FIFA should refund the $45 million Australia spent on a farcical bidding process to host soccer’s 2022 World Cup, a federal politician says.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says Australia was ripped off by the sport’s world governing body.
A FIFA ethics committee report into the bid process found evidence of some improper conduct by eight of the nine bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, while giving Russia and Qatar the go-ahead to remain as hosts of those tournaments.
The report found Australia broke bid and ethics rules, tried to buy votes of decision-makers and then cover-up its attempts – and that Football Federation Australia was aware of the conduct.
The federal government spent almost $46 million on Australia’s bid but the nation gained just one vote as Qatar went on to win the hosting rights ahead of the US.
As the Australian Greens called for an investigation into the claims of corruption, Senator Xenophon described the ethics committee report as a whitewash and a “sick farce”.
“It proves that FIFA cannot be trusted to clean up its act,” he said in a statement on Friday.
The ethics committee on Thursday released a summary of the report findings.
But the investigator who wrote the original report, American lawyer Michael Garcia, said the committee’s summary was a “materially incomplete and erroneous” interpretation of his own findings and vowed to appeal FIFA’s attempt to declare the matter closed.
Senator Xenophon called for a full refund from FIFA of money spent on Australia’s bid, and also for corporate sponsors to boycott the governing body.
“FIFA is only feigning ethics at this point. This whitewash of an investigation is an own goal by FIFA and must lead to reform of the antiquated governing body,” he said.
His comments came as the Greens’ sport spokesman Richard Di Natale called for an independent investigation into Australia’s bid.
“Like many other Australians I would love to see Australia host the World Cup but that doesn’t mean we should endorse corrupt behaviour,” he said in a statement.
“Allegations about Australia’s conduct as part of its bid to the host the World Cup raise some serious red flags.
“The Greens want an independent investigation into our bid so that we can get everything out in the open, not hidden in some confidential FIFA report.”
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