By David Owen
November 11 – Keenly-awaited reports on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids are set to be dispatched to FIFA Executive Committee members tomorrow as the battle to host one of the world’s biggest sporting occasions heads for a dramatic denouement, insideworldfootball has learnt.
However, the reports – drawn up by FIFA inspectors who visited the 11 bidding nations in a gruelling odyssey earlier this year – are not expected to be made publicly available until next Wednesday (November 17).
It is therefore likely to distract attention from the deliberations of FIFA’s Ethics Committee, which is widely expected to announce its findings on the recent cash-for-votes allegations on the same day.
The reports – prepared by a team led by Harold Mayne-Nicholls (pictured), former head of the Chilean national football federation – will be scoured by bidders for material to support their cases ahead of the all-important votes by FIFA ExCo members on December 2.
Four European bids – from Belgium/Holland, England, Russia and Spain/Portugal – are contesting the right to stage the 2018 tournament.
The 2022 contest pits five bidders – Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea and the United States – against each other.
Mayne-Nicholls’ recent ousting as head of his national federation has been seen as a further blow to a bidding process assailed by weeks of bribery and corruption allegations.
Contacted by insideworldfootball, FIFA confirmed that the technical reports would be published “next week”.
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1752764877labto1752764877ofdlr1752764877owedi1752764877sni@n1752764877ewo.d1752764877ivad1752764877