David A. Yallop - How They Stole the Game

David Yallop is a highly regarded seeker of justice, who has over-turned opinion with every book he has published. As a crime investigator, he has explored the truth behind Fatty Arbuckles murder conviction in The Day the Laughter Stopped, campaigned for a royal pardon for Craig Bentley in To Encourage the Others, as well as chasing the Yorkshire Ripper and Carlos the Jackal. He is also the author of the groundbreaking and controversial In Gods Name, which exposed the corruption within the Vatican and the murder of John Paul I. This was followed by The Power and Glory, an in-depth exploration of the papacy of John Paul II and Beyond Belief, a searing indictment of the cover-up of child abuse by the Catholic Church. He lives in England.

Also by David Yallop

To Encourage the Others

The Day the Laughter Stopped

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

Deliver Us From Evil

In Gods Name

To the Ends of the Earth

Unholy Alliance

How They Stole the Game

The Power and the Glory

Constable & Robinson Ltd
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London WC1B 4HP
www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Poetic Publishing, a division of Poetic Products Ltd, 1999

This edition published by Constable, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2011

Copyright Poetic Products Limited, 1999

The right of David Yallop to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78033-401-1
eISBN: 978-1-78033-402-8

Printed and bound in the UK

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To Lucy, who shares Pels view that its only a game, and to Fletcher, who agrees with the late Bill Shankly that its more important than life or death.

Acknowledgements

A s with every other investigation I have undertaken, the list of acknowledgements that follows is but a partial indication of the variety of sources that I have drawn on. As in the past, many would only undertake to assist this investigation in exchange for the promise of anonymity and, as in the past, I respect that wish, although I would observe that for law-abiding individuals to be fearful of retribution when one is dealing with this particular search for truth is an appalling indictment on a state of affairs that exists within international football. I would like to thank those anonymous informants and the following:

His Excellency Rubens Antonio Barbosa, Brazilian Ambassador to the UK, and his Embassy Staff; Monique Berlioux; Wolfgang Berner; Sepp Blatter; Marcio Braga; Bryon Butler; His Excellency Fernando Henrique Cardosa, President of Brazil; Marco Casanova; Dr Mong Joon Chung; Steve Clarke, Mars UK; Richard Denton, Canon; Teddi Domann, McDonalds; Eric Drossart; George Drummond; Mustapha Fahmy; Paul Farrelly; Bureau Chief of the Federal Bureau of Invesigation, Washington, DC; staff of FIFA, Zurich, particularly Keith Cooper, Andreas Herren, Michel Zen-Ruffinen; Barie Gill; Brian Glanville; Celso Grellet; Dr Joo Havelange; Mava Heffler, Mastercard; Marc Hraud, Fuji; Bruce Hudson, Anheuser-Busch; Director General and staff of Interpol; Andrew Jennings; UEFA President Lennart Johansson; Jota Jota; Tom Kemmere, Philips; Juca Kfouri; Jim Latham, General Motors; Dr Haddock Lobo; Peter McCormick; John McKnight; Ivan G. Pinheiro Machado, L & P M Editores, Brazil; Sergio A. C. Machado, Distribuidora Record de Servicos, Brazil; Faouzi Mahjoub; His Excellency Roy Chaderton Matos, Venezuelan Ambassador to the UK, and his Embassy staff; UEFA Vice President Dr Antonio Matarrese; Warren Mersereau, Adidas AG; Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pel; Jochen H. Pferdmenges; Judith Ravin; Simon Rooks and other staff at the BBC Sound Archives; Claude Ruibal, Coca-Cola; John Salthouse; Laura Sandys; Hiroyuki Sakamoto, JVC; Tim Schramm, Gilette; Karl Schiltz; Secretariat and staff at UEFA; Margaret Shanks; Andrew Sheldon; Vyv Simson; Giulite Soutinho; Roberto Pereira de Souza; staff of Dentsu; staff of the House of Commons Library; staff of ISL; staff of the Olympic Village, Rio; staff of the Press Association Archives; State Prosecutors for Rio, Brazil, Dr Maria Emilia Arauto and Professor Rogerio Mascarenhas and their colleagues; John Sugden; Rogan Taylor; Guido Tognoni; Professor Alan Tomlinson; Brian Tora; Fernanda Verissimo; Derek Wyatt, MP.

Prologue to the 2011 Edition

T he book in your hands has not been altered or amended over the past decade. This is the same version that the President of FIFA tried to have banned the same version that exposed the bribes, the cheating and the corruption. An updated epilogue that covers the bribes, the cheating and the corruption over the past year has been added.

David A. Yallop

London

September 2011

Prologue

D uring the first week of December 1997 the court of the Sun King came to Marseilles.

The court acolytes, the secretaries, assistants, press attachs, security officers, scurried everywhere. There was always among members of the court an underlying anxiety when Le Grand Monarque was near, particularly when he was giving a public audience. On this occasion the worlds media who had gathered were even more deferential than usual. None of them wanted to risk being denied access to the tournament the Sun King had planned for the following summer.

He saw himself as the most powerful man in the world. He was in charge of the worlds greatest religion and the coming summers ceremonies would be watched on television by a cumulative audience of forty billion people. More than six times the population of the world.

An aide hurried forward and muttered in the ear of His Majesty. The aide had to reach on tiptoe to reach the royal ear. In his eighty-second year, the Sun King still stood six feet tall. The athletic muscle tone of his youth had softened slightly but though his weight was now some ten kilos more than in his prime, he remained an imposing figure. His face, which usually resembled a well-kept grave, hovered on a smile, then reverted to a baleful stare, but it was still obvious that he was savouring the moment.

Do excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. I have to take a phone call from President Chirac.

Presidents. Kings and Queens. Heads of State. Prime Ministers. He has met every world leader. His Holiness the Pope has been granted a number of audiences. The Sun King has a very clear view of his place in the world order.

Do you consider yourself the most powerful man in the world?

Most men asked such a question would demur. Would dismiss it with a laugh. Dr Joo Havelange, President of Fdration Internationale de Football Association FIFA did not demur and he certainly did not laugh.

Ive been to Russia twice, invited by President Yeltsin. Ive been to Poland with their President. In the 1990 World Cup in Italy I saw Pope John Paul II three times. When I go to Saudi Arabia, King Fahd welcomes me in splendid fashion. In Belgium I had a one-and-a-half-hour meeting with King Albert. Do you think a Head of State will spare that much time to just anyone? Thats respect. Thats the strength of FIFA. I can talk to any President, but theyll be talking to a President too on an equal basis. Theyve got their power, and Ive got mine: the power of football, which is the greatest power there is.