Football News : FIFA deny Hayatou in charge of 2012 Olympics

By ESPNsoccernet staff

FIFA has denied reports that controversial figure Issa Hayatou had been appointed as the head of the London 2012 football tournament, claiming the announcement was down to a "technical error".

GettyImagesIssa Hayatou sits with Jack Warner

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Hayatou was one of the executives who was alleged to have taken a bribe (in his case £10,000) in BBC programme Panorama's exposé of "FIFA's dirty secrets" last year.

Despite this, FIFA ran a news story on its website announcing Hayatou had replaced Korea's Chung Mong-joon as head of FIFA's Olympic committee, and also been appointed chairman of the GOAL Bureau (which distributes money for development projects).

This is despite the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigation into Hayatou is still ongoing.

FIFA has released a statement which read: "Due to a technical error, appointments for FIFA Standing Committees have appeared on the FIFA website. The appointments for the chairman and deputy chairman of the FIFA standing committees will be communicated in due course.

"Therefore, Issa Hayatou has not been appointed as chairman of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Football Tournaments."

The IOC, at t he time of the accusations against Hayatou, released a statement about the investigation claiming that: "The IOC has zero tolerance against corruption." A spokesman has confirmed that this inquiry continues: "The ethics commission is independent but my understanding is that the investigation is still continuing."

Hayatou has previously denied the allegations and insisted the money was a payment towards the Confederation of African Football's 40th-anniversary celebrations.