FIFA to look at 2018, 2022 World Cup winning bids

Michael Garcia, the newly-appointed joint chief investigator of FIFA's ethics committee, has said the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively will come under scrutiny. Garcia of the USA and Hans-Joachim Eckert of Germany were appointed joint chairmen of the Ethics Committee during FIFA's extraordinary meeting in Zurich in July. The awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany will also come under scrutiny as part of the pairs' inquiries, Garcia told German television in an interview. The American said one of their many tasks is also to look into the relationship between FIFA and defunct marketing company ISL, who sold FIFA's World Cup TV rights. Swiss court documents, recently published by FIFA, reveal ISL paid millions of dollars in bribes to former FIFA president Joao Havelange and ex-FIFA executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira. "If you look at things, it is clear there is something to investigate and that is what we are going to do," the 51-year-old Garcia told ARD. Garcia also said the conduct of FIFA President Sepp Blatter will also come under scrutiny. "The more important the person involved is, the more important it is to examine them as well," he added.