The Show Will Go On, FIFA Expected to Clear Qatar on Corruption Charges

The BBC reports that FIFA is going to clear Qatar of corruption charges based on bidding for the 2022 FIFA World Cup when the FIFA ethics report is published tomorrow morning. Also, the English FA will be in trouble for associating themselves with former FIFA VP, Jack Warner, who resigned due to bribery allegations.

After many allegations that Qatar bribed people to vote for them to host the World Cup, the head of FIFA’s Independent Ethics Committee, Michael Garcia, to conduct an investigation. He interviewed members from every bid committee and those in and out of FIFA and compiled a 430 page report. FIFA will not release the full report. Instead, FIFA will release a 42 page summary of the report written by Hans-Joachim Eckert, head of the adjudicatory arm of FIFA’s Ethics Committee. The Garcia Report will not be released to the general public due to “legal reasons.” It should be noted that both Garcia and Eckert work for and are paid by FIFA to conduct this report and summary. That clearly raises suspicions of bias and conflict of interest. To Garcia’s credit, he has publicly criticized the decision by FIFA to keep his report hidden from the general public.

I will say, I can’t say that I’m surprised about the result. Yeah, leave one corrupt organization to investigate another corrupt organization for corruption and expect something to happen. We all sadly know FIFA too well that throughout all the rumors of moving and not moving the World Cup and corruption and bribery, nothing was going to happen. We can only hope that the entire Garcia Report gets leaked eventually and we’ll all be able to get a clearer picture about the investigation. Everything gets leaked eventually so internet, do your work and get the Garcia Report out to the public!

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Due to this latest example of how FIFA is corrupt, I feel it’s an appropriate time for me to watch the FIFA funded movie, United Passions, starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, for the first time. Starting at 1 PM ET, I’m going to be live tweeting on @32flags about the movie and will have a review later in the day. From what I heard, it’s going to have all the self-gratification, unintentional comedy and English bashing that I’m going to be able to handle in a single day.

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp

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