US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati and CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb have raised their voices in support of Michael Garcia, the lawyer who put together a report on the alleged corruption in Qatar’s winning bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
Garcia made more waves Thursday when he criticized FIFA’s report on his report (Think about the absurdity of that statement). FIFA refused to allow the public to view Garcia’s official report, instead opting to issue a 43-page review of Garcia’s report, written by FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.
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Eckert has expressed surprise at Garcia’s response, but several voices have risen up in support of the American lawyer.
From SkySports.com:The statement read: “Given the disagreement between the two Chairmen of the Investigatory and Adjudicatory Chambers of the Ethics Committee and to ensure complete transparency we believe the full report conducted by the FIFA Ethics Committee into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups should be made public as soon as possible,”
“This can be done with appropriate redaction to protect any confidentiality required by the FIFA Code of Ethics. Providing the entire independent report for inspection is in the best interest of the game and FIFA.”
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Garcia said Eckert’s summary of his investigation contained “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions”.
English FA leader Greg Dyke called the process a “bit of a joke”, while FIFA VP and Irish FA member Jim Boyce backed the Eckert report. Strictly opinion here, but voices like Boyce’s sound a little too orchestrated, as those backing and criticizing reports seem to be only taking shots Jack Warner, who really cannot be punished any further. Not a single new name has come to light as someone doing something sneaky. Doesn’t that sound hollow?