Temarii owns up error

Temarii said he met FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Sunday to ask him to launch an ethics investigation, after the London Sunday Times filmed him saying he wanted NZ $3 million ($ 2.3 million) to fund a football academy in Auckland.

FIFA’s independent ethics panel is scheduled to discuss his case on Wednesday, the Oceania Football Confederation president said. “I’m confident about my integrity but I made a mistake by talking in that way,” Temarii said in an interview at a Zurich hotel. “I asked the FIFA president to investigate. I gave him a letter. It’s important for me that the ethics committee investigates how I manage my relations with bidders.”

Blatter has promised an “in-depth investigation” into allegations that Temarii, from Tahiti, and Nigerian FIFA executive member Amos Adamu offered to sell their votes in a poll scheduled for December 2 to decide which countries will host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022.

In an open letter to his colleagues on FIFA’s 24-man executive panel which will choose the hosts, Blatter said the Sunday Times’ allegation is a “very unpleasant situation” for football’s governing body.

“The information in the article has created a very negative impact on FIFA and on the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups,” Blatter said.