FIFA clears the air on alleged rigging of Best FIFA Football Awards

The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has expressed its disappointment over media reports questioning the integrity of the voting process for “The Best FIFA Football Awards”.

A statement from FIFA said “the reports are unfair and misleading”.

It stated that the voting procedure for each of the awards was supervised and monitored by an independent observer – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland.

“FIFA and PwC follow the Rules of Allocation and relevant standard control procedures. As per these procedures, FIFA requested all member associations to submit their voting forms both electronically and in writing.

“The written documents must also be signed by the responsible persons of the association as well as by the persons authorised to vote. Therefore in order for a vote to be valid, it must include the respective signatures and the member association’s stamp,” It added.

It said both FIFA and the independent observer can demonstrate that all the votes submitted in accordance with the rules and within the deadlines were taken into account.