Still wonder how Michael Uchebo made the cut in 2014?

Well, I know this first hand.

My friend who played in Belgium at the time and was the league’s highest goal scorer, told me one of the officials asked him to pay $10,000. He saw his name on the World Cup list 1/4 https://twitter.com/omaakatugba/status/1258671586657304577

... few days before it was officially released. The official list was then made public and his name was conspicuously missing. He called the officials to find out what went wrong. He was simply told “No vex, someone in high authority paid for Uchebo.” 2/4

He was shocked. He was the highest goal scorer in the Belgian league, played for a bigger club while Uchebo only scored few goals and played for a team battling relegation. He showed me the “receipts” but my greatest mistake was not thinking as a journalist but as a friend. 3/4

I have now asked the player if he’s willing to speak out. He doesn’t want to. I can’t force him to. Here’s my chat with him. He gave me the permission to tell the story but wants his identity hidden.

The 2014 World Cup list was “bloody”. It was a case of now or never to make the cash for some of the “respectable” officials.

Correction: He was his club’s highest goal scorer.