Coca-Cola, which has sponsored the World Cup since '78, is asking FIFA to "increase transparency amid a probe into how hosting rights to the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were granted," according to
Danielle Rossingh of BLOOMBERG. FIFA ethics investigator Michael Garcia last month urged FIFA to "publish his report into the award of World Cups to Russia and Qatar." German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, head of the adjudicatory panel of FIFA's ethics committee, said at the time that "no details from the 350-page document will be made public until any officials accused of wrongdoing have been notified of the final decisions." Coca-Cola Dir of Football Management Amber Steele said, "Anytime with the FIFA World Cup, or FIFA, there is any tainting of the event, we're concerned about it." Qatar and Russia won the rights to hold the $5B World Cup after a period that left FIFA's exec committee "several members short." Earlier this week, Transparency Int'l co-Founder Michael Hershman, who served on FIFA's Independent Governance Committee, called for the Garcia report "to be released in a redacted form to protect witnesses." He said that failure to do so would "leave FIFA open to 'ridicule for a lack of commitment to transparency and accountability.'" Steele said of FIFA's image, "We have had all kinds of conversations with FIFA. We see them as our partner, we talk to each other about the good and the bad." Steele, who worked for FIFA before joining Coca-Cola, said that she "does not know what's in the Garcia report." Hershman "earlier criticized FIFA sponsors for standing by while scandals unfolded" (
BLOOMBERG, 10/9). GOAL's Liam Twomey reported FIFA Marketing Dir Thierry Weil "also hit out at the British
media, arguing it is premature to attack the governing body's lack of
transparency and reaction of key sponsors before Garcia's findings are
submitted next month." Weil: "The report will be given in the beginning of November, so let's wait
until then. After that I'm happy for you to say FIFA was
transparent or not" (
GOAL, 10/9).
