Soccer

Awarding of Russia and Qatar World Cups under microscope

United States authorities are looking closely at how the 2018 and 2022 bids were secured

The homepage of the Interpol website seen through a magnifying glass on June 3rd, 2015. Interpol said on Wednesday it has issued international wanted-person alerts for two former Fifa officials including Jack Warner and four corporate executives at the request of US authorities. Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters
The homepage of the Interpol website seen through a magnifying glass on June 3rd, 2015. Interpol said on Wednesday it has issued international wanted-person alerts for two former Fifa officials including Jack Warner and four corporate executives at the request of US authorities. Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters
James Riach
Wed Jun 03 2015 - 23:00

The FBI is investigating the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar as part of its wide-ranging crackdown on Fifa corruption, according to Reuters.

The US bureau, which along with the Swiss authorities arrested several Fifa officials in Zurich last week on corruption charges, is reportedly examining the controversial awarding of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, whose destinations were decided in 2010. The Swiss authorities had already declared they were investigating the 2018 and 2022 bids.

Jérôme Valcke, the Fifa general secretary, has said, "I don't feel guilty," despite being at the centre of a storm that alleges South Africa paid $10 million to secure three votes for the 2010 World Cup.

“I have no reason to say that I shouldn’t remain secretary general regarding what’s happened in the last days, because I have no responsibility,” he told France Info radio. “I’m beyond reproach and I certainly don’t feel guilty. So I don’t even have to justify that I’m innocent.”

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According to Reuters, an FBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Fifa’s decision to award the World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively are part of a probe that is looking beyond the allegations in an indictment published last week that alleged endemic corruption at the world governing body.

No impact

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian officials had said Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s resignation would have no impact on their preparations to host the 2018 World Cup.

"It's not about Russia or Qatar, it's about respect to football players," the deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich told the Guardian. "Any political interference into football affairs is illegal. Our preparations are going very well, much better than in some other World Cup countries. We have learned from them."

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah said there was no way Qatar would be stripped of its right to host the cup because it had had the best bid.

“It is very difficult for some to digest that an Arab Islamic country has this tournament, as if this right can’t be for an Arab state,” he told Reuters in an interview in Paris. “I believe it is because of prejudice and racism that we have this bashing campaign against Qatar.”

Fikile Mbalula, the South African sports minister, has denied his country bribed Fifa officials in order to secure votes for the 2010 World Cup, even though a $10million payment was made to the Caribbean Football Union.

A letter from the South African Football Association in 2008 was addressed specifically to Valcke and contained detailed information about how the payment – claimed to be for a “Diaspora Legacy Programme” – should be processed.

Outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter is subject to FBI and US prosecutors' investigations into federal corruption following a week of scandal that has rocked football, according to reports. The New York Times, ABC News in the US and Reuters reported that Blatter, who announced his intention to resign from his position on Tuesday, is under investigation by US authorities as part of the same operation that led to the arrest of seven Fifa officials at a hotel in Zurich last Wednesday, and the indictment of a total of 14 worldwide.

Scrutiny

Several law enforcement officials in the US, speaking to the New York Times on condition of anonymity, and sources familiar to ABC News, confirmed that the 79-year-old Blatter was the latest Fifa official to fall under the US authorities' scrutiny.

The former Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner, current vice presidents Jeffrey Webb and Eugenio Figueredo, and the former president of Concacaf, Nicolás Leoz, were among those arrested last week on charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering conspiracies.

The New York Times reported that investigators were hoping that those already indicted would cooperate with them to bring charges against Blatter while ABC News quoted one source as saying there is now a race to see who will turn against Blatter first in a bid to save themselves.

Last week, after his re-election, Blatter said: “The Americans are making investigations they have right to do so, I have no concerns, I especially have no concerns about my person.”

Blatter is unlikely to face charges in his home country after the Swiss attorney general confirmed he is not under investigation.

A source close to Fifa said it was Blatter’s advisers who had told him he must quit.