Agencies
Marrakesh, Morocco
FIFA’s executive committee has unanimously agreed to publish an “appropriate” version of a report into the bidding process for the 2018/2022 World Cups but said Russia and Qatar would still stage the tournaments.
The executive committee also decided that the long-running saga over the timing of the tournament in Qatar will be settled in March.
“The decision which has been taken on December 2, 2010, stands and there is no re-vote to take,” FIFA president Blatter told a news conference in Marrakesh.
“We will go on by sticking to our decisions, both tournaments are in our calendar, and we also need to determine when 2022 will take place,” he added, referring to the controversy over the timing of the tournament in Qatar.
“There must be huge upheaval, new elements come to the fore to change this, but the executive committee sees no need to change anything.”
Blatter added that the crisis FIFA has faced since the publication last month of a summary of former investigator Michael Garcia’s 18-month investigation was over.
“We have been in a crisis (but) with the decision of the executive committee today, the crisis has stopped.”
Soccer’s governing body had previously said it could not publish Garcia’s 430-page report for legal reasons.
However, FIFA’s ethics committee will now publish the report “in an appropriate form once ongoing procedures against individuals are concluded,” Blatter said in a statement issued shortly before the news conference.
Garcia has opened official investigations against a number of individuals, which Blatter confirmed yesterday, including three members of the current FIFA executive committee.
FIFA could not say how long the process would take but Blatter said the ethics committee should speed up.
“The executive committee is asking to the ethics committee to accelerate the movement, to take on more lawyers because we have needed two years to have a first report and we have to accelerate movement,” he said.
He also said the disciplinary committee would investigate how the names of the three members were leaked to the media.
Soccer’s governing body had been under pressure to publish a redacted version of Garcia’s report to help shed light on what happened during the turbulent process for the tournaments awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively.
“I am pleased they have agreed. It has been a long process to arrive at this point and I understand the views of those who have been critical,” Blatter said.
“We have always been determined that the truth should be known. That is, after all, why we set up an independent Ethics Committee with an investigatory chamber that has all necessary means to undertake investigations on its own initiative.
“At the same time we also need to remember that while the report is complete, the investigations flowing from it are not. We must ensure that we do not jeopardise those investigations and the proceedings against various individuals already initiated by the independent Ethics Committee.”
The decision followed a presentation by Domenico Scala, head of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee and one of only six people to have seen the report.
Garcia, who himself said that the report should be published, investigated allegations of corruption in the bidding process, during which he interviewed 75 witnesses.
In November, FIFA’s ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert issued a 42-page summary of Garcia’s report which identified cases of “inappropriate conduct” in a number of the bids but said there was not enough evidence to justify re-opening the process.
Juventus star backs Qatar
Juventus star Carlos Tevez is the latest high-profile footballer to be impressed with Doha’s facilities and expressed his support for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar. The Argentine striker, who arrived in Doha yesterday for Serie A winners Juventus’ Italian Super Cup clash against Napoli to be held at the Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Stadium (Al Sadd Stadium) on Monday, said Qatar is the worthy host for the 2022 World Cup. “Qatar getting to host the World Cup is a wonderful thing. It is a beautiful country and deserves that the world find out more about it and seeing it in a different way altogether,” said Tevez at the press conference held yesterday.
