GENEVA — FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne has criticized how corruption allegations were handled by UEFA, whose top administrator is a rival to lead world soccer.
Champagne did not name Gianni Infantino in comments at a European Parliament news conference on Wednesday, but he cited examples that happened during his opponent’s time as UEFA general secretary.
A Cypriot whistleblower in 2010 alleged bribery in UEFA’s 2012 European Championship bidding contest, and match-fixing cases from 2011 in Turkey and 2015 in Greece have both angered fans who believe top clubs are protected from tougher sanctions.
"Was there an investigation for the vote in 2007 for the Euro 2012? No," said Champagne, noting that UEFA does not have an independent ethics committee which can pursue its own cases.
"Look at the controversies regarding the way match-fixing is dealt with in Greece and Turkey. So we need to open that," said the one-time FIFA international relations director.
UEFA launched a defamation action in Switzerland against the whistleblower, who withdrew his claims several weeks later, and also made a criminal complaint to state prosecutors in Cyprus.
Champagne was the only one of five FIFA candidates who took up the invitation from European lawmakers and campaigners for FIFA reform to attend the event in Brussels.
Infantino has spent a successful week meeting voters in Central and South America ahead of the Feb. 26 poll in Zurich, and sent a video message about this campaign.
Since the five candidates were officially confirmed in November, there have exchanged little criticism in public.
Champagne did not accuse Infantino of wrongdoing though recalled a bribery allegation that was overshadowed at the time by FIFA’s controversial 2018-2022 World Cup bidding contests.
In October 2010, a whistleblower in Cyprus alleged some UEFA voters shared bribes totalling around 10 million euros (then around $13 million) in the Euro 2012 hosting vote won by Poland and Ukraine in an unexpected victory over Italy.
UEFA said in an October 2010 statement that its criminal complaint was "to establish whether any of the claims made … have any substance to them, and therefore to make available any tangible elements in order to substantiate these claims. And secondly, to protect the integrity and the good name of UEFA and European football, in general, which have been seriously damaged by these allegations."
In the match-fixing cases referred to Wednesday, UEFA pressured its Turkish member federation in 2011 to withdraw title holder Fenerbahce from the Champions League and later imposed a ban from the competition in additional seasons.
However, fans of rival clubs were angered that UEFA and Turkish officials allowed Fenerbahce to avoid a relegation sanction.
In Greece, Olympiakos was allowed by UEFA to play in this season’s Champions League despite the club president being implicated in a fixing scandal last year linked to organized crime. UEFA entry rules require clubs not to have been involved in fixing matches.
Fans in Greece then suggested a conspiracy because Infantino’s deputy at UEFA has close family ties to Olympiakos.
European lawmakers were unimpressed that Infantino and three other candidates — Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, Prince Ali of Jordan and Tokyo Sexwale of South Africa — declined to come to Brussels.
"The old FIFA is alive and kicking," said Ivo Belot, a European Parliament member from Belgium. "It’s a terrible signal to the fans in Europe who deserve much, much better."