FIFA Committee To Be Asked To Vote On Publishing Garcia Report

FIFA’s executive committee will this week receive a proposal from a member asking for the Garcia report into the bidding process for the 2018/2022 World Cups to be published in full, German news agency DPA reported on Thursday.

FIFA published the agenda for this month’s exco meeting in Morocco on its website (www.fifa.com) on Thursday and included, under FIFA ethics committee, the item “proposal submitted by Theo Zwanziger”, an executive committee member from Germany.

FIFA did not enlarge on the proposal but DPA quoted Zwanziger suggesting it would be to vote on publishing the full 430-page report produced by FIFA independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia after his 18-month probe into the process.

“I would like to relax this ban, so the FIFA Executive Committee, as well as the public, is informed in an appropriate form of the contents of the investigation,” Zwanziger was quoted as saying by DPA.

The 2018 World Cup was awarded to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar in the same vote held in Zurich in December 2010.

So far, only a 42-page statement has been published by FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, but this has been challenged by Garcia who claimed it contained misrepresentations of his investigation.

Garcia and Eckert agreed last month that Garcia’s report would be sent to the chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, Domenico Scala, who would in turn decide how much of the report would be sent to the FIFA executive committee.

The exco will meet on Dec. 19 and 20 in Marrakech, Morocco, during the Club World Cup. The agenda also mentions another item entitled “Information from Domenico Scala.”

FIFA and Qatar World Cup organisers have been fending off allegations of corruption since the Gulf state was awarded the 2022 tournament.

Qatar, which has repeatedly denied the allegations, has also been criticised over its treatment of migrant workers in the construction industry.

Several executive committee members have called for the full Garcia report to be published, but FIFA has said it cannot do this for legal reasons.