Sepp Blatter Says He Saw Fixed Draw for European Football Competition

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said he has personally seen a draw in an unspecified European football competition being fixed, with balls containing team names being heated or cooled to indicate which will be picked out. 

According to Argentinian newspaper La Nacion (h/t the Guardian), the 80-year-old defended the draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but he said one club has benefited from draw-fixing under the watch of UEFA, the governing body for European football:

"

The draw was clean down to the last detail. I never touched the balls, something that others did.

Of course it’s possible that they can be signalled, by heating or cooling them. It doesn’t happen in FIFA, but I’ve witnessed draws at European level where it has happened, but never in FIFA.

Of course it can be done, but it never happened under my watch, never.

"

He added: "Balls are put in the freezer before the draw, at the slightest touch you can tell if the balls are hot or cold. By touching them you know exactly what you have."

Football Focus presenter Dan Walker supplied more of Blatter's comments to La Nacion:

Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol provided UEFA's response to the allegation:

BT Sport's Jake Humphrey considered the implications of Blatter's comments but dismissed his credibility as a source:

Blatter is serving a six-year ban from the sport over a payment of £1.3 million he made to former UEFA president Michel Platini—a ruling he is in the process of appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Per the Guardian's Owen Gibson, the corruption allegations have also seen criminal proceedings opened up against him by Switzerland's attorney general. He denies any wrongdoing.