FIFA World Cup bids Controversy

World Cup Controversial

Following an exposé by the British newspaper The Sunday Times, FIFA said it would investigate claims that two members of its executive committee wanted cash in exchange for support of countries bidding to host the 2018 World Cup. The two, Reynald Temarii, a French FIFA vice-president, and Amos Adamu, a Nigerian member on the committee and the president of the West Africa Football Union, were alleged to have told reporters in the guise of lobbyists for the United States, that they could "guarantee" a vote for the US bid $800,000.

Adamu claimed the money he requested was to pay for four football stadiums in Nigeria. FIFA then announced their suspension a few days later.

England's 2018 World Cup bid team withdrew a complaint to FIFA about Russia's campaign following an apology from their rival bidder. The Russian sports minister Vitaliy Mutko apologised for comments made by Alexei Sorokin, who is general director of the nation's bid team. England's official complaint was that Russia had broken bidding rules when he made disparaging comments about London. FIFA's committee met on 28 October to receive reports on the bids. The English bid team had complained on 26 October, that Sorokin highlighted London's "high crime rate" and youth alcohol problems in an interview with Russian media that appeared to contravene FIFA's rules about talking about rival bidders. Tensions between the two bids then intensified after Viacheslav Koloskov, honorary president of the Russian Football Union, referred to England's 2018 bid as "absolutely primitive" and "comical"

A documentary broadcast by the BBC alleged that FIFA officials voting on the World Cup bids had received large bribes between 1989 and 1999, which FIFA had not investigated, and that FIFA requires bidding nations to agree to enact special laws granting FIFA and sponsors tax benefits.