British lawmakers on Wednesday called for an independent investigation into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups despite a 'whistleblower' retracting allegations that Qatar paid bribes to FIFA members. The culture, media and sport (CMS) committee said FIFA's reforms announced last month were "encouraging" but that football's world body still needed a full inquiry into allegations of past misconduct.
Committee member Damian Collins also believes there should be a separate investigation into FIFA member Mohamed Bin Hammam's activities in football after he was banned for life for bribery while running for FIFA president in May. Bin Hammam played a key role in Qatar's success in winning the 2022 World Cup bid in December, but the bid denies any suggestion of wrongdoing. The CMS report states: "The committee notes that FIFA has received an apparent retraction of the original allegations related to Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid.
"While it welcomes the withdrawal of the allegations made by the 'whistleblower', the committee is still concerned that no apparent effort was made by FIFA to investigate these allegations when they were put to it, and that other allegations - specifically those made by ex-England 2018 chairman Lord Triesman in evidence to the committee - remain."