BBC sports editor
Fifa is coming under growing pressure over its controversial decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
One of its sponsors, Sony, has called on the governing body to carry out an "appropriate investigation" into claims of wrongdoing in the bidding process.
Five of Fifa's six main sponsors have issued statements on the controversy, including Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times has published new allegations based on a leak of millions of secret documents.
Qatar was awarded the right to stage the 2022 World Cup in December 2010.
The decision has come under increasing scrutiny with Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce saying he would support a re-vote to find a new host if corruption allegations can be proven.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter called for time to investigate the issues when he posted a message on his Twitter account which said: "Never ignoring media reports on ethics allegations in football. But let the Ethics Committee work!"
However, German sportswear company Adidas, which has a long-term sponsorship deal with Fifa that runs until 2030, said in a statement: "The negative tenor of the public debate around Fifa at the moment is neither good for football nor for Fifa and its partners."
Coca-Cola said on Sunday that: "Anything that detracts from the mission and ideals of the Fifa World Cup is a concern to us, but we are confident [Fifa] is taking these allegations very seriously and is investigating them thoroughly."
And Visa said it expected Fifa to take "appropriate actions to respond to the report and its recommendations", while BP, which owns Fifa sponsor Castrol, says it "expects Fifa to deal with this issue in the right and proper manner".
Last week the Sunday Times alleged that Qatar's former Fifa vice-president Mohamed bin Hammam paid £3m to football officials around the world to help win support for Qatar in the run up to the World Cup vote in December 2010.
Now Bin Hammam is facing claims that he used his top level contacts in the Qatari royal family and government to arrange deals and favours to secure the tournament for his country.
Fifa is coming under growing pressure over its controversial decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
One of its sponsors, Sony, has called on the governing body to carry out an "appropriate investigation" into claims of wrongdoing in the bidding process.
Five of Fifa's six main sponsors have issued statements on the controversy, including Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times has published new allegations based on a leak of millions of secret documents.
Qatar was awarded the right to stage the 2022 World Cup in December 2010.
The decision has come under increasing scrutiny with Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce saying he would support a re-vote to find a new host if corruption allegations can be proven.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter called for time to investigate the issues when he posted a message on his Twitter account which said: "Never ignoring media reports on ethics allegations in football. But let the Ethics Committee work!"
However, German sportswear company Adidas, which has a long-term sponsorship deal with Fifa that runs until 2030, said in a statement: "The negative tenor of the public debate around Fifa at the moment is neither good for football nor for Fifa and its partners."
Coca-Cola said on Sunday that: "Anything that detracts from the mission and ideals of the Fifa World Cup is a concern to us, but we are confident [Fifa] is taking these allegations very seriously and is investigating them thoroughly."
And Visa said it expected Fifa to take "appropriate actions to respond to the report and its recommendations", while BP, which owns Fifa sponsor Castrol, says it "expects Fifa to deal with this issue in the right and proper manner".
Last week the Sunday Times alleged that Qatar's former Fifa vice-president Mohamed bin Hammam paid £3m to football officials around the world to help win support for Qatar in the run up to the World Cup vote in December 2010.
Now Bin Hammam is facing claims that he used his top level contacts in the Qatari royal family and government to arrange deals and favours to secure the tournament for his country.
0 comments:
Post a Comment