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FIFA Chief Garcia to meet Qatar bid officials

02 Jun 2014 08:47:13

FIFA Chief Garcia to meet Qatar bid officials

FIFA's chief ethics investigator was due to meet Qatar 2022 World Cup bid chiefs on Monday as Football Association chairman Greg Dyke called for a re-run of the vote if corruption is proved.

American lawyer Michael Garcia is to meet officials from the Qatar bid in Oman, just 24 hours after fresh allegations were published about payments being made to African federations to win support for the campaign.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is also facing calls to step down over the scandal - and Dyke refused to say whether the FA would back him for re-election, only that the world governing body needs to find conclusive answers to the allegations.

Garcia is investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and is due to report later this year.

Dyke told BBC Radio Five Live: "FIFA has got to sort this out. FIFA has got to do their investigation and either it happened or it didn't happen.

"If it happened and there was corruption involved then clearly the process has to be re-run."

Asked about whether the FA would support Blatter, who is expected to announce next week that he is to stand again for election in 2015, Dyke added: "That's a decision that the FA will take at some stage.

"You have got to separate Sepp Blatter from this. Sepp Blatter as I understand it didn't vote for the World Cup in Qatar.

"I wouldn't give you that answer at the moment, the FA is going to make that decision."



In a statement, Qatar's bid committee said Bin Hammam had no association with them and that it was co-operating with Garcia's investigation.



Issa Hayatou, the president of the African football confederation (CAF) and a FIFA vice-president, issued a lengthy statement on Monday denying a number of allegations made by The Sunday Times.




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