ZURICH: FIFA’s head of security during the controversial race to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has called for an investigation into claims Mohamed bin Hammam reached agreed to exchange votes with Spain’s Ángel María Villar Llona.

Chris Eaton said FIFA should investigate the fresh allegations published in the new book, The Ugly Game, which details a long-running Sunday Times investigation into the awards of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.

The latest book taking aim at all things FIFA

“If there is new evidence, whatever it shows and whoever it implicates, then FIFA needs to investigate it,” said Eaton, who left FIFA in May 2012 to head up the sports integrity unit of the Qatari-funded International Centre for Sport Security.

He added: “That’s the proper thing to do. FIFA needs to remove the stain on its reputation that the lack of transparency has created.”

The book details claims there was collusion between Bin Hammam and Villar Llona to ensure that seven votes would be guaranteed for the respective Qatari and Spain/Portugal bids of 2022 and 2018.

Case closed

Eaton was asked to look into the affair for FIFA but found no culpability hence the then ethics committee chairman Claudio Sulser closed the case.

Later FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that “a bundle” of votes were traded between Qatar and Spain/Portugal. He added: “But it was a nonsense. It was there but it didn’t work, not for one and not for the other side.”

Hans-Joachim Eckert, the German judge who wrote the summary of Michael Garcia’s investigation into the 2018/22 World Cup bidding process for the FIFA ethics committee, did not mention the pact.

Garcia later resigned his position in protest as what he saw as a misrepresentation of his findings.

FIFA’s executive committee has agreed to publish the Garcia report, redacted to protect issues of confidentiality, after all investigations and possible disciplinary action against individuals have concluded.

The book also contains allegations surrounding payments to then FIFA exco members Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil and Julio Grondona of Argentina over a prestige friendly match in Doha.

The Ugly Game alleges the friendly was bankrolled by Ghanim bin Saad al-Saad, the managing director of the global property arm, Qatari Diar, and a director of the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

The episode was covered in Eckert’s summary of Garcia’s investigation into the World Cup bidding process. In it he says that a “wealthy Qatari” bankrolled the event but concluded that the “relevant arrangements were not connected to the Qatar 2022 bid”.

Bin Hammam role

Similarly, Eckert claimed that Bin Hammam’s payments to football officials were aimed at building support for his bid to become FIFA president.

However, the book argues Bin Hammam was acting as a covert promoter for the Qatari bid.

Bin Hammam has always refused to comment on the allegations but Qatar 2022 has always insisted that he had no “official or unofficial” role in the bid and denied any wrongdoing.

Qatar 2022, via bid chief executive, Hassan al-Thawadi said in November that Eckert’s summary of Garcia’s report had exonerated the bid.

It said it “vehemently denies all allegations of wrongdoing” and “always upheld the highest standard of ethics and integrity”.

Blatter himself has said that there is no chance of the Russian World Cup in 2018 or the Qatari tournament in 2022 being taken away from their respective hosts.

Eckert’s summary of the Garcia report said that there was no evidence justifying ethics action against Russia and Qatar.

WORLD SOCCER

WorldSoccer.com

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