Anti-corruption expert expected to demand FIFA World Cup bid review

By Andrew Warshaw

March 29 – Anti-corruption expert Mark Pieth tomorrow publishes his eagerly awaited report into the way FIFA operates amid growing concern he will recommend a review into the process that led to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups being awarded respectively to Russia and Qatar.

Swiss professor Pieth heads a 13-member Independent Governance Committee set up by FIFA as part of its two-year road map to reform following a year of unprecedented scandal.

Pieth is expected to call for “tough” changes to the way the organisation does business before FIFA President Sepp Blatter, one hour later, holds a landmark press conference at the conclusion of a two-day Executive Committee meeting.

“There are a few issues that will need heavy negotiation,” Pieth said on the eve of his report being made public.

“If FIFA are wise, they will pick up most everything that is put before them.

“They have rules, they have sanctionable offences.

“They have just not applied them.”

FIFA, which has lost a raft of key powerbrokers who either resigned or were found guilty of corruption, has already received a copy of Pieth’s proposals.

“They have lost a few people recently from high places under allegations or proven allegations, even,” he told The Associated Press.

“That’s really bad for them, and they have to tidy up quickly.”

It is understood Pieth will call for more independent experts from outside football to be allowed to join FIFA’s top bodies, such as the Executive and Ethics Committees, in order to reduce the likelihood of collusion and corruption.

But the key question is whether he also calls for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to be investigated.

If he does, the make up of the Independent Governance Committee itself could be accused of lacking independence and would be of particular concern to Qatar.

Lord Goldsmith (pictured), one of the panel members, is on the board of the Westfield Group, chaired by Australia’s Frank Lowy.

Another member is Sunil Gulati, President of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).

Lowy and Gulati were respectively the public faces of the 2022 Australian and the United States campaigns that bid directly against Qatar.

Both countries were furious at being beaten so heavily by the tiny Gulf state in the voting process.

Goldsmith has already gone public by saying FIFA’s handling of the events surrounding the joint World Cup bidding contests was “unsatisfactory” and although Qatar has come under constant scrutiny, there is a strong argument to suggest that since the ballots for 2018 and 2022 were held simultaneously, any investigation into Qatar would be unfair without Russia also being probed.

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