FIFA to Investigate 2018 & 2022 World Cup Winning Bids

The new chief of the FIFA Ethics Committee has pledged to put the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar under scrutiny.

The awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany will also be thoroughly analyzed as part of the inquiries. The newly-appointed joint chief investigator of FIFA’s ethics committee Michael Garcia, medic made the comments on German television.

The American said his department will examine the relationship between FIFA and ISL, sale the marketing company which sold FIFA’s World Cup TV rights.

It has been revealed the now defunct ISL paid millions of dollars in bribes to former FIFA president Joao Havelange and ex-FIFA executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira.

“If you look at things, arthritis it is clear there is something to investigate and that is what we are going to do,” the 51-year-old Garcia told ARD.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s activity will also be investigated, Garcia said: “The more important the person involved is, the more important it is to examine them as well.”

Michael Garcia and Hans-Joachim Eckert of Germany were appointed joint chairmen of the Ethics Committee during FIFA’s extraordinary meeting in Zurich in July 2012. Russia and Qatar were selected as the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups on December 2, 2010, following the voting by the FIFA executive committee. This made Russia the first Eastern European country to host the World Cup, while Qatar would be the first Middle Eastern country to host the World Cup.