England bid team broke rules when courting Jack Warner: Garcia report

The England 2018 World Cup bid team was found to have “accommodated or at least attempted to satisfy the improper request” of Fifa executive committee members, including former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, by the Garcia report.

Fifa’s long-awaited report into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process was published by football’s world governing body yesterday.

The Football Association had lobbied to bring the World Cup to England in 2018 but was unsuccessful after being eliminated in the first round when receiving only two votes.

The tournament went to Russia while Qatar secured the 2022 finals, with both decisions reached on December 2 2010.

According to the report produced by Fifa’s then chief ethics investigator Michael Garcia in 2014, England 2018 “provided full and valuable co-operation in establishing the facts and circumstances of this case”, with witnesses made available for interview and documents produced on request.

However, the report also identified “conduct by England 2018 that may not have met the standards set out in the FCE (Fifa code of ethics) or the bid rules”.

It adds that the English bid team’s “culpability is mitigated by the fact that these issues were uncovered largely as a result of its co-operation”.

Warner had been a long-standing member of the Fifa executive committee, but became embroiled in corruption allegations before being provisionally suspended by the Fifa ethics committee, then subsequently arrested and charged in the United States of America as part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into moneylaundering.

In 2015, Warner was banned from taking part in any footballrelated activity for life.

At the time the England 2018 bid was canvasing support, however, the influence of Warner was clear.

The report stated: “Warner sought to exploit that perception of his power, showering England’s bid team with inappropriate requests.

“The bid team often accommodated his wishes, in apparent violation of bidding rules and the Fifa code of ethics.”

According to the report, which detailed email exchanges, Warner had asked then FA chairman Lord Triesman to help Richard Sebro, whom the official said he considered to be his “adopted son”, with employment opportunities as the bid team “also kept Mr Warner apprised of their efforts as they solicited his support”.

Sebro was eventually found a role at Premier League side Tottenham and then at Wembley, before later taking up a position at Aston Villa, again following intervention by Warner.

The Garcia report also criticised the England 2018 bid team and the FA, who sent a delegation to the CFU Congress in Trinidad & Tobago, for not bringing the communications from Warner to the Investigatory Chamber’s attention.