DUBAI: Prince Ali of Jordan wants FIFA to take immediate to publish the Garcia Report into the 2018-2022 World Cup bid scandal writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Michael Garcia, a United States attorney, resigned as head of the investigatory chamber of the world football federation’s ethics committee 14 months ago after his report was buried by now-disgraced president Sepp Blatter.

A summary of the report, compiled by ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, was derided by Garcia as “incomplete and erroneous”.

Prince Ali, one of five candidates to succeed Blatter at an election congress on February 26, was one of a minority in the executive committee who had wanted the report published.

He returned to the theme while addressing a conference in Dubai, saying: “[We need] some basic norms, like publishing the Garcia report immediately, because even those of us who are running for the position of FIFA president need to know what has been going on in this organisation – and the public needs to know as well.”

Eckert had insisted there was no hard evidence of corruption in the bidding process which should cause a revote on the World Cup awards to Russia and Qatar.

Blatter, leaning on legal advice, said he had been advised to bar publication of even a redacted version of the Garcia report because it would breach pledges of confidentiality given to witnesses.

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