Baku, January 13, AZERTAC
FIFA Presidential candidate Shaikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa claimed he would revisit the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid processes “if serious wrongful conduct is proven by a court of law” should he be elected as head of world football’s governing body.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President was one of only two respondents to a survey sent out by campaign group #NewFIFANow, along with Frenchman Jérôme Champagne, who said he would still vote for Russia for the 2018 tournament despite a criminal investigation being launched into how the event was awarded.
Both men believe that the Garcia report into the bid processes for the two World Cups should be published with redactions.
This is in direct contrast to fellow candidate and Jordanian Football Association President Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who called for the immediate publication of the report in full because “people need to know what is going on at FIFA”.
Champagne also claimed he would choose the United States to host the 2022 competition, which was controversially given to Qatar.
Shaikh Salman refused to directly answer the question on who would get his vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups should the bid process be hypothetically re-run.
