Pandev Backs Mourinho Over “Fixed” Award

Former Inter and current Napoli striker Goran Pandev has backed Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho’s claims that the FIFA Coach of the Year award was fixed.

Pandev claims his vote was changed to Vincente Del Bosque, rather than his former boss Mourinho.

“I voted for Mourinho as best Coach of the year and I am convinced that strange things happened when the votes were counted,” Pandev told La Sexta.

“According to the FIFA list I voted for Vicente Del Bosque, but I voted for Mourinho. I even called him and said I’d vote for him. Unfortunately, odd things happen at FIFA.”

Spain manager Del Bosque won the 2012 Coach of the Year award over the Portuguese coach, and Mourinho recently spoke about the situation to Portugal’s RTP TV station.

“One, two or three people called me to tell me they had voted for me, but another person’s name had appeared in their votes. I am accusing FIFA of irregularities in the choice of the best coach in the world,” Mourinho said.

“There was a lack of transparency. FIFA knows about these irregularities, it knows they existed, and it did not avoid them.”

In the aftermath of these accusations, FIFA released a statement saying: ”FIFA confirms that the list of votes published on FIFA.com is accurate.”

Del Bosque defeated Mourinho in the race for Coach of the Year with 34.51% of the votes. The Real Madrid coach received 20.49% of the votes and former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola received 12.91%.

Twitter: @CalcioFarmer. Drew Farmer is the Forza Italian Football Genoa correspondent.