Sepp Blatter says he saw a European tournament draw fixed
Sepp Blatter claims that once, a UEFA draw was rigged -- and he knows because he was there. The former FIFA president told Argentina paper La Nacion that an Italian club had the balls in the pot made hot and cold so the person choosing would know which balls to pick during the draw.
"Yes. I saw it with my own eyes and it was like cheating," Blatter said."It was for a European competition. Only one team has managed that. It was an Italian side.
"You can see the balls that are drawn identified either by making them hot, or if they have been cooled. I was a witness."
If this is true then Blatter is being kind because it is not "like cheating." It is cheating.
It would not be entirely surprising if a draw was rigged. The sport has been rife with incidents of rigging and draws are a natural target. Using temperature to do it is a clever method too, because these draws are televised so if there was anything to see, it would be caught -- but TV cameras can't catch temperature.
Of course, Blatter says that he had nothing to do with it.
"I've never drawn lots. Other presidents did," he said. "They have taken the balls themselves from the pot. I was clean to the last."
Seeing as Blatter has been banned from FIFA for corruption and still hasn't admitted any guilt or potential fault, taking him at his word probably isn't the best idea. It's possible he has never participated in draw fixing, but "because he said he didn't" isn't exactly firm ground to stand on. Also, if Blatter was entirely sure it happened and never reported it, despite claiming to being committed to rooting out corruption, he's hardly clean.
Along those lines, just because Blatter says a draw was fixed doesn't necessarily mean it happened. We can only believe Blatter to a degree and he's spent much of of his time since being banned by FIFA doing all he can to call out other people for corruption.
But considering the sport's history and what we know about how it is governed, it's difficult to doubt that Blatter's claims are true. But even if they aren't true, that we are willing to believe someone like Blatter making such allegations should be just as alarming to those in power.
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