FIFA agrees to publish World Cup bid report

The 430-page report has cast a long shadow over FIFA's 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids Keystone

FIFA's executive committee has unanimously agreed to allow the publication - "in an appropriate form" - of the report into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. However, FIFA will not re-examine the controversial bids.

“It is clear that while a summary of the report was issued, the publication of this report has become a barrier to rebuilding public confidence and trust in FIFA,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said in a statement on Friday.

Football’s governing body had previously said it could not publish the 430-page report of former investigator Michael Garcia for legal reasons but will now do so once “ongoing procedures against individuals are concluded”.

Garcia resigned on Tuesday after losing an appeal against a published summary of his report, produced by FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert. Garcia had slammed the summary as being “materially incomplete” and containing “erroneous representations”.

While the report is complete, the investigation and proceedings against those accused of wrongdoing by FIFA’s ethics committee are still ongoing and FIFA expressed its reluctance to “jeopardise” them by releasing the report immediately and in its complete form.

Blatter also confirmed that FIFA will not “revisit the 2018 and 2022 vote” claiming that there are no legal grounds to revoke the awarding of the World Cup bids to Russia and Qatar respectively.

He also revealed that FIFA is in the process of incorporating the recommendations of its ethics committee to ensure that “everyone can be confident that the 2026 bidding process will be fair, ethical and open”.

This will include allowing all 208 FIFA member associations to vote on the World Cup venue rather than restrict the decision to the executive committee.