Ex-England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson sensationally claims North Korean officials asked him to FIX 2010 World Cup draw
FORMER England manager Sven Goran Eriksson has claimed North Korean representatives tried to get him to fix the 2010 World Cup draw.
The Swede, who managed England at the 2002 and 2006 tournaments, was a member of the FIFA Football Committee ahead of the 2010 edition.
And in a recent podcast about sporting conman Russell King - called Sport's Strangest Crimes: The Trillion Dollar Conman - Eriksson made the startling allegation that he was approached about fixing the draw during a visit to North Korea.
He said: “They (North Korean representatives) knew I was a member of FIFA Football Committee.
"They said, ‘Can you please help us?’. ‘Of course I can help you, if I can’, I said. I thought they wanted balls or shoes or something like that.
“They said, ‘We want to have a simple draw’. They wanted to have help with the draw.
"Of course, I said, ‘Do you really mean what I [think]? I can’t do that. Nobody can do that. That’s absolutely impossible and it’s criminal, even to try.’
“But they never believed me. The amazing thing is that it looked like they don’t believe that I can’t do it – they believed that I just didn’t want to do it. Very strange."
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Ironically, North Korea ended up being drawn in an incredibly difficult group.
They were pitted against five-time world champions Brazil, a Portugal side featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, and an Ivory Coast team led by Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure.
It did not go well for North Korea as they lost all three games and finished bottom of Group G.
They put up a good fight against Brazil in their tournament opener but lost 2-1.
They were then on the end of a 7-0 thumping by Portugal, before finishing with a 3-0 loss against Ivory Coast.
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