FIFA was forced to release the so-called "Garcia Report", which investigates allegations of widespread corruption in the world of football.
The document got its name from its author - US lawyer Michael Garcia - and was released today because the largest German newspaper "Bild" threatened to do so.
On the official FIFA website, it is stated that the report was released to increase transparency, and this decision was made by Gianni Infantino himself.
The main focus of the document is on the upcoming two World Cup tournaments that will be held in Russia and Qatar. The 2022 tournament raises many suspicions, as the Southwest Asian state surpassed candidates like the US, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. All of them have significantly more developed football infrastructure.
Furthermore, there have been talks of unfair voting even before the 2010 World Cup took place, and when the results were revealed, the outrage became even louder.
The "Garcia Report" was actually completed almost three years ago, but FIFA never fully released it. Instead of the 434-page document, the organization only allowed access to a 42-page summary, which, according to Garcia, is "unfinished and misleading." The summary justifies both Russia and Qatar.
After the release of the summary, Garcia resigned from the FIFA Ethics Committee's investigatory chamber.
Meanwhile, FIFA officials insisted that the full reports could not be released for legal reasons.
As it turns out now, the document does not specifically mention corruption, but reveals that "executive committee members sought personal services or benefits" and "showed disdain for ethics rules and the attitude that rules do not apply to them."
Even if the "Garcia Report" does not lead to the World Cup hosting rights being taken away from Qatar, it will still have a positive impact on increasing transparency and preventing corruption within FIFA in the future.
