LEAD: Blatter dismisses Warner's tsunami threat

Jan 23, 2012, 12:42 GMT

Berlin - FIFA President Joseph Blatter has dismissed threats from former top official Jack Warner to launch a tsunami of allegations against the governing football body and reiterated he didn't receive kickbacks from a now bankrupt rights holder company.

Blatter said in an interview with Monday's edition of German sports magazine Kicker that Warner was not telling the truth when he said he received World Cup television rights for a symbolic fee in exchange for helping Blatter win the top job.

'There will be no tsunami. Former vice-president Jack warner claims I gave him the rights for Trinidad for one dollar after my first election in 1998. That is not true. We had no influence in the rights distribution,' Blatter said.

Warner resigned from all football functions last year after facing expulsion from FIFA for involvement in an alleged bribery attempt by presidential candidate Mohammed bin Hammam.

Bin Hammam withdrew ahead of the FIFA election in June, in which Blatter won another term until 2015, and was kicked out of FIFA.

Bin Hammam and Warner have protested their innocence, with Bin Hammam taking his case before the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Warner threatening a tsunami of allegations against FIFA.

FIFA has been bogged down by corruption allegations and Blatter has put himself atop a reform effort he wants to complete by the 2013 Congress.

Top officials are said to have received payments from former rights holder company ISL, with Blatter reiterating in the interview he planned to publish the relevant court documents by the January once a Swiss court has ruled on an appeal from a party involved in the case.

Blatter also told Kicker that 'I was not a recipient of payments, that was confirmed by the court.'

Looking at German issues, Blatter reiterated that the German Football Federation (DFB) must have professional referees if it wants to have match officials at the World Cup.

'A German referee can officiate whereever he wants to. But if he wants to go to the 2014 World Cup he must be a professional,' Blatter said. 'The DFB must set up structures that the referee is contracted as employee of the federation.'

Blatter said that players and coaches were also professionals and that players would respect referees more if they were pros as well.

The FIFA president also alleged that remarks from Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness around the 2010 World Cup in South Africa cost Munich the 2018 Winter Olympics, with South Korea's Pyeongchang elected host instead in July by the International Olympic Committee.

'Uli Hoeness and company made hardly bearable derisive remarks ahead of the 2010 World Cup,' said Blatter.

'Issa Hayatou, president of the African football confederation, told Franz Beckenbauer ahead of the (IOC) vote in Durban: 'You can not count on an African vote for the Olympics in Munich. We have not forgotten how you tried to ruin the African World Cup.' That's what happened. You don't get Olympic Games without the 12 African votes.'