Ronaldo denies getting call to head WCup committee

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Ronaldo denies getting call to head WCup committee

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Retired Brazil striker Ronaldo said he hasn't received an invitation head World Cup committee.

28 November,2011 03:52 am

Retired Brazil striker Ronaldo said Sunday he hasnt received an invitation to replace Ricardo Teixeira as the head of the countrys 2014 World Cup organizing committee.Teixeira, president of the Brazilian football federation, has recently been making changes to how the sport is governed and a Brazilian newspaper said he would leave the presidency of the organizing committee to make way for Ronaldo.I dont know anything about that, there hasnt been anything, Ronaldo said as he arrived to watch the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix. Im surprised by all this speculation.Teixeira on Friday named Corinthians President Andres Sanchez as the No. 2 man in Brazilian football, giving up the responsibility for the countrys national teams in all age categories.Teixeira told the O Globo newspaper, the daily that reported Ronaldo was invited to head the organizing committee, that it had been too much work for him to handle all the national teams.Teixeira is seen as a possible successor to FIFA President Sepp Blatter and the recent changes are widely seen as a move to open the way for his candidacy.But the changes also could be a way to remove Teixeira from the spotlight as he continues to be investigated for irregularities in Brazil and abroad.Teixeira is allegedly one of the members of FIFAs executive committee linked to an investigation of kickbacks at ISL, the marketing agency that owned World Cup television rights until its 2001 bankruptcy with debts of around $300 million.British broadcaster BBC has named the officials as Teixeira and his former father-in-law Joao Havelange, the longtime FIFA president who Blatter succeeded in 1998. The Brazilians have denied any wrongdoing.Blatter recently said he expected at least one FIFA member to leave his post when the governing body publishes Swiss court papers identifying the senior officials who allegedly took payments from the marketing partner in the 1990s.