By Andrew Warshaw
August 27 – Michael Garcia, the newly appointed joint chairman of FIFA’s revamped two-chamber Ethics Committee, has confirmed that Russia and Qatar will come under fresh scrutiny for the manner in which they were awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Garcia, a former high-profile American attorney, and German judge Joachim Eckert were handed their new roles in July in an attempt to clean up FIFA and revealed they would be opening the file into a raft of contentious issues.
Russia scored a landslide victory to host the competition in 2018, while Qatar, a country half the size of Wales, trounced all other candidates, including the United States, to stage it in 2022 (pictured).
As well as Russia and Qatar, Garcia said the Ethics Committee would also be looking into the relationship between FIFA and its former television rights marketing partner, ISL.
Swiss court documents recently published by world football’s governing body have revealed that ISL paid millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for lucrative World Cup television rights to former FIFA President João Havelange and ex-FIFA Executive Committee member Ricardo Teixeira, until recently head of Brazil 2014.
“If you look at things, it is clear there is something to investigate and that is what we are going to do,” Garcia told ARD in Germany.
Even the conduct of FIFA President Sepp Blatter would come under the microscope, he said.
“The more important the person involved is, the more important it is to examine them as well,” Garcia commented.
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