The summary of a year-long investigation into the bidding process for the next two World Cups will not be released until tomorrow, but the gist has already leaked via the English press. Basically: everyone involved was corrupt, but the 2018 and 2022 tournaments will not be taken away from Russia or Qatar.
Here's how the Guardian sums up its contents:
The behaviour of several of the bidders involved in the convoluted and ill-conceived dual bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments is expected to be called into question, including Russia, Australia, Qatar and England.
Individuals who are no longer involved in football – including the likes of Jack Warner, Mohamed Bin Hammam, Reynald Temarii – are expected to be criticised but the summary of the report does not at this stage name any other names.
And there is not believed to be a "smoking gun" that links the behaviour of Mohamed Bin Hammam, the Qatari former Asian Football Confederation president who was banned for life for offering bribes to football officials during his bid for the Fifa presidency, with the Qatar 2022 bid.
This description is backed up by independent reports from the Telegraph and the Press Association. It's as everyone feared and expected: the only people called out in the report will be the ones beyond anyone's power to sanction.
Though the report criticizes Qatar's bid (as well as "most of the nine 2018 and 2022 bid teams") it does not paint Qatar as especially corrupt, and does not recommend or appear to justify holding a re-bid.
We may never know the extent of what was uncovered. The full report of the investigation conducted by former U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia will not be made public. Instead, tomorrow's release will be of a 40-page summary of Garcia's report, compiled by FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.
[Guardian]