FIFA has announced that there are no legal grounds to change plans to hold the 2018 World Cup in Russia, or the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Earlier, chief of FIFA’s Compliance Committee Domenico Scala said that Russia and Qatar could lose the right to host the World Cup if evidence of bribery were found in the process by which the two countries won their hosting rights. He told a Swiss newspaper that “should evidence be present that the awarding to Qatar and Russia only came about with bought votes, then the awarding could be void.”
Russia and Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups by democratic vote of the Executive Committee. Based on expert opinions and available facts, FIFA has no legal grounds to take away the hosting of the FIFA World Cup from Russia and Qatar.
Switzerland has initiated a criminal investigation in the choice of Russia and Qatar as hosts of the upcoming FIFA World Cups.
A mass investigation into FIFA corruption is also underway in the United States. Several arrests have been made.
The US Justice Department says FIFA’s corruption schemes had been in place for 24 years and involve $150 million in bribes and kickbacks.
FIFA has already conducted an internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding voting for World Cup hosts. No significant violations were found.
Russia and Qatar have denied violating any protocol in their preparation for the FIFA World Cup.