[ISN] England 2018 chiefs hired undercover agents to spy on bid rivals

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/05/10/england-2018-chiefs-hired-undercover-agents-to-spy-on-bid-rivals-115875-23119513/

By Martin Fricker
Daily Mirror 
05/10/2011 

ENGLAND football chiefs hired a team of spies to snoop on rival bidders 
for the 2018 World Cup, it was claimed yesterday.

Undercover agents were paid by the FA to infiltrate Zurich hotels where 
Fifa committee members were staying last December and report what they 
learned.

One FA spy even mingled with guests -- including Prince William, PM 
David Cameron and David Beckham, who were drafted in at the last minute 
to lobby for the bid -- in the city’s Baur au Lac hotel.

FA chiefs hired the spooks in a last-ditch bid to win the right to host 
the tournament, but the plan backfired and England’s £15million bid 
secured just two votes -- one from FA board member Geoff Thompson.

The claims, from two unnamed officials close to the bidding process, 
will embarrass the FA and Mr Cameron, who has been critical of the 
“murky” bidding process. He said: “I definitely had Fifa executives who 
looked me in the eye and shook my hand and said ‘don’t worry we’re with 
you’.”

The FA refused to comment ­officially yesterday, but a 2018 official 
admitted to the Mirror: “Yes, we had a private security team.

[...]


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