FIFA's main sponsors back investigation into Qatar World Cup corruption claims

Sepp Blatter

Five of FIFA’s six main sponsors have come together to back an investigation into the World Cup bidding process which was supposedly rigged in favour of Qatar. Sony, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Hyundai/Kia and Visa have issued statements. The only sponsor yet to issue a statement are the Middle East airline Emirates.

Other sponsors of the World Cup, BP and Budweiser, have also expressed their concerns with the allegations.

Qatar were awarded the 2022 FIFA World Cup in a bidding proess that shockingly saw Australia, Japan, South Korea and United States lose out to a nation with barely any football history and where temperatures soar to 50 degrees Celsius during the day.

Allegations of corruption and bribery soon came up and members asked for a new bidding process. UEFA president Michel Platini also supported a new vote if allegations were proved to be true. An investigation is already underway by FIFA’s ethics committee and their report is due to be released in July.

Adidas said in a statement, The negative tenor of the public debate around Fifa at the moment is neither good for football nor for Fifa and its partners.”

Coca-Cola were also concerned about the allegations and said: "Anything that detracts from the mission and ideals of the Fifa World Cup is a concern to us."

Hyundai/Kia’s statement said: "We are confident that Fifa is taking these allegations seriously and that the investigatory chamber of the Fifa ethics committee will conduct a thorough investigation."

FIFA also issued a statement regarding the investigation: "We are in constant contact with our commercial affiliates, including Adidas, Sony and Visa, and they have 100% confidence in the investigation currently being conducted by Fifa's independent ethics committee."

FIFA president Sepp Blatter chose to play the racism card and said, "There is a sort of storm against FIFA relating to the Qatar World Cup,"

"Sadly there's a great deal of discrimination and racism. It really makes me sad,"

Never ignoring media reports on ethics allegations in football. But let the Ethics Committee work!

— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) June 7, 2014

Last month, Mohamed bin Hammam was accused of bribing Qatari football officials. It was reported that he paid $5million to football officials in exchange for their support of the Qatar bid

This is not the first time Hammam has been in trouble. The 65-year-old Hammam was once disbarred from football activities for life in July 2011 for attempted bribery but the ban was later annulled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.