Valdano: Fifa must act in Mourinho row

Mar 22, 2013 10:35:00 AM

The former Real Madrid sporting director believes that Vicente del Bosque won the Coach of the Year award fair and square

Former Real Madrid director Jorge Valdano has urged Fifa to prove that the voting for the Coach of the Year award was not rigged after Jose Mourinho's claims earlier this week.

The Blancos coach suggested that the election was fixed as a number of votes that should have gone to the Portuguese were wrongly attributed to eventual winner Vicente del Bosque.

Fifa was quick to deny any wrongdoing shortly the allegations, but this has not ended speculation that the voting was indeed rigged, and Valdano feels the body must act to make it clear for once and for all that there was no foul play.

"Mourinho's declarations mean that Fifa has to do something. They should prove that the voting process was clean," Valdano told El Larguero.

"Del Bosque won the election with a big margin. I do not believe that there were over 200 fraudulent votes ..."

The Spain coach branded Mourinho's claims "childish" on Thursday, and refused to further discuss the subject.

Meanwhile, Fifa has released a statement denying that Goran Pandev, captain of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, voted for Mourinho, not Del Bosque, despite the player's claims.

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