England will not bid again to host a World Cup until Fifa and its bidding processes have been reformed, the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, has said.
Dyke called for an overhaul of world football's governing body and spelled out the FA's open opposition to Sepp Blatter standing for a fifth term as Fifa president, saying a new president might reform Fifa's structure and governance after years of corruption scandals.
Dyke said that, while some other European associations also oppose Blatter’s candidacy among Fifa’s 209 national FAs, the 78-year-old will command the majority in a vote.
Appearing before the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee's inquiry into the Fifa vote to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Dyke said: "A lot of European FAs made it clear they didn't support Blatter but from the rest of the world he has overwhelming support. If he runs again, he will win."
The pre-World Cup Fifa congress in Sao Paulo, Dyke said, was “like something out of North Korea”, in which the delegate countries’ attitude to Blatter was “hail to the leader”. Replying to the Labour MP Jim Sheridan, who asked if Blatter was “siphoning money to some FAs where he is buying their votes”, Dyke said that Fifa had announced $750,000 for development to each FA around the world.
On the Qatar vote by Fifa’s executive committee in 2010 Dyke, like Fifa itself, said they must wait for the report by Fifa’s chief ethics investigator, Michael Garcia, into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The process, in which England spent GBP24m to win just one vote besides that of their own delegate, Geoff Thompson, is now bedevilled in corruption allegations, focused most recently by Sunday Times revelations about the activities of the Qatari Fifa executive committee member, Mohamed bin Hammam.
Qatar’s World Cup organising committee has denied any wrongdoing or formal connection to Bin Hammam.
Dyke told the committee it is “certain” that, if the World Cup does take place in Qatar, it will not be played in the summer. Guardian Service
