Oceania Cup Voter to Resign

Charles Dempsey, the New Zealander who will forever be remembered in soccer history as the man who cost South Africa the chance to host the 2006 World Cup, will resign in September.

Dempsey, 78, said today he would step down as president of the Oceania Football Confederation and give up his place on FIFA’s executive committee in the wake of the furor he precipitated.

The decision was made after a meeting of the OFC board in Auckland, New Zealand.

“Behind closed doors the executive met and discussed--I wasn’t present--and gave approval to the explanations that I gave for what took place in Zurich,” Dempsey said.

“But after all this consideration and the [media] harassment, I will retire at the end of September because I cannot accept what has taken place over the last three days.”

On Thursday, when FIFA’s 24-member executive committee was choosing between England, Germany, Morocco and South Africa as host nation for the 2006 World Cup, Dempsey voted for England on the first two ballots.

Once England and Morocco were eliminated, he ignored instructions from the OFC to vote for South Africa and instead abstained. As a result, Germany was awarded the quadrennial tournament on a 12-11 vote.

Had Dempsey voted for South Africa, FIFA President Sepp Blatter would have cast the tiebreaking vote, likely in South Africa’s favor because he supported the World Cup being awarded to an African nation for the first time.

At the time, Dempsey said he had been under “intolerable pressure,” including “the attempt to bribe me,” and said he would not vote again after England was eliminated.