Sepp Blatter says he witnessed UEFA fix a tournament draw

SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - JULY 25: FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini look on during the Team Seminar ahead of the Preliminary Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the Corinthia Hotel on July 25, 2015 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - JULY 25: FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini look on during the Team Seminar ahead of the Preliminary Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the Corinthia Hotel on July 25, 2015 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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Sepp Blatter told an Argentinian newspaper that he witnessed UEFA fix a tournament draw. 

Former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, says during his time as the federations president, he witnessed draws for european tournaments being fixed. The report originally comes from Argentinian newspaper La Nacion (english version by The Guardian), in which Blatter spoke candidly.

Blatter told the paper that he doesn’t know which team benefitted from the fix and won’t say what tournament it was, but said it is very easy to rig a draw.

Before the balls  – which has team name’s in them – are put in a giant container and picked by UEFA, they are put in a freezer. Blatter said it is very easy to tell which ball is which, considering some would be cold and others would be hot.

The disgraced former president, who has been banned for six years from football activities, made sure to say that no such thing has ever happened on his watch as FIFA president from 1998-2015. “Of course it can be done, but it never happened under my watch, never.”

This claim by Blatter could involve current president Gianni Infantino, as he was the UEFA chief before he won the FIFA presidency this year, and put him into an investigation with FIFA’s ethic board.

There is no official word that an investigation has begun to find out if Blatter’s claim is true, but it does look like Blatter is trying to stir some controversy and say he wasn’t the only one to blame for soccer’s murky behind-the-scenes action.

If the claim is true and it can be proven that Infantino played a part, his presidency could be put in doubt to continue and mean that FIFA has to work much harder to ensure draw’s being fixed never happen again.

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