No Fifa action against Triesman after retreat from bribery claims

Fifa's ethics committee is to take no further action after Lord Triesman told the world governing body there is no substance to the idle talk that cost him his £250,000-a-year job as chairman of both the Football Association and the England 2018 World Cup bid this month. The committee, chaired by the former Switzerland international and lawyer Claudio Sulser, received statements from Triesman and the FA. Fifa described Triesman's remarks, made to Melissa Jacobs – a friend who was secretly taping the conversation for a newspaper – as: "Allegations whereby Spain could drop its 2018 World Cup bid if rival bidder Russia helped bribe referees at this summer's World Cup." However, in a statement to the committee, Triesman, who has made clear he will make no comment on the circumstances surrounding his departure from Wembley, rowed back from what he had said in private. He said he was merely referring to "speculation circulating among journalists in Europe about conspiracies around the world". Triesman told Fifa he was not making specific allegations but merely repeating to Jacobs what he had been told when it was "reported to him in a private capacity". He added it was not his private view and that he had not shared the information with the FA or England 2018, a claim corroborated by the FA in its separate correspondence with Fifa. Fifa confirmed that the FA and England 2018 had conveyed their apologies to Spain and Russia. The world governing body said that during Sulser's 11-day investigation of the allegations dialogue took place with both the Russian and Spanish football federations and "information received from various sources" was examined. "Following this thorough investigation Fifa has found no indication that there is any basis to the allegations reported by Lord Triesman," Fifa said. The ethics committee will maintain a stance that Fifa describes as "vigilant" throughout the bidding process ahead of the December vote to award the 2018 World Cup.