ZURICH: Russian World Cup organising ceo Alexei Sorokin has come to the defence of Vitaly Mutko, his chairman, Sports Minister and member of the FIFA executive committee.

Criticism has rained down on Mutko after he was criticised last week by a World Anti-Doping Agency inquiry which claimed he must have known about a state-supported doping conspiracy.

The FIFA ethics committee said it would check if the WADA report implicated Mutko, who chairs the World Cup local organizing committee. He has also been a FIFA executive committee member since 2009.

Sorokin, speaking during an International Football Arena conference in Zurich at the Home of FIFA, said: “I don’t think Mr. Mutko’s reputation is in danger, again if we speak about facts, not suspicions. He has been entrusted by the president to establish a public investigation into this doping matter.

“The reputation of Mr Mutko is so intact that I don’t think it could be tarnished . . . I don’t see how football is affected. We are getting tired of offsetting constant allegations, suspicions. The good things about the Russian preparations are drowned somewhere.

“Whether certain people want it or not, the World Cup is in Russia.”

Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated recently that senior figures within the world federation had sought a pre-vote agreement to send the 2018 World Cup to Russia and 2022 edition to the United States. Blatter blamed UEFA president Michel Platini for wrecking the agreement.

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