LUSAKA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The head of Zambia's soccer governing body has denied reports in the international media which have included him in a five million U.S. dollars scandal meant to prop up Qatar's chances of winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.
The Sunday Times of the United Kingdom alleges that Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Kalusha Bwalya received a total of 80,000 dollars from Mohamed Bin Hamman, a former executive member of world soccer governing body, FIFA.
But the 1988-African footballer of the year said it was ridiculous to name him in the scandal and described the allegations as stupid.
"It's stupid. I don't even vote for the World Cup," he was quoted as saying by the paper from Johannesburg, South Africa where he is based.
The Sunday Times alleges that a series of leaked emails suggest a Qatari football official paid five million dollars to raise the Arab country's chances of hosting the 2022 World Cup. The paper released more than 30 leaked emails out of 'hundreds of millions' of documents it says it obtained, some of which point to evidence of alleged 'slush funds' that apparently helped Qatar win its bid.
In one of the documents, the paper revealed that the Zambian soccer chief wrote to Bin Hamman after a meeting in 2009 asking for some money.
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