FIFA Urged To Back Garcia's Probe Into Voting For Qatar World Cup

FIFA's anti-corruption advisers said that the governing body's reputation "depends on resolving allegations about Qatar's selection as 2022 World Cup host," according to the AP. The expert panel chaired by Swiss law professor Mark Pieth "gave its full support on Wednesday to a FIFA investigation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup votes," led by ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia. Pieth wrote in a report to FIFA board members, "The ethics committee should not rest until there is a conclusive answer. If FIFA is to emerge from the scandals of recent years it must now produce a convincing and transparent answer to any issues relating to hosting decisions, either to confirm that the suspicions are, sadly, well founded or to demonstrate that they are groundless." Garcia "is expected to report this year to the ethics panel's judging chamber led by Joachim Eckert of Germany, which will decide sanctions" (AP, 4/23).