By Duncan Mackay in Zurich
June 1 – Germany has called for the circumstances that led to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup to be investigated as the controversy surrounding the decision to award the tournament to the tiny Gulf state refuses to subside.
Theo Zwanziger, the President of the German Football Association (DFB), made his call on the eve of him replacing Franz Beckenbauer as a member of FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee.
“There is a considerable degree of suspicion that one cannot simply sweep aside, and I must expect that awarding this World Cup under these conditions needs to be examined anew,” Zwanziger told German television.
“I first would like to comment on how that should be done when I know more about the facts.
“Like I said, I’m an outsider and was not a member of the Executive.”
Questions were again raised about Qatar’s successful campaign earlier this week when FIFA vice-president Jack Warner reacted to his suspension by releasing details of an email conversation between himself and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke in which he appeared to suggest that they “brought” the World Cup.
Qatar have always angrily denied that they did anything wrong before the vote here in December when they beat Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States but Zwanziger believes the claims need to be looked at to ensure that the creditability of FIFA is not damaged in the long-term.
“If FIFA behaves the way people expect, that is by clearly taking action against this cancerous tumour of bribery, then there is no need for these concerns,” said Zwanziger, a lawyer by profession.
“None of us could have imagined such a scandal.
“There is no end to the suspicions falling on members the FIFA Executive.
“The task now is to shed light in a determined fashion, punish the guilty and develop mechanisms that prevent something like this from ever happening again.”
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