ZURICH (AP) — Sepp Blatter says collusion between candidates in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests can’t be avoided, but the Dec. 2 vote will proceed with “all doubts cast aside” about its integrity.
The FIFA president, reflecting on the verdicts of an ethics investigation, says it is obvious his executive committee colleagues discuss the secret ballot.
FIFA’s ethics court on Thursday cleared Qatar and Spain-Portugal of arranging a vote-sharing pact, which was alleged by a British newspaper.
Blatter said the inquiry did not find the accused bids clean of collusion, but it had no evidence.
The ethics panel suspended FIFA voters Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii after a FIFA investigation based on The Sunday Times’ corruption claims.
