FIFA's voting date on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids unchanged
Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, has said the body will not push back the vote on which country is to host the 2022 World Cup.
On 20 October, FIFA's ethics committee suspended two of the body's executive members, Amos Adamu and Reynald Temarii, after allegations of vote-selling were leveled at them.
Despite the controversy, which arose less than two months before the end of the bidding campaign, Blatter said that the vote determining the winner among the 2022 bids remains scheduled for 2 December, when the host of the 2018 tournament will also be announced.
"We are five weeks from the final decision so there was never a question of changing anything," said Blatter, speaking after the executive committee convened in Zurich on Friday. "So on 2 December the FIFA executive committee will decide in a secret ballot
the hosts for 2018 and 2022."
Ethics committee to hand out verdict in November
Blatter, who has been in office since 1998, also said he is confident FIFA will be able to carry out a thorough investigation of the incident.
The ethics committee, which is chaired by retired Swiss player Claudio Sulser, has the power to ban officials from "any kind of football-related activity" according to FIFA's disciplinary code. It is expected to deliver its verdict by 17 November.
"This is an uncomfortable situation for Fifa but we must say that inside FIFA we have the necessary instruments to react properly. The ethics committee are addressing a case that involves allegations of possible corruption. We will deal with them according
to current regulations. If and when people are suspended for the vote on 2 December they will not be replaced."
England, Russia, Belgium/Netherlands and Spain/Portugal are bidding to host the 2018 tournament, while the United States, Qatar, Japan/South Korea and Australia are the candidates for 2022.
Tags: