Eriksson: North Korea asked me to fix 2010 World Cup draw

At the time, the former England manager was in charge of Notts County.

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He was asked to accompany ex-County owner and convicted conman Russell King – who recruited the Swede – on a business trip to Pyongyang to discuss mining North Korea’s mineral reserves.

“They (North Korean representatives) knew I was a member of the FIFA Football Committee,” Eriksson said on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sport’s Strangest Crimes podcast.

“They said: ‘Can you please help us?.’ ‘Of course, I can help you, if I can’, I said. I thought they wanted balls or shoes or something like that.

“They said: ‘We want to have a simple draw.’ They wanted to have help with the draw. Of course, I said: ‘Do you really mean what I (think)? I can’t do that. Nobody can do that. That’s absolutely impossible and it’s criminal, even to try.’

“But they never believed me. The amazing thing is that it looked like they don’t believe that I can’t do it — they believed that I just didn’t want to do it. Very strange. That was, I guess, the main reason why I was invited and why it was so important that I went there.”

North Korea were drawn in a group with Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast and failed to win a single game.

Elsewhere, Arsenal have taken the ‘first steps towards’ signing Lautaro Martinez from Inter Milan, who are willing to let him go for the ‘right offer’.

Inter are looking to strengthen in the summer, with Bremer, Davide Frattesi and Gianluca Scamacca all on their wishlist.

And Il Giorno (via Sport Witness) claim that the Nerazzurri would be willing to let Martinez leave for the ‘right offer’, with further reports claiming the Serie A side want £75m for him.

The report states that Arsenal have taken ‘the first steps’ towards signing Martinez, but face competition from Barcelona and other Premier League sides.