By David Gold
November 2 – The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has reiterated its call for FIFA to conduct a full independent investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively in December 2010.
England failed in its bid to host the 2018 competition but it was the decision to award Qatar the 2022 event which provoked the most anger.
In the aftermath of England’s failure, the Select Committee which investigated where they had gone wrong revealed allegations that a middle man had given $1.5 million (£917,000/€1.1 million) to two FIFA Executive Committee members – Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma – to vote for Qatar.
The “whistleblower” who had provided this information to The Sunday Times – who then passed it onto the Parliamentary Inquiry – later retracted the allegations, as noted by the Select Committee today, though they questioned why the accusation was not investigated beforehand.
FIFA last month announced a raft of new reforms including the establishment of task forces to ensure greater transparency as well as a more independent ethics committee and re-opening the infamous ISL case concerning the organisation’s former marketing partner, who are alleged to have made payments to four FIFA executive members.
FIFA intends for the reforms to take two years to implement and though the Select Committee welcomes the move, describing it as “an encouraging indication that FIFA appears now to have recognised the need to initiate systemic reform,” criticism remains over the World Cup bidding process.
Committee chairman John Whittingdale MP said: “FIFA’s new proposals for addressing systemic reform are encouraging but will count for nothing if FIFA does not see them through in a timely and transparent manner.
“We urge FIFA to do this, and to show its commitment to good governance by commissioning an independent investigation of allegations of past misconduct.
“We strongly welcome the declared intention of the FA to seek international allies and to press the case for urgent reform.”
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