The decision to clear Qatar and Russia to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has been thrown into chaos after FIFA’s chief ethics investigator Michael Garcia announced he will appeal against the ruling on his investigation into bidding for the tournaments.
German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s independent ethics committee, effectively confirmed Qatar and Russia as 2022 and 2018 hosts respectively, stating any rule breaches by the bidding countries were “of very limited scope” and would not require the bidding process to be reopened.
Garcia has now issued a statement saying: “Today’s decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber’s report. I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee.”
It is understood Garcia made criticisms in his report about the culture and practices of many of the 24-man FIFA executive committee who chose the World Cup hosts which have not been included in Eckert’s report.
Eckert’s 42-page report does contain embarrassing details of England 2018’s attempts to woo disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner which “violated bidding rules” and included securing a job in the UK for a family friend of the controversial football figure. The criticism has been rejected by former England 2018 chief operating officer Simon Johnson as a “politically-motivated whitewash”.
If FIFA’s own investigator does not accept the #FIFA Report, why should anybody else? A politically motivated whitewash.
— Simon Johnson (@sjrbsimon) November 13, 2014
Johnson said the England bid had complied with the rules and questioned why the ethics committee had exonerated Qatar. Johnson told Press Association Sport: “It is a politically-motivated whitewash and I am not sure how we can have confidence in the outcome of this report.
“The headlines today end up being about the England bid when it should be about how it has exonerated Qatar, which has overseen the deaths of hundreds of migrant workers and which has been described by the US government as funding terrorist organisations.
“In relation to England’s bid, I was satisfied at all times that we complied with the rules of the ethics code. We also gave full and transparent disclosure to the investigation which many others did not do.”
An FA spokesman said: “We do not accept any criticism regarding the integrity of England’s bid or any of the individuals involved.”
Eckert has previously ruled out publishing the Garcia report in full. He says in his findings any rule breaches by the bidding countries were “of very limited scope”, adding: “In particular, the effects of these occurrences on the bidding process as a whole were far from reaching any threshold that would require returning to the bidding process, let alone reopening it.”
England 2018’s targeting of the block of FIFA executive votes apparently controlled by Warner led to the Trinidad official, a powerful force within FIFA, “showering the bid team with inappropriate requests” and these were often accommodated.
The report states: “Relevant occurrences included Mr Warner pressing, in 2009 and again in 2010, England’s bid team to help a person of interest to him find a part-time job in the UK.
“England 2018’s top officials in response not only provided the individual concerned with employment opportunities, but also kept Mr Warner apprised of their efforts as they solicited his support for the bid.”
The report states England 2018 also picked up the bill for a £35,000 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 says: “The bid team often accommodated Mr Warner’s wishes, in apparent violation of bidding rules and the FIFA code of ethics.
“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.”
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.
FIFA is a laughing stock. Sepp Blatter is the leader of this shambles. But mark my words, he’ll be elected for another term. Nonsensical.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) November 13, 2014
It says Bin Hammam was “distant” from the bid committee and that payments and sweeteners made to Warner and some African officials were more connected with Bin Hammam’s challenge to Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2011.
Russia and Australia also came in for some criticism in the report. The Russians failed to provide copies of all their emails from the bid organisation on the basis that their computer equipment has since been scrapped.
Australia also made efforts to woo Warner and Oceania chief Reynald Temarii, including providing money for development projects.
In relation to Warner, the report states it “identified certain payments from the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) to CONCACAF which… appear to have been co-mingled, at least in part, with personal funds of the then CONCACAF president (Warner) who at the time also was a FIFA executive committee member.”
The report fails to mention anything however about Spain / Portugal’s bid for 2018, which could lead to disciplinary action.
It says: “With regard to one specific bid team however, the report noted that the relevant federation was particularly un-cooperative in responding to the investigatory chamber’s requests.”
