurich ceremony because he was busy.
FIFA denied any voting irregularities.
The votes were cast by national team coaches and captains, plus invited journalists.