FIFA President Sepp Blatter Insists World Cup Vote Was Never In Question Despite Controversy Over Vote Selling
Posted Saturday, October 30, 2010 by YAHOO Sport
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said that the vote to decide who will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will still be held on December 2, despite recent allegations of vote selling which saw two executive members suspended.
Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii are still under investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee, but Blatter insists that the date for the vote was never in danger of being postponed.
"We are five weeks from the final decision so there was never a question of changing anything," said Blatter.
"So on December 2 the Fifa executive committee will decide in a secret ballot the hosts for 2018 and 2022."
Despite announcing the decision to continue with the vote as normal, Blatter did admit though that the idea of running both the 2018 and 2022 bidding process at the same time has caused some difficulty.
"This is an uncomfortable situation for FIFA but we must say that inside Fifa we have the necessary instruments to react properly,” he noted.
The FIFA president also revealed that if the two executive members accused of vote selling are found guilty, then only 22 Fifa members will vote on where the tournaments are to be held.
"The ethics committee are addressing a case that involves allegations of possible corruption. We will deal with them according to current regulations," he said.
"If and when people are suspended for the vote on December 2 they will not be replaced."
The entire voting process has been surrounded with controversy, with a number of accusations of collusion reported.
The joint 2018 bid of Spain and Portugal is being investigated by the Fifa ethics committee for alleged collusion with the 2022 bid from Qatar.
The England bid team also lodged an official complaint with Fifa over comments made by Russian bid chief Alexei Sorokin concerning high crime rates in London.
However, sports minister Vitaly Mutko has since issued an apology and English Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney has moved to put an end to the arguing and focus on the final decision.
"I gather in Zurich everybody has had a figurative hug and we move on to the decision on December 2," Mawhinney said.
"I look forward to helping to make the final presentation of England's case. I think we are very competitive."
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