Spain/Portugal and Qatar set to avoid FIFA sanctions over vote collusion allegations

By Andrew Warshaw

October 31 – The two World Cup bid candidates under investigation for alleged vote collusion are almost certain to avoid serious punishment.

insideworldfootball has learned that Spain-Portugal and Qatar are likely to be exonerated by FIFA’s Ethics Committee with little more than a warning.

It is understood the alleged deal, highlighted by the Sunday Times and claimed to involve up to seven FIFA Executive Commitee members, was not even discussed at thetheir meeting in Zurich on Friday (October 29).

With a lack of any firm evidence to incriminate either party, several Executive Committee members said privately it was now inevitable that Spain and Portugal would be given the green light to carry on lobbying for 2018 and Qatar for 2022 when the ethics committee delivers its verdict on November 17.

“There is no other outcome,” said one senior FIFA administrator while another said: “There will have to proof that anything has been done wrong legally.”

The Spanish and Portuguese were conspicuous by their absence in Zurich but have fiercely protested their innocence and have bizarrely accused England of doing their own deal with the United States in breach of FIFA regulations.

Miguel Angel Lopez, chief executive of the Iberian bid, last week cited comments from England 2018 international president David Dein (pictured right with Andy Anson) who predicted, more than two weeks before it actually happened, that the US would pull out of the 2018 race to concentrate on 2022.

“This gentleman must be telepathic or a prophet,” Lopez was quoted in Spain.

“That isn’t an agreement?

“When I see this I have to have suspicions.”

Dein’s comments were doing nothing more than repeating the biggest open secret in the entire process and Lopez’s accusation has little basis in fact.

But it served to increase the tension in the build-up to the vote on December 2.

It is also understood that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is still being lined up to make the final presentation before FIFA’s Executive Committee despite some reports that he was lukewarm about flying to Zurich.

Russia has won the timetable lottery by being drawn last among all nine bidders staking their claim to become World Cups hosts, their 30-minute presentation to Fifa’s voting members ideally positioned to retain most impact.

Russian bid officials told insideworldfootball in Zurich that they were still confident Putin would make the key address, laughing off suggestions he is considering giving the all-important vote a miss.

Russian bid chief executive Alexei Sorokin has insisted all along that he considers Putin’s status and charisma to be just as telling as it was when Sochi upset the odds and won the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Meanwhile, England’s cause has been further harmed by a growing sense of unease among FIFA’s voting members regarding elements of their bid strategy.

The undignified verbal spat with Russia and the official protest made against Sorokin himself are considered unsportsmanlike by many FIFA officials.

FIFA members have noted how the Russian bid team could have raised the roof but stayed silent following the resignation in May of former FA chairman Lord Triesman over totally unsubstantiated collusion claims.

More worrying for England, there are also growing rumours that many Executive Committee members could vote against them simply because of persistent media intrusion rather than take into account the actual merits of the bid.

This has not been lost on the English campaign and Dein and his trusted companion, the chief executive Andy Anson, lobbied like crazy in FIFA”s backyard last week in an attempt to get England over the line for all the right reasons.

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