England on spot over cup bid

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 yesterday published by football’s world governing body. The FA 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, 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. But 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 longstanding member of the Fifa executive but became embroiled in corruption allegations before being provisionally suspended by the Fifa ethics committee, then subsequently arrested and charged in the US as part of the FBI’s probe into money-laundering. 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.

“England 2018 may not have met standards set out”