In March, he said: "I would find it brave and would welcome it if a football player would come out."

Last November, Mario Gomez, a striker and Lahm's team-mate, urged gay footballers to be open about their sexuality.

Gomez, the German league's top-scorer last season, said: "Being gay should no longer be a taboo topic."

Lahm, who has 77 international caps, has established a foundation for disadvantaged children; been an ambassador for FIFA's SOS Children's Villages campaign and for World Aids Day; campaigned against speeding; and been a figurehead for the battle against child abuse.

In 2007, he became the first German international to speak out against homophobia and, the following year, he was given an award for his outstanding contribution against intolerance by the Weimar Gay Triangle, a campaign group.

However, it appears that homophobia still haunts the game in Germany.

Last July, in the build-up to Germany's successful World Cup, the agent of the former captain, Michael Ballack, said the team contained a "bunch of gays".

Only a few months before, the former Schalke manager, Rudi Assauer, generated widespread criticism by saying that there was "no place" for gay players in football.

Lahm's comments came in an interview with the celebrity magazine Bunte in which he said: "An openly gay footballer would be exposed to abusive elements.

"For someone who does [come out], it would be very difficult."

In England, the Football Association has a Homophobia in Football working group but not a single player has openly said he is gay in the country's top four leagues.

No English footballer has come out since Justin Fashanu in 1990, who was offered no full-time contracts after coming out and later committed suicide.

In 2008, Paul Elliott, a retired Chelsea defender, estimated that there were more than 12 homosexual Premier League players but they could not be open for fear of a negative reaction from fans.

The issue is not confined to football. Last year, the macho world of Australian rules football was split by a homophobia row after a star said homosexual players should keep their sexuality secret.

There has, however, been progress in sport. England cricketer Steven Davies became the first openly gay player when he came out in The Daily Telegraph in February, while Gareth Thomas, the former Welsh rugby union international, announced he was gay in 2009.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)—The Malaysian football federation plans to set up a joint task force with police to combat match-fixing and bribery after being stung by playing two friendlies against a fake Zimbabwe national team two years ago.

Federation general secretary Azzuddin Ahmad said Thursday that the task force will set up committees in every state to monitor international and local matches and pursue illegal bookmakers in the wake of the July 2009 matches.

Malaysia won both friendlies against what turned out to be a Zimbabwean club side instead of the national team, with FIFA later revoking the status of the games.

Ahmad says a FIFA investigating team led by security chief Chris Eaton had "made it very clear that Malaysia was an innocent party" in the scandal.

"We are relieved that we have cleared our name but we are now more alert and are taking preventive measures," Azzuddin said.

Zimbabwe's football federation has fired its former chief executive, Henriatta Rushwaya, and is considering sanctions against players who have admitted also throwing matches on a tour of Thailand and Malaysia in December 2009.

Azzuddin said Eaton had given details to police for investigation of two Malaysians and a Singaporean residing in Malaysia who are believed to be involved in match-fixing.

FIFA is cracking down on organized crime leaders responsible for recent corruption in the sport. World football's governing body has announced a ?20 million ($29 million) project with Interpol to fight match-fixing over the next 10 years.

Interpol will host a FIFA anti-corruption center at its new base in Singapore to train players, referees and officials how to identify fixing attempts.

In making a call the other day for the NCAA to crack down on cheating in college football, former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr recalled having a conversation with the late NCAA president, Myles Brand, about the subject.

Carr said Brand told him he didn't have the authority to do a lot of things people wanted done.

"Well, the question is, who does?" Carr said.

No one, it seems, and that goes to the heart of what is wrong with college football today. Give the NCAA a lacrosse championship to put on and it does fine, but the organization is a sham at best when it comes to big-money sports, providing little more than a cover for the big schools and conferences to make even more money.

If there was any doubt about that, it was answered this week when the NCAA meekly obliged its Bowl Championship Series masters by licensing the Fiesta Bowl for postseason play despite revelations the bowl has served as a virtual ATM over the years for its former executive director and his many cronies. The NCAA slapped the Fiesta with one year's probation, during which time officials apparently can't spend any more bowl money on strippers or golf junkets.

Any further doubt was erased when the same organization that put the Fiesta on "probation" told the Justice Department that it had nothing to do with overseeing postseason play and that the lack of a playoff system for college football should be directed to those running the BCS.

You heard right. The organization put in place to control college athletics admitted it has no control of the showcase of the biggest sport in college athletics.

That shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone who follows college football. The NCAA has long since abdicated its role in overseeing the sport, allowing the power conferences and the marquee universities to come up with whatever schemes they can to maximize the millions of dollars that flow into their coffers.

