LOS ANGELES — Former England captain David Beckham said Sunday he hopes FIFA is serious about cleaning up its act, admitting he was left “sickened” by the corruption scandal within soccer’s world governing body.
Beckham’s remarks came as Mohamed bin Hammam reacted to his life ban from soccer for bribery by claiming that he was punished as “revenge” for standing against Sepp Blatter for the presidency.
Bin Hammam, the Qatari former president of the Asian Football Confederation, was found guilty over the weekend of attempting to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union, at a meeting on the FIFA presidential campaign trail in Trinidad in May.
Although bin Hammam — who has vowed to take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport — played an influential role in helping Qatar to win the 2022 World Cup, there is no suggestion that the Gulf state will lose the right to host the tournament.
The decision to award the World Cup to Qatar in December provoked widespread controversy, while England’s crushing defeat by Russia in the bid to host the 2018 tournament prompted calls to reform the voting process, given that the English bid won only two votes, despite being showered with praise.
Beckham — a leading member of England’s failed bid team alongside David Cameron, the Prime Minister, and Prince William — said that the subsequent investigations into allegations of corruption within FIFA proved that the system was flawed and in need of change.
Speaking for the first time about the scandal that has engulfed the organization since England’s failed bid, Beckham said, “Obviously something’s wrong when you look at the investigations since the vote and some of the things that have come out.
“There’s been so much said about it since, but at the time you don’t suspect there is something wrong. When people tell you to your face that you have got their vote, you want to believe them.
“Then the vote happened and you start to think, ‘This is a little bit weird.’ It just felt unfair. I’ve nothing against the countries who have got the bids, but it did feel unfair for us.
“Nobody could have done any more than we did and then you factor in we also had the weight of the prime minister and the future king of England behind us. It doesn’t get much bigger and better than that so the situation we see now leaves a sick feeling in your mouth.”