FIFA must act in Mourinho row, says Valdano

Former Real Madrid director Jorge Valdano has urged FIFA to prove the voting for the Coach of the Year award was not rigged.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho suggested the election was fixed as several votes which should have gone to the Portuguese were wrongly attributed to eventual winner Vicente del Bosque.

FIFA were quick to deny any wrongdoing, but it has not ended speculation that the voting was rigged.

Valdano feels the body must act to make it clear 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 have released a statement denying that Goran Pandev, former Macedonia captain, voted for Mourinho despite the player’s claims.