Add another item to the list of times in the past FIFA has proven to be corrupt. Former UEFA president Michel Platini, banned from the sport over ethics violations, admited on French radio that the 1998 World Cup draw was fixed so that his country and host France would avoid reigning champs Brazil until the final. France and Brazil went on to play in the final, which France won 3-0, as Les Bleus won the cup for the first time.
Coupe du Monde 98 : la "petite magouille" de Platini pour que France et Brésil s'évitent jusqu'à la finale > https://t.co/UksyybrYSn pic.twitter.com/9wbjnv4pEl
— France Bleu Sport (@francebleusport) May 18, 2018
"We did not get bored for six years to organize the World Cup to not do some little shenanigans," Platini said to France Bleu radio. "You think that the other hosts did not do it for their World Cups? France and Brazil in the final, it was the dream of everyone."
Platini said it was organized so that if France and Brazil finished first in their groups, as expected, they wouldn't be on the same side of the bracket in the Round of 16.
Platini led the organizing committee for the '98 cup, and then almost 20 years later was banned from the sport after accepting payments from disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
To hear this, well it isn't the most shocking thing ever.
When it comes to FIFA, especially in the Blatter era or right before when Joao Havelange ran the place, there was always the expectation that something fishy was going on -- we just never got this sort of outright admission about it. It's just another really big and bad example of what FIFA was doing in the past to their benefit and to that of the host countries.
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