Lord Triesman has been awarded “substantial damages” over a “completely untrue” libel in free weekly Sport Magazine, that claimed the former chairman of the FA had been involved in corruption.
The Labour peer brought proceedings in London’s High Court over an October which featured an article, Ups and Downs, in which publisher UTV Media (GB) made a “serious and defamatory” allegation, solicitor Melanie Hart told Mr Justice Tugendhat.
It said that on May 16 this year, Lord Triesman resigned “after a newspaper article suggested he was involved in corruption regarding England’s 2018 World Cup bid”.
Ms Hart said that the accuracy of the article, which also appeared on the magazine’s website, was not checked before publication.
“The true position is that Lord Triesman has never been accused of being involved in corruption and he did not resign his post as chairman of the Football Association for any such reason.”
She added that the publisher had withdrawn its defamatory statement, apologised and agreed to pay Lord Triesman substantial damages and his legal costs.
UTV’s solicitor, Philip Lawrence, acknowledged the statement was untrue and apologised for the distress and embarrassment caused to Lord Triesman and his family.
Lord Triesman stepped down from his FA job in June this year after the Mail on Sunday published a story based on the transcript of secret tapes in which he alleged that football officials in Spain and Russia were planning to bribe referees.