Fifa’s appeals procedure will swing into action as soon as Michael Garcia submits a formal complaint over the treatment of his report by his ethics committee colleague Hans-Joachim Eckert. Fifa said on Thursday that it was still to receive formal notification but once it does the matter will be considered by its appeals committee, chaired by the Bermudan Larry Mussenden.
Meanwhile, Sepp Blatter will continue to plan his campaign to be re-elected for a fifth term as Fifa president in April next year despite having earlier insisted this would be his last. With no credible challenger having emerged up until now, he is likely to retain his vice-like grip on power despite all the controversy and chaos surrounding his organisation.
While he would have hoped that Eckert’s summary would provide closure on a long-running thorn in his side, Garcia’s intervention means that will not come for some time yet. Nor are those losing bidders still outraged by the decision to choose Qatar, particularly the USA, likely to give up.
They, and campaigners for Fifa reform, will now be turning their attention to the outcome of an FBI investigation into the affairs of former Fifa executives that has been running for at least three years.
