Fifa: It would be Illegal to Release Publication of World Cup Bidding Process

Football governing body Fifa has responded to calls for it to release a publication of the World Cup bidding process, saying that it would not be legal to do so.

Ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia compiled a dossier on the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, held in Russia and Qatar respectively, which "reaches conclusions concerning further action with respect to certain individuals".

Fans and experts, including Garcia, have demanded that Fifa release the report, but the Sepp Blatter led organisation is standing its ground and refusing to do so.

"Firstly, it must be pointed out that the main report has been produced not by Michael Garcia alone, but also by the deputy chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Fifa Ethics Committee Cornel Borbély," said Hans-Joachim Eckert, Fifa's chairman of the adjudicatory chamber.

"In fact, the report into Russia and the USA was produced solely by Cornel Borbély. This is because Michael Garcia was unable to take part in some parts of the investigation due to the possibility of conflicts of interest, for example in the case of the American bid (as he is a US citizen).

"Publishing the report in full would actually put the Fifa Ethics Committee and Fifa itself in a very difficult situation legally. What is more, we have to respect the personal rights of the people mentioned in the report, which in the case of full publication of the report would in all likelihood not be possible."

Eckert says that a statement will be released in November, which "will contain an overview of the investigation report, a summary of the main findings, conclusions and recommendations of the report, as well as a brief evaluation of the same."