The German judge overseeing FIFA’s investigation into the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups says the report cannot be published in full for legal reasons, thoughhe promised an overview of the main findings by the middle of November. Hans-Joachim Eckert, chair of the adjudicatory arm of FIFA’s ethics committee, received the 360-page report and200,000 pages of supporting documents from Michael Garcia, head of FIFA’s investigatory arm, last month.
While Garcia and several members of the FIFA executive committee,including U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati and UEFA President Michel Platini, have called for the report to be published in full, Eckert, in an interview on FIFA.com, saysthat publishing the report in full would put FIFA’s ethics committee and FIFA itself in a “very difficult situation legally” because those interviewed for the report were promisedconfidentiality.
The German added: “Michael Garcia has never said that the report should be 100 percent published. He merely said that the ‘appropriate’ publication of hisreport should be authorized. The deputy chairman of the adjudicatory chamber and I now have the task of drawing up this appropriate form for publication. … The main requirement is that personalrights must not be damaged.”