Sven Goran Eriksson asked to fix World Cup draw by North Korea - "it's criminal"

Ex-England boss Sven Goran Eriksson recently revealed that North Korean officials once approached him to try and fix the draw for the 2010 World Cup in their favour.

The former Three Lions manager was working at Notts County at the time having been hired by conman Russell King to operate as the Magpies' director of football. Asked to explain King's infamous stint at the club as part of a BBC Radio 5 Live Series, Eriksson recalled the trip to North Korea.

"They (North Korean representatives) knew I was a member of FIFA Football Committee," the 74-year-old 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."

Much to the dismay of the North Korean Football Association, the 'Chollima' were handed an incredibly difficult group to get out of in South Africa. Brazil, Portugal and the Ivory Coast were their three opponents 12 years ago.

A solid showing against the Selecao ended with a 2-1 defeat, but things deteriorated quickly and North Korea were thumped 7-0 by Portugal before bowing out in a feeble fashion via a 3-0 loss against the Ivory Coast.

Eriksson went on to admit he harboured some reluctance over making the trip: "One day they came to me and said, 'You have to please come to North Korea with us. It's important.' I said, 'No, I don't want to go to North Korea.'

"I knew a person working for the government in England. I asked that person, 'Should I go to North Korea?'. She said, 'Absolutely not, Sven, you should not go there.'

"Russell came back to me and said, 'Sven, you have to come. It's extremely important to the football club.' So I felt… should I really go? I didn't want to go, but it was important for the football club, they said."

Eriksson subsequently stepped down from his role at Notts County in February of 2010 after King's reign as owner ended with the takeover by former club chairman Ray Trew.

The former Manchester City boss even opted against taking a multi-million pound payoff to make the takeover process easier for Trew.