Former Southampton skipper Claus Lundekvam is ready to talk to FIFA as they investigate his claims that he, team-mates and opposing captains were involved in betting fraud.
In an interview in a Norwegian newspaper earlier this week, Lundekvam said the players manipulated incidents such as the first throw-in for betting purposes.
The world governing body announced yesterday they will in-vestigate the claims.
Lundekvam said: “Of course, I will talk to FIFA – I have no problem with that. Unfortunately, I’ve been honest about it, so I need to.”
He added: “I will have to mention some names. But, to be honest, I wouldn’t say any more than I have said already if I don’t have to. I would not want to name anyone else. That’s not for me to do but I will stand up for what I have said.”
Lundekvam reiterated his claims after a number of his former team-mates denied knowing anything about it.
“I haven’t made anything up,” he said.
“Why would I? I’ve got nothing to gain from making this up. I can’t believe what has happened in the last few days. I’m sorry that my honesty has caused such a row.”
He also played down the seriousness of the alleged spot-fixing, saying it was done more for fun than money.
He said: “It was never about the money. If we had wanted to, we would have put a lot more money on. Could we do it? That was the fun bit of it for us.”
He added: “This was a boys’ thing. A dressing-room thing. Innocent fun involving small money.”
Lundekvam’s initial claims came earlier this week, when he said spot-fixing took place in Premier League matches in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He told Norwegian TV station NRK: “It’s not something I’m proud of.
“For a while we did this almost every week. We made a fair bit of money. We could make deals with the opposing captain about, for example, betting on the first throw, the first corner, who started with the ball, a yellow card or a penalty.
“Those were the sorts of thing we had influence over.”
Lundekvam insisted he and his fellow players never rigged the result of a match.
He said: “The results were never on the agenda. That is something I would never have done.”