Former referee accused UEFA of fixing Champions League draw with vibration theory

The bombshell claim was made by Euro 96 referee turned TV pundit Ahmet Cakar following the quarter-final draws for the Champions League and Europa League in 2013

UEFA were once accused of rigging the Champions League draw by using a bizarre vibration technique.

The incendiary claim was made by top referee turned TV pundit Ahmet Cakar following the draw for the quarter-finals in 2013. The Turk also reckoned the Europa League draw was manipulated in similar fashion.

Cakar claimed then UEFA General Secretary, Gianni Infantino, now the top man FIFA, was in on the alleged deception, pointing out the Italian’s supposed ‘suspicious hand movements’.

Cakar even went as far as performing a demonstration of how the draw could be rigged live on Turkish TV. Keeping his eyes closed throughout the demo, he actually created a draw identical to those made for both competitions.

“UEFA manipulated the draw for both the Champions League and Europa League,” said Cakar, who claimed the draw-makers were made to carry metal objects that sensed vibrations in the balls being selected.

Former Real Madrid and Liverpool winger Steve McManaman and ex-Barcelona and Ajax striker Patrick Kluivert were on draw duty on that occasion.

A former referee alleged the draw for the Champions League quarter-finals in 2013 was rigged (Image: Getty)

Cakar, who refereed at Euro 96, alleged UEFA wanted to keep Europe’s big guns apart, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich indeed missing each other in the last eight. Not a single English team reached the quarters on that occasion.

Meanwhile, in the Europa League, the three English teams – Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham – were also kept apart. Clubs from the same country, who can be drawn together from the quarter-finals onwards, missed each other across both tournaments.

The whacky claim was made by referee turned TV pundit Ahmet Cakar

Cakar’s theory was perhaps skewed by the general sense of injustice in Turkey at the time after Galatasaray, a supposed ‘weaker side’, were paired with Real Madrid.

Bayern went on the win the Champions League that season, beating fellow Germans Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley. Chelsea won the Europa League final after overcoming Benfica in Amsterdam.