FIFA Clears Qatar Of Corruption, England Criticized

By Cameron La Fontaine | Nov 13, 2014

During the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World cup destinations, corruption claims were made against England and Qatar and now just England is in question.

There were many accusations that Qatar corrupted the vote for the destination of the 2022 FIFA World Cup destination as they won the majority of the votes in 2010. But, Qatar is now cleared from claims of corruption, it’s now England who is facing criticisms for bribing a key voter for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

More from Soccer

According to the BBC, England faces criticism for bribing allegations for a vote from then-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, who stepped down from the position in 2011 amid the bribing allegations against him.

England individuals who reportedly tried to bribe Warner, who is from Trinidad and Tobago, are accused of trying to help “a person of interest to him” find a part time job in the United Kingdom, letting the Trinidad and Tobago Under-20 squad hold a training camp in the UK in the summer of 2009 and sponsoring a gala dinner for the Caribbean Football Union, at a cost of $55,000.

While these allegations continue to linger, the England Football Association denies them.

A statement read: “We do not accept any criticism regarding the integrity of England’s bid or any of the individuals involved.”

Whether a bribe was made or not, it did not matter. For the 2018 vote, Russia received nine first round votes and thirteen second round votes followed by Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium. England finished dead last in the voting with just two votes.

Qatar was awarded the 2022 tournament surprisingly edging out Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

Qatar was also accused of paying Fifa officials £3m to secure backing for its bid after the voting in 2010, but now they have been cleared of the accusations in the FIFA report that still said “certain indications of potentially problematic conduct of specific individuals” but this conduct was not related to the voting.

Qatar dominated the voting for the 2022 FIFA World Cup when they had 11 round one votes and 14 in the final round to edge out the United States’ eight votes.

Now they England has been caught, we’ll see if the trend of bribing FIFA officials continues, or if FIFA is able to adopt a more coercive investigation strategy.

More from FanSided