FIFA chief investigator Michael Garcia, who is investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, "has issued a call for greater transparency and a wholesale culture change among its leadership," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. Garcia "delivered his report into the chaotic and controversial process that saw Russia and Qatar awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, to its adjudicatory arm headed by Hans-Joachim Eckert." Along with several members of the exec committee, Garcia "has called for the 430-page document to be published in full." Speaking at an event in London to an audience of U.S. lawyers, Garcia said that "the two key elements to restoring public trust" in FIFA within football and among the public at large were transparency and the culture fostered by its leadership. In a "coded attack" on FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s style of leadership and the "cronyism that has characterized his 16-year tenure" as president, Garcia said that "a wholesale culture change was required to reinforce the rule changes made in the wake of a series of corruption scandals in recent years" (
GUARDIAN, 10/13). The BBC's Dan Roan wrote talking about the current investigation process, Garcia said, "That's a kind of system which might be appropriate for an intelligence agency but not for an ethics compliance process in an international sports institution that serves the public and is the subject of intense public scrutiny. ... The second element that is vital to fulfilling the promise of this reform process is tone at the top. More simply put, the second element an institution like FIFA needs in order to meet the challenge of ethics enforcement is leadership. An ethics committee -- even a serious, independent ethics committee backed by a strong code of ethics -- is not a silver bullet. What is required is leadership that sends a message that the rules apply to everyone" (
BBC, 10/13). In London, Scott Rutherford wrote Garcia also suggested that his investigations, which are now complete, had been hindered by a FIFA "honors system." Garcia: "My investigations rely largely on a sort of honors system. Cooperation is required but without subpoena power, it can be difficult to assess the quality of someone's compliance with a given request. And yet, to the credit of many within the sport, we have received substantial cooperation in providing information and producing documents from a variety of sources" (
LONDON TIMES, 10/13).
