Blatter rules out reconsidering World Cup votes
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has ruled out revisiting the controversial vote that awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
Blatter said in a statement that “external legal experts” supported the view that “there are no legal grounds” to revoke the vote from 2010.
FIFA’s executive committee, meanwhile, agreed unanimously that an “appropriate” form of the report into World Cup bidding by Michael Garcia, the ethics investigator who resigned earlier this week, should be published but with names and other details removed.
Officials at a meeting in Morocco agreed to the proposal without a vote being taken – but nothing will be published until the ethics committee charges against three FIFA ExCo members – Angel Villar Llona of Spain, Belgium’s Michel D’Hooghe and Thailand’s Worawi Makudi – have been dealt with.
Blatter said at a news conference: “The famous Garcia report is no longer such a timely matter. At the current time, there is no reason to go back on our decisions. The decision of December 2010 stands.
“We need to ensure that we respect the rules of our organisation and that we do not breach confidentiality in a way that will prevent people from speaking out in the future.
“The two World Cups are in the calendar, the only thing missing is the precise dates for 2022, but these two World Cups will take place,” said Blatter. “It would really need an earthquake, extremely important new elements to go back on this World Cup in Qatar.”
American lawyer Garcia produced a 430-page report into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He quit on Wednesday as FIFA’s ethics investigator after losing his appeal challenging the findings to clear Russia and Qatar to host the World Cups.
Britain’s FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce, from Northern Ireland, welcomed the move to publish the report in some form.
He told Press Association Sport: “I am pleased the FIFA executive committee decided without a vote to publish this report. It shows that people at FIFA at the moment do desire transparency and the sooner we can get on with talking about the game of football that we all love, the better.”
FIFA’s ExCo appointed Zurich-based Swiss lawyer Cornel Borbely to replace Garcia in an acting capacity. Borbely had been Garcia’s deputy and took charge of the investigation into the Russian and American bids.
