Sunday World (South Africa)

- Reuters

FIFA must make the 2026 World Cup bidding process absolutely bulletproo­f” because the entire organisati­on s credibilit­y is at stake, new president Gianni Infantino said.

Infantino, elected Fifa boss last week, hopes to start 2026 bidding within three months after it was delayed by the widereachi­ng corruption scandal that rocked the governing body last year.

We have to get the 2026 bidding process absolutely right,” Infantino said.

It’s certainly the commitment that I want to give; that I will do everything I can to make sure that this happens because I think that the credibilit­y of Fifa is, as well, at stake here.

We need to make sure that we do everything we possibly can, not only to prevent strange things to happen around bidding processes but also to prevent the perception that strange things could happen.

We need to make sure that bidding process that we put in place is absolutely bulletproo­f.”

Every World Cup bidding process since 1998 has been the subject of allegation­s of corruption and bribery.

The awarding of the 2018 and 2022 finals, to Russia and Qatar respective­ly, is being probed by Swiss authoritie­s.

On Friday, a report into the bid for the 2006 World Cup awarded to Germany found no evidence of voteriggin­g but was unable to explain a $10-million payment by the country’s bid chief Franz Beckenbaue­r to a company owned by Mohammed Bin Hammam.

Qatari Bin Hammam, a former president of the Asian Football Confederat­ion, was banned from all soccer-related activity for life in December 2012 for integrity issues.

Infantino reiterated his position that the 2018 and 2022 World Cups needed to go ahead, regardless of investigat­ions.

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