Sven-Goran Eriksson has described being asked to fix the 2010 FIFA World Cup draw while on a business trip to North Korea.
At the time, Eriksson was managing Notts County, where he was recruited by convicted conman Russell King.
The former England manager was then asked by King to accompany him on a trip to Pyongyang to discuss mining North Korea’s mineral reserves.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sport’s Strangest Crimes podcast, Eriksson said: “They (North Korean representatives) knew I was a member of the 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. That was, I guess, the main reason why I was invited and why it was so important that I went there.”
At the tournament, North Korea finished winless in a group including Brazil, Portugal, and Ivory Coast.
(Photo: Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
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Jacob Whitehead covers Newcastle United for The Athletic, and previously worked on the news desk. Prior to joining, he wrote for Rugby World Magazine and was named David Welch Student Sportswriter of the Year at the SJA Awards. Follow Jacob on Twitter @jwhitey98