Report: FIFA secretary general faces ethics probe related to World Cup 2026 bid

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Apr 25, 2018

Sepp Blatter has been out of power for more than two years, but FIFA intrigue continues full throttle.

The latest: BBC Sport reported that Senegalese Fatma Samoura, the FIFA secretary general in charge of its day-to-day affairs, was reported to FIFA's ethics committee for alleged breaches of "duty of disclosure, co-operation and reporting" and "conflicts of interest" relating to Morocco's bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

The claims stem from an undeclared family link between Samoura, the highest-ranking woman in FIFA, and the former Senegalese star El Hadji Diouf, who is as ambassador for the Maroc 2026 bid.

But a FIFA source described the allegations as "tenuous," and Samoura added that "the whole country of Senegal will laugh at Fifa Ethics ... because everyone in my country knows the origin of El Hadji Diouf."

The unnamed source also accused FIFA president Gianni Infantino of having "encouraged" the five-person task force to find evidence that could disqualify Morocco's 2026 bid.