The chairman of Football Federation Australia, Frank Lowy, has admitted the nation’s failed 2022 World Cup bid was “naive” but “clean”.
In an open letter addressed to the Australian football community, Lowy attempted to distance himself and Australia from the growing scandal engulfing Fifa, whose president Sepp Blatter announced his resignation on Tuesday following a turbulent week that saw seven officials arrested in Zurich and a total of 14 indicted on US and Swiss corruption charges.
Lowy, who was an integral part of Australia’s $46m taxpayer-funded bid to host the 2022 World Cup, said Blatter’s departure was a watershed moment for football but conceded he nursed “bitter grievances” about the decision to award Qatar the tournament in seven years’ time. An investigation by Swiss authorities into the bid process, at the end of which Australia won just one vote, is under way.
“We ran a clean bid,” Lowy wrote. “I know that others did not, and I have shared what I know with the authorities, including Michael Garcia who undertook a two-year investigation into the 2022 World Cup bid.
“But did we make mistakes? Yes. Were we naive? In some cases, yes. Would we do things differently in future? Absolutely.”
Questions have been raised about the Australian bid, centring on a $500,000 donation to Concacaf, the North and Central American confederation then run by Jack Warner, the now-disgraced Trinidad and Tobago Fifa representative and one of those arrested on Wednesday last week.
Lowy’s letter stated the money – to fund a feasibility study to develop a centre of excellence in Trinidad & Tobago – was not transferred into Warner’s bank account, but rather directly to Concacaf. The letter alleged the funds were misappropriated by Warner, whom Lowy described as having a “reputation as a ‘colourful character’ ”.
Lowy added Australia was still attempting to reclaim that money, saying it was not used for its intended purpose.
“We ran a clean bid and we are proud of that but it wasn’t a level playing field and therefore we didn’t win it,” he said. “I will always be bitterly disappointed about the outcome.”
Despite his grievances Lowy, who went against the Asian Football Confederation bloc by voting against Blatter in the recent Fifa presidential election, was upbeat about the departure of the Swiss.
“World football might just be at the dawn of a new era,” he said. “Sepp Blatter’s resignation should open the door to major reform. I say should because Fifa’s problems are deep-rooted and tangled in a culture that has developed over decades. It will take a united, concerted effort by its football associations to fix the mess.
“Australia has tried its best to work within football forums to promote reform. In 2013 we began work on ideas which would allow Fifa to operate with greater transparency and accountability. Many others in world football have been working on similar projects.
“Now, at last, it appears there might be new leadership at Fifa willing to listen to these ideas.
“I feel that the past week has been a watershed. The series of events leading up to last week’s dramatic developments and the overall scandal surrounding Fifa left Australia with no option but to vote for change.”
Earlier in the day, a prominent journalist who has been investigating corruption at Fifa for years told the ABC’s Lateline program that Lowy should tender his resignation. Andrew Jennings alleged a lack of due diligence during the bidding process for the 2022 World Cup should prompt Lowy to step down.
