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Germany warns FIFA of UEFA quitting if 2018, 2022 WC bidding reports not published

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ANI London
Last Updated : Nov 16 2014 | 3:55 PM IST

President of the German Football League Dr. Reinhard Rauball has warned that UEFA's 54-member nations could quit FIFA if Michael Garcia's report into the 2018 and 2022 World Cups bidding is not published in full.

Rauball laid bare the tensions within FIFA over the split between the ethics committee judge, Hans-Joachim Eckert, and Garcia, the US attorney who heads the investigatory arm and spent 18 months probing the race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Garcia has disowned Eckert's summary of his 430-page report, which effectively cleared Russia and Qatar.

Rauball said that the result was a breakdown in communication, and it has shaken the foundations of FIFA in a way he has never experienced before, The Guardian reported.

He suggested two things as a solution, saying that not only must the decision of the ethics committee be published, but Garcