Despite political issues in Russia and nightmarish logistics in Qatar, the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will continue without a hitch. On Thursday, FIFA announced that an 18-month investigation by former New York district attorney Michael Garcia did not provide sufficient evidence to justify stripping the tournament from either country.
Per the report, the English Football Association is accused of flouting bidding rules. A statement from the FA balked at the criticism leveled at it by the findings, insisting it "conducted a transparent bid." The statement read (via BBC): "We do not accept any criticism regarding the integrity of England's bid or any of the individuals involved."
FIFA's report says otherwise. The FA is accused of trying to favor former vice-president Jack Warner, who quit in 2011 amid bribery allegations, with the following:
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Trying to help a person of interest to him find a part time job in the United Kingdom.
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Letting the Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 squad hold a training camp in the UK in the summer of 2009.
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Sponsoring a gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union, at a cost of $55,000.
FIFA's inquiry looked at the conduct of nine bidding teams who attempted to win the right to stage either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. Qatar, who won the bid to stage the 2022 tournament, was accused of paying FIFA officials £3 million. Unsurprisingly, they have now been cleared of any wrongdoing-this despite problematic conduct of specific individuals.
Payments made to former FIFA vice-president Mohamed bin Hammam were judged to be for Qatar's personal political interests and not the 2022 bid. In a statement, Qatari officials adamantly believed they would be cleared of any and all charges. "We cooperated fully with the ethics committee's investigation and continue to believe that a fair and appropriate review will demonstrate the integrity and quality of our bid."
Russia's bid was absolved, though the report noted its bid team made a limited amount of documents available for review. According to the report, the Russian team denied the inquiry access to email accounts.
FIFA said it would support any plans to open future cases against officials based on the information obtained during this investigation.
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