Michel, Baron D'Hooghe (born 8 December 1945 in Bruges) is a Belgian former member of the FIFA Council[1] and the former Chairman of the FIFA medical committee.[2] D'Hooghe, a medical doctor, was President of the Royal Belgian Football Association (1987-2001) and President of Club Brugge KV (2003-2009). In 2001, he was ennobled as a baron.[3]
In August 2011 he admitted that Vyacheslav Koloskov, an adviser for Russia's successful bid for the 2018 World Cup, visited him in his hometown of Bruges and gave him a valuable painting while lobbying for his vote.[1] He has since described the painting as a "poisonous gift" and has notified FIFA officially about it, since its acceptance is in contravention to the FIFA rules that govern lobbying.[1] He stated that he was "never influenced" after his son received a job at a hospital in Doha, Qatar, 8 weeks after Qatar won the bid for the 2022 World Cup.[4][5]
References edit
- ^ a b c "Russian World Cup lobbyist gave painting to FIFA chief", Sunday Times, 14 August 2011, page 7
- ^ "FIFA Committees - Medical Committee". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
- ^ "FIFA Committees". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
- ^ "Michel D'Hooghe se défend sur l'attribution de la Coupe du monde au Qatar : 'Non, je n'ai jamais été influencé'". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 2022-11-16.
- ^ "Fifa chief's son got Qatar hospital job after country won World Cup vote". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-16.
External links edit
Media related to Michel D'Hooghe at Wikimedia Commons
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