FIFA to investigate report of vote-selling
Reuters - Saturday 16 October 2010, 23:35
BERNE - World football's governing body FIFA
said on Sunday it would investigate a newspaper report that two
members of its executive committee had offered to sell their
votes in the contest to host the 2018 World Cup.
Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said the offers had been
made to its reporters who were working undercover and posed as
lobbyists for a consortium of American private companies.
The report said Nigeria'a Amos Adamu was filmed asking for
money for a personal project and that Oceania Football
Confederatinon president Reynald Temarii from Tahiti wanted
money for a sports academy.
FIFA will decide on December 2 in Zurich which countries will
host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The choices will be made by
the 24-strong executive committee
"FIFA has already requested to receive all of the
information and documents related to this matter (the Sunday
Times report), and is awaiting to receive this material," FIFA
said in a statement.
"In any case, FIFA will immediately analyse the material
available and only once this analysis has concluded will FIFA be
able to decide on any potential next steps.
"In the meantime, FIFA is not in a position to provide any
further comments on this matter."
England and Russia are bidding for the 2018 finals along
with joint bids from Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands.
The candidates for 2022 are the United States, Japan, South
Korea, Qatar and Australia.