And when those dollars are at risk—as they were at the Sugar Bowl—the NCAA is more than happy to bend its own rules so the BCS show can go on. Allowing Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor and his teammates to play when they were facing suspensions was the ultimate in hypocrisy for an organization that epitomizes hypocrisy.

The NCAA's claim that it has nothing to do with the bowl system came in a letter Wednesday from president Mark Emmert in response to a Justice Department query about possible antitrust violations in the BCS. Emmert said that since the NCAA doesn't control the BCS it would be inappropriate for him to comment on how teams are selected for the major bowls and the national title game.

In other words, "Don't look at us."

This comes just a week after Emmert talked about how he wanted to beef up the NCAA's enforcement staff and start hitting schools who violate its hybrid amateurism rules with tougher sanctions. The NCAA has basically relied on schools to turn themselves in for violations over the years, only to find out— as Carr rightfully pointed out—that some feel the need to come clean more than others.

Indeed, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel seemed more than happy to keep quiet about what he knew was going on with Pryor and others selling signed jerseys and whatever they could get their hands on to make a little spending money. It wasn't until things really went south that Tressel fessed up and offered to serve a five-game suspension next season along with his star players.

Even though the NCAA gives the appearance of trying to enforce rules, it doesn't even make an effort to corral the schools and conferences that have hijacked the football bowl system.

With good reason, perhaps. The big schools and conferences are formidable foes who will fight to the end to keep their cozy cartel delivering riches by the truckload every year, and Emmert likely knows he would probably be looking for work elsewhere if he tried taking them on.

The system works for the big schools and conferences, even if it is inherently unfair to everyone else. A little controversy is the price they pay for sweetheart television deals that fuel their massive athletic programs and make sure their football teams have the resources to stay dominant for years to come.

Let a player sell a jersey for pocket change, and the NCAA is all over the student. Let its schools run a cartel that makes millions while not allowing other schools in, and the NCAA says it can't do anything about it.

Maybe it's time for the NCAA to simply give up the facade. Either quit pretending it oversees college football or step up and actually do it.

Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/timdahlberg

WASHINGTON (AP)—NCAA President Mark Emmert told the Justice Department Wednesday that its questions about the lack of a playoff system for college football are best directed to another group—the Bowl Championship Series.

Other than licensing the postseason bowls, "the NCAA has no role to play in the BCS or the BCS system," Emmert wrote in a letter to the department's antitrust chief, Christine Varney. He added that short of member colleges and universities discontinuing the BCS and proposing an NCAA championship, "there is no directive for the (NCAA) to establish a playoff."

In a letter two weeks ago, Varney told Emmert that "serious questions continue to arise suggesting the current Bowl Championship Series system may not be conducted consistent with the competition principles expressed in the federal antitrust laws." Critics who have urged the department to investigate the BCS contend it unfairly gives some schools preferential access to the title game and lucrative, top-tier bowls at the end of the season.

"Your views would be relevant in helping us to determine the best course of action with regard to the BCS," Varney wrote.

Emmert's comments about the role of the NCAA were in response to Varney's questions about why a playoff system isn't used in football, unlike in other sports, and what steps the NCAA has taken to create one.

Varney also asked whether there are aspects of the BCS system that don't serve the interest of fans, schools and players, and to what extent an alternative could better serve those interests.

"These questions can best be answered by the BCS and the group of institutions that operate the BCS system," Emmert wrote.

He said that because the BCS system doesn't fall under the NCAA's purview, it was not appropriate for him to offer views on the system for crowning college football's championship.

Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona said that the department would continue to review all information related to the issue.

Bill Hancock, the executive director of the BCS, said he hadn't seen the NCAA's letter, but was confident that it was responsive to the Justice Department's questions.

"We're confident the BCS complies with the law and we know it has been very good for college football. We're always happy to answer any questions," he added. Hancock had previously said that it was a waste of taxpayers' money for the government to look into the BCS. "

Matthew Sanderson, co-founder of Playoff PAC, which wants the BCS replaced with a championship playoff system, said he wasn't surprised by the NCAA response.

"The NCAA has now confirmed no private solution to this problem exists. It will need to be solved through other means," Sanderson said, referring to a lawsuit.

The NCAA letter comes as a new IRS filing by the Sugar Bowl shows it paid its CEO just under $600,000 in 2009. Last year, Playoff PAC filed a complaint with the IRS against the Sugar, Fiesta and Orange Bowls, claiming they violated their tax-exempt status. It called Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan's compensation excessive. The three bowls along with the Rose Bowl rotate hosting the BCS national title game.

The attorney general of Utah, Mark Shurtleff, has said he plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against the BCS.

Before he was sworn in as president, Barack Obama said in 2008 that he was going to "to throw my weight around a little bit" to nudge college football toward a playoff system.