FIFA have confirmed that they will release a report from prosecutor Michael Garcia next month after a thorough investigation into the World Cup bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
However, the public will not get to see it in full.
Despite American prosecutor Garcia calling for his 430-page report on the bidding process, which took place back in 2010, to be released, FIFA’s ethics chairman, Joachim Eckert, has said that will not happen.
In an interview published Friday on FIFA’s website, Eckert had the following to say as it was revealed he will release a statement on the full contents of the report, rather than the entire document being made public.
Here’s why:
“The statement will contain an overview of the investigation report, a summary of the main findings, conclusions and recommendations of the report, as well as a brief evaluation of the same,” Eckert said. “We have to respect the personal rights of the people mentioned in the report, which in the case of full publication of the report would in all likelihood not be possible. The main requirement is that personal rights must not be damaged.”
With FIFA’s reputation badly damaged after the convicted financial wrongdoings of so many of its directors, plus this scandal, many in the global soccer community want those involved in any corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process to be named and shamed. The Times newspaper in the UK have accused the ex-president of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed bin Hammam, of buying influence for Qatar’s 2022 bid but the middle-eastern nation have strongly denied those claims. Hammam has since been found guilty of financial wrongdoing and removed from FIFA’s executive committee.
After Mr. Eckert’s latest comments, and despite a huge public outcry for the information to become common knowledge, all we will get is a statement from Eckert on the full report.
Is that enough?
