FIFA president Sepp Blatter has rejected calls to publish a secret report into alleged World Cup bidding corruption.
The report into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups was compiled by FIFA’s independent investigator Michael Garcia but Blatter and FIFA’s legal chief say any decision on publishing the report is out of their hands and would threaten the confidentiality that had been guaranteed to the 75 witnesses.
Garcia himself and a number of FIFA executive committee members including Northern Ireland’s Jim Boyce have called for the report to be published.
Russia won the bid for the 2018 World Cup while Qatar will stage the 2022 tournament.
Any decision to publish now rests with German judge, Hans-Joachim Eckert, who is considering the report and will announce his findings in November.
Blatter said: “We are bound by the regulations which have been accepted and the report of the investigatory chamber first has to go to the adjudicatory chamber and we know now at the beginning of November [the chairman] will be ready to give his report.”
FIFA’s legal director Marco Villiger added: “The principle of confidentiality is enshrined in the [ethics] code and if not perhaps certain witnesses or whistleblowers might not co-operate to the same extent if confidentiality is not guaranteed.”