BBC Newsnight reported that the Uefa investigator became suspicious during qualifying rounds of the World Cup. It was alleged that certain Nigerian players came forward and said their team was "vulnerable to manipulation".

On the morning of Nigeria's first match, he alerted Fifa's new Early Warning System, set up to look for signs of match-rigging, of his concerns.

The BBC reported that German journalist Christian Bergmann also had a call just before the first Nigerian game from a Uefa contact, who said there were suggestions that "some players from the Nigerian team are actually involved in some form of manipulation".

After the Newsnight allegations were aired, Fifa responded: "What we can say is that at least until today no information provided by the informants to Fifa in relation to any potential match-fixing activities during the 2010 World Cup have proved to have any substance.