Only an earthquake can take away world cup from Qatar

Only an "earthquake" can change FIFA's decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said yesterday.

"It would really need an earthquake, extremely important new elements to go back on this World Cup in Qatar," Blatter told a press conference after the FIFA executive committee agreed to release a report on alleged corruption surrounding the tournaments awarded to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

Qatar in particular has faced accusations over its bidding but has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

"At the current time, there is no reason to go back on our decisions. The two World Cups are in the calendar, the only thing missing is the precise dates for 2022, but these two World Cups will take place," Blatter said, speaking in German.

The executive committee unanimously agreed to allow the publication "in an appropriate form" of the report on the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but gave no indication of when it might happen.

It also decided to settle the long-running saga over the timing of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in March.

Soccer's governing body had previously said it could not publish the 430-page report of former investigator Michael Garcia for legal reasons but will now do so once "ongoing procedures against individuals are concluded", Blatter said in a statement yesterday.

FIFA had been under pressure to publish a redacted version to help shed light on what happened during the process for the tournaments.

In the statement, FIFA said it had asked the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent Ethics Committee to publish the report in "an appropriate form" once procedures against individuals are concluded.

"I am pleased they have agreed. It has been a long process to arrive at this point and I understand the views of those who have been critical," Blatter said.

"We have always been determined that the truth should be known. That is, after all, why we set up an independent ethics committee with an investigatory chamber that has means to undertake investigations on its own."

The decision follows a presentation by Domenico Scala, head of FIFA's audit and compliance committee and one of six people to have seen the report.

Garcia, who said the report should be published, spent 18 months investigating allegations and interviewed 75 witnesses.

In November, FIFA's ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert issued a 42-page summary based on the report which identified cases of "inappropriate conduct" in many bids but said there was not enough evidence to justify re-opening the bidding process.

In yesterday's statement, Blatter reiterated that the bidding process for the awarding of the two tournaments would not be re-opened.

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