Thursday 13 November 2014 13:02, UK
Qatar have been cleared of any wrongdoing by FIFA following the publication of a report on the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.
The 42-page report by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of FIFA's independent ethics committee, confirms Qatar and Russia as the hosts for the 2022 and 2018 tournaments, stating any rule breaches by the bidding countries were "of very limited scope".
However, Russia came in for some criticism after failing to provide copies of all their emails from the bid organisation on the basis their computer equipment has since been scrapped.
The report also criticised England’s bid for the 2018 tournament – with the FA’s relationship with disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner highlighted - including paying £35,000 for a gala dinner for Caribbean officials, providing "substantial assistance" for a training camp for an under-20 Trinidad and Tobago team and securing a job in the UK for a family friend.
The report states: "Relevant occurrences included Mr Warner pressing, in 2009 and again in 2010, England's bid team to help a person of interest to him find a part-time job in the UK.
"England 2018's top officials in response not only provided the individual concerned with employment opportunities, but also kept Mr Warner apprised of their efforts as they solicited his support for the bid.
"The bid team often accommodated Mr. Warner's wishes, in apparent violation of bidding rules and the FIFA code of ethics
"England's response to Mr. Warner's - improper - demands, in at a minimum always seeking to satisfy them in some way, damaged the integrity of the ongoing bidding process. Yet, such damage was again of rather limited extent."
The report also says that Lord Triesman, who was England's bid chairman at the time, would not co-operate with the investigation despite using Parliamentary privilege to make a number of allegations.
The report also clears Qatar of involvement in any payments by Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari former FIFA executive committee member who was banned for life by FIFA.
It says Bin Hammam was "distant" from the bid committee and that payments made to Warner and some African officials were connected to his bid to challenge Sepp Blatter for FIFA presidency.
But the report fails to mention anything about Spain/Portugal's bid for 2018, which could lead to disciplinary action.
It says: "With regard to one specific bid team however, the report noted that the relevant federation was particularly un-cooperative in responding to the investigatory chamber's requests."
FIFA issued a statement welcoming the findings of the report.
“FIFA welcomes the fact that a degree of closure has been reached and the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee did not find any ‘violations or breaches of the relevant rules and regulations’.
“As such, FIFA looks forward to continuing the preparations for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, which are already well underway.
“For the sake of further closure, FIFA supports the independent Ethics Committee with respect to their preparedness to potentially open future cases against officials based on the information obtained during this investigation.”
