Strasbourg: A report by the Council of Europe, adopted on Tuesday, has called on Fifa to revote on the “radically flawed” decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Damaging revelations concerning the bidding process mean that “Fifa cannot evade the obligation to hold a new vote,” according to the draft resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace).
British Labour Party Member of Parliament Michael Connarty, who prepared the draft resolution, slammed a “farce” and “a clear whitewash” by world football’s governing body.
Connarty said he had consulted documents obtained by The Times newspaper, proving that Qatari Mohammad Bin Hammam, who was president of the Asian Football Confederation, paid important sums of money to win the backing of African federations in the vote for the 2022 World Cup.
The report regretted that FIFA’s Ethics Committee inquiry, which uncovered “extremely dubious practices,” was not entirely published and were “amazed at the ease with which the adjudicatory chamber of the Fifa Ethics Committee confirmed the decision to assign the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.”
“The claim that Qatar does not have direct responsibility for Bin Hammam’s dealings should not be allowed to validate a procedure so fundamentally undermined by illegality,” the report said.
“Fifa does not yet seem capable of putting an end to corruption scandals.”
The text of the resolution will be submitted to the Council of Europe’s plenary session in April, which brings together more than 300 Parliamentarians from 47 member states.
A resolution from the Council of Europe, which is an advisory international organisation, is not binding but would increase political pressure on Fifa.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter insisted last month “it would really need an earthquake,” to reverse the outcome of the vote.
