The Football Federation of Kyrgyzstan (FFKR) has described as “baseless” a British lawmaker's claim it may have accepted a bribe from former FIFA presidential candidate Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa.
"This was no more than a smear campaign designed to damage” Khalifa’s candidacy ahead of elections to the post of FIFA president, FFKR spokeswoman Natalya Ugrumova told AFP news agency on February 29.
British Conservative MP and FIFA reform campaigner Damian Collins told parliament last week that there were "strong grounds to suspect" Sheikh Salman had bribed Kyrgyzstan’s football federation ahead of a 2013 election for the Asian Football Confederation presidency that he won.
Sheikh Salman denied any wrongdoing.
Collins made the comments two days before the February 26 FIFA presidential election was won by the Swiss Gianni Infantino. Sheikh Salman finished second.