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FIFA corruption probe clears Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup

Qatar has been cleared to host the 2022 World Cup after a FIFA investigation. Despite finding evi...
Newstalk
Newstalk

11.06 13 Nov 2014


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FIFA corruption probe clears Q...

FIFA corruption probe clears Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup

Newstalk
Newstalk

11.06 13 Nov 2014


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Qatar has been cleared to host the 2022 World Cup after a FIFA investigation.

Despite finding evidence of "potentially problematic conduct" by some individuals, a report has said the bidding process for the tournament was not compromised.

However, the investigation did implicate England over its bid for the 2018 tournament.

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England 2018 has been judged to have breached the rules in its attempts to woo disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner.

This included securing a job in the UK for a family friend, the report finds.

The 42-page report has been compiled by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's independent ethics committee, following a two-year inquiry by US attorney Michael Garcia.

The report effectively confirms Qatar and Russia as 2022 and 2018 hosts respectively, stating any rule breaches by the bidding countries were "of very limited scope".

However, England 2018's targeting of the block of FIFA executive votes apparently controlled by Warner, did break the rules.

The Trinidad official started "showering the bid team with inappropriate requests" and these were often accommodated, the report finds.

As well as the request for a job, the report states England 2018 also picked up the bill for a stg£35,000 (€44,260) gala dinner for Caribbean officials, provided "substantial assistance" for a training camp for an under-20 Trinidad and Tobago team in 2009, while Warner also asked for favours for his Trinidad football club "Joe Public FC".

The report found: "England’s response to Mr Warner’s - improper - demands, in at a minimum always seeking to satisfy them in some way, damaged the integrity of the ongoing bidding process.

"Yet, such damage was again of rather limited extent."

Qatar cleared of involvement in payments

The report also clears Qatar of involvement in any payments by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari former FIFA executive committee member who was banned for life by FIFA.

It says Mr Bin Hammam was "distant" from the bid committee and that payments and sweeteners made to Warner and some African officials were more connected with his challenge to Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2011.

Following the publication of the report, former England striker and Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker tweeted: "The FA being slammed for its ethics by FIFA is like being chastised by @GordonRamsay for bad language after uttering the word 'bloody'."

A Football Association (FA) spokesman said: "We were not given any prior notice of the report before publication. We do not accept any criticism regarding the integrity of England's bid or any of the individuals involved."

"We conducted a transparent bid and, as the report demonstrates with its reference to the England bid team's 'full and valuable co-operation', willingly complied with the investigation. We maintain that transparency and co-operation around this entire process from all involved is crucial to its credibility."

"We also note that after a lengthy investigatory process and assessment, the report has concluded that the 'potentially problematic facts and circumstances identified by the report regarding the England 2018 bid were, all in all, not suited to compromise the integrity of the FIFA World Cup 2018/22 bidding process as a whole'."


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