LONDON (AP)—England’s World Cup bid team has written to the FIFA officials who will decide the 2018 host and asked them not to punish its campaign over British media investigations into alleged corruption in the bidding process.
In the letter, seen by The Associated Press, the senior officials from England 2018 distance themselves from The Sunday Times’ investigation into alleged vote-selling that has led to two members of the 24-man executive committee being suspended.
David Dein, England 2018 international president, and chairman Geoff Thompson, a FIFA vice president, even say in the letter that the suspended pair, Reynald Temarii and Amos Adamu, remain “our friends.”
Spain-Portugal, which in the 2018 race, has been accused of colluding with 2022 candidate Qatar in a vote-trading pact.
FIFA’s ethics court will meet this week to decide whether the two voters and two candidates should be barred from the bidding contests.
The hosts for both tournaments will be chosen by FIFA’s executive committee on Dec. 2.
England 2018 fears its campaign has been harmed by a British newspaper uncovering alleged wrongdoing within FIFA, with executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam saying “forging identity … and setting traps are unethical behaviors.”
“We hope England’s bid will not be judged negatively due to the activities of individual media organizations, regardless of one’s view of their conduct,” Thompson and Dein wrote. “We hope you appreciate that we have no control over the British media.
“The England bid stands on its own above any such activities, representing our country as a whole, and the millions of fans who are desperate to see a World Cup in England.”
Fearing further damage to its campaign, England 2018 has already asked the publicly funded BBC to drop a TV documentary, which is set to detail alleged FIFA wrongdoing and be broadcast only days before the vote.
“We are alerting you to the fact that the program appears in part to be raking over allegations, some of which are up to 10 years old and have already been formally dealt with by FIFA and the Swiss courts,” Thompson and Dein wrote.
In the letter, there is an element of sympathy for Temarii and Adamu, who both deny they offered to sell their votes in the videos released by The Sunday Times.
“It has been a difficult time for FIFA and, as a member of the football family, we naturally feel solidarity with you and your colleagues,” Thompson and Dein wrote. “The actions FIFA has taken have been appropriate, demonstrating a robust process. We all agree that if there is evidence of corruption it must be investigated and, if proven, cannot be condoned.
“At the same time, your colleagues and our friends are facing investigation by the Ethics Committee and are rightly entitled to a fair hearing.”
England 2018’s team assured world football’s governing body in the letter that they have “done all we can to assist FIFA and its members during recent weeks.”
Two weeks before The Sunday Times probe was published, England 2018 alerted FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke to the activities of a bogus company that turned out was established by reporters posing as lobbyists working for American companies.
“We kept him informed on regular occasions as we conducted our investigation into this company,” Dein and Thompson wrote.
The letter also tries to assuage any fears FIFA might have that taking the tournament to England for the first time since 1966 would trigger another eight years of the organization being criticized by the British media.
“Whilst there is currently a critical assessment of the British media, we should also emphasize it has a huge positive impact and can be a powerful force for change for the global football family,” Thompson and Dein wrote. “Concern over what the future might hold for FIFA in its relationship with the British media if we were to be successful should also be dismissed.”
As well as Spain-Portugal, England is also competing against bids from Russia and Netherlands-Belgium for the 2018 tournament. England expects its facilities and ability to host the event will be praised in FIFA’s technical reports this week.
“We know you will want to make your decision based on what is best for football,” Thompson and Dein wrote.
