GENEVA
FIFA's Ethic Committee has backed Russia and Qatar's bids to stage the World Cup, which have been dogged by allegations of widespread corruption and bribery, saying they were fully ethical and could go ahead.
The committee announced its findings on the respective bidding processes for 2018 and 2022 on Thursday, saying they had been conducted "in full compliance with the relevant provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics" and committee members could find no reason to open a new bidding process.
The committee said in a statement: "The chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber concludes that the various incidents which might have occurred are not suited to compromise the integrity of the FIFA World Cup 2018/2022 bidding process as a whole.
"The evaluation of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is closed for the FIFA Ethics Committee."
Following the release of the statement, FIFA said it welcomed the decision of the Ethics Committee, adding it "looks forward to continuing the preparations for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, which are already well under way".
The awarding of the FIFA World Cup 2022 rights to the Gulf state of Qatar were dogged by claims that African members on the selection committee had been bribed.
Allegations of wrongdoing had also been levelled at Russia, which was awarded the 2018 World Cup tournament during the same bidding process with Qatar.
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