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FIFA Secretary General
Jerome Valcke
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FIFA will postpone the start of bidding for the right to host
the 2026 World Cup following the launch of a corruption investigation, a senior
official in soccer's governing body said on Wednesday.
"Due to the
situation, I think it's nonsense to start any bidding process for the time
being. It will be postponed," FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke told a
news conference in the southern Russian city of Samara.
The decision on who hosts
the 2026 finals had been due to be made in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.
Reuters report continues:
The FBI are investigating
bribery and corruption at FIFA, including scrutiny of how soccer's governing
body awarded World Cup hosting rights to Russia, which won the bidding for
2018, and Qatar, which is due to host the finals in 2022.
Valcke was visiting
Samara, one of the host venues, to see how preparations are going for the 2018
finals.
Despite investigations
into the bidding process involving Russia and Qatar, Russian Sports Minister
Vitaly Mutko said he saw no threat to Moscow's successful bid. He reiterated
that it had been in line with the rules, as did Valcke.
As secretary general of
FIFA since 2007, and as FIFA President Sepp Blatter's lieutenant, Valcke is
seen as one of the most powerful men in world sport.
Emotional Appearance
In an emotional
appearance sitting beside Russian officials at the news conference, the
Frenchman also issued a new denial of allegations of wrongdoing over US$10
million in bank transactions that are under investigation by U.S. authorities.
The funds were
transferred in 2008 to another FIFA official, Jack Warner, who was then the
president of CONCACAF, which governs football in North and Central America and
the Caribbean.
Valcke said there were no
grounds to blame him or FIFA over the way the funds - central to the U.S.
bribery investigation against FIFA - were used. FIFA has also said he had no
role in the payments.
"I really don't
understand what is the problem and why I am such a target with this
question," he said, looking exasperated and leaning forward in his chair
to make his point.
"I am signing
contracts every day ... everything has the signature of the secretary
general," he said. "(But) it's not because I am signing everything
that I am responsible for the way people are acting all around the world."
Valcke said he had been
fiercely criticized in the media.
"I don't have to
justify myself. Except maybe from my father who is 80 years old and doesn't
understand what is going on around me. He is the only person I would still
answer questions from about this," he said.
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