By Andrew Warshaw
March 21 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter today sidestepped repeated attempts to force him to take a stand over whether Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup was in jeopardy following the publication of fresh corruption allegations.
At an eagerly awaited news conference following a two-day executive committee meeting, Blatter was urged to comment over the Daily Telegraph’s claims this week that huge payments had been exchanged between former FIFA vice-presidents Jack Warner and Mohamed bin Hammam, both of whom were among the 22 exco members who took part in the 2018 and 2022 ballots just over three years ago but whose long FIFA careers ultimately ended in disgrace when they were forced out of the organisation.
The paper’s claims have not in any way been directly linked with Qatar’s World Cup bid and during a globally streamed media briefing, Blatter stood his ground and called for understanding, saying he would not comment until FIFA’s ethics committee investigator Michael Garcia had “finished work” into the entire bidding process.
Instead, a statement by Garcia – who has been in Zurich this week interviewing exco members about their individual roles in the controversial joint ballot for 2018 and 2022 – was read out saying simply that he was aware of the Telegraph’s report.
“The ethics committee is aware of the material identified in the published article,” the statement said. “As with any allegations of misconduct by football officials, the ethics committee will take whatever action it feels is appropriate.”
The emphasis on Qatar nevertheless dominated proceedings, with Theo Zwanziger, the German exco member mandated to monitor improvements on the ground in the Gulf state, maintaining the pressure on the 2022 World Cup hosts as far as workers’ rights are concerned.
Zwanziger, who provided an interim report to the exco after speaking to a number of stakeholders, as usual spoke his mind, saying something had to be done “to remedy the situation in a decisive manner.”
Announcing that FIFA would undergo an inspection visit to Qatar, he added: “We must get a clear picture. Having decided to hold the World Cup there, there is a magnifying glass over Qatar but my impression is that the people responsible realise how important it is to improve the situation and to start uttering threats right now makes no sense. I have told them that we want honest reports of clean and clear facts. But the companies there making money also have their share of responsibility.”
However, it was revealed that although a “huge majority” of the exco approved Zwanziger’s report, support was not unanimous.
Switching to the Russian annexation of Crimea, Blatter confirmed that the two professional Ukrainian clubs in the region would continue playing in their national league at least until the end of the current season – but made no mention of what will happen thereafter.
Blatter also conceded that the thorny issue of age limits and the number of mandates for the president and his exco members continues to split FIFA’s top brass . As a result, it will be presented to the FIFA congress in Sao Paolo in June to try and reach consensus though it seems more than likely the issue will remain unresolved until after next year’s FIFA presidential election when Blatter is widely expected to go for a fifth term of office even though he will be 79.
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