MOSCOW: FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he will not speculate on allegations in an American federal court linking 2022 World Cup host Qatar to payments received by South American soccer officials.
Infantino said he will not comment on “things that are not proven.”
Witnesses in the trial of a former FIFA vice-president and two other former soccer federation presidents from South America have provided details of irregular payments and offers of payment from Qatari officials. The three defendants deny wrongdoing.
Infantino also cautioned against Western nations who try to “paint with a dark paint, everything that comes from the East — Russia or the Arab world.”
The Swiss official, who replaced disgraced former FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, said there is a tendency for the West to think “we are the best ones ... we know how democracy works.”
Infantino’s statement came ahead of yesterday’s World Cup draw in Moscow and just a day after it was revealed that French police have questioned former FIFA Vice-President Reynald Temarii in their investigation into suspected corruption in the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Temarii, a former Tahiti player who served as a FIFA vice-president for Oceania, is serving an eight-year ban from football.
Officers from a French police unit that specializes in corruption and financial crimes traveled to Tahiti to question him this week at the request of French financial prosecutors leading the 2022 investigation, a French judicial official revealed.
The official spoke to The Associated Press about the police mission on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the probe. The official said Temarii was taken into police custody on Tuesday evening and held for one day while he was questioned.
Temarii was banned twice by the FIFA ethics committee — before and after FIFA executives gave the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar in a controversial and corruption-tainted vote.
He first got a one-year ban for talking to undercover reporters from The Sunday Times. He was then banned again for eight years in 2015 for taking €305,640 ($415,000) from Qatari official Mohamed bin Hammam.
The French officers who traveled to Tahiti wanted to question him about that 2011 payment, the judicial official said. It was the first time French police have questioned Temarii in the 2022 probe, the official added.
Bin Hammam, a former FIFA presidential candidate, has been banned for life from football for ethics violations.
FIFA silent over Qatar allegations
FIFA silent over Qatar allegations
Vinicius hits winner as Real Madrid eliminate Benfica after racism row
- Benfica gave the record 15-time champions a rough ride but fittingly Vinicius, who never hides from the spotlight, scored on 80 minutes to effectively end the contest
MADRID: Vinicius Junior scored the winner on the night as Real Madrid beat Benfica 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, progressing 3-1 on aggregate to the last 16.
It was the Brazilian forward’s superb goal which separated the teams in a first leg marred by an incident of alleged racial abuse aimed at him by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, who denies it.
Jose Mourinho’s side were still alive in the play-off round tie and took the lead early on at the Santiago Bernabeu through Rafa Silva, although Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni swiftly levelled.
Benfica gave the record 15-time champions a rough ride but fittingly Vinicius, who never hides from the spotlight, scored on 80 minutes to effectively end the contest.
It was Portuguese coach Mourinho’s first time back at the Santiago Bernabeu since he coached Real Madrid from 2010-2013, but he could not lead his team from the dug-out because of suspension.
After a week dominated by the fall-out from the first leg, Vinicius lined up for Real Madrid alongside Gonzalo Garcia, who stepped in for injured French superstar Kylian Mbappe.
Benfica were without banned midfielder Prestianni, after an appeal against his provisional one-game sanction was turned down earlier on Wednesday, with UEFA still investigating the incident.
Madrid hung a large banner reading “no to racism” at one end, with the game played under the shadow of what happened last week in Lisbon.
There were boos for Vinicius from the visiting Benfica fans and he prodded wide in the early stages, appealing in vain for a penalty as Nicolas Otamendi collided with him after he got his shot away.
Benfica took a deserved lead in the 14th minute as Madrid defender Raul Asencio clumsily turned the ball toward his own goal.
Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois kept the ball out but Silva was on hand to bundle home from close range.
Stung into action, Madrid pulled level two minutes later through Tchouameni. The French midfielder finished with aplomb from the edge of the box from rampaging team-mate Federico Valverde’s cross.
Madrid thought they had gone ahead on the night when Arda Guler stabbed home a loose ball after Garcia’s shot was blocked, but the Spanish striker had edged offside and it was disallowed after a VAR review.
Vinicius settles it
Courtois made a fine save from Richard Rios before the break, as Benfica turned up the pressure.
Silva hit the bar with a deflected effort before the hour mark as Mourinho’s side at times pinned back the hosts.
Madrid were dealt a set-back as Asencio was forced off on a stretcher after colliding with Eduardo Camavinga.
It had to be Vinicius who settled the tie, though, and Valverde played him scuttling through on goal, with the Brazilian calmly rolling a low shot past goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Vinicius produced another celebratory dance by the corner flag, as he had done in the first leg in the run-up to the flashpoint with Prestianni, and to the chagrin of Mourinho.
This time, the 25-year-old just had thousands of jubilant fans jumping up and down before him, and his goal confirmed Madrid’s passage to the last 16.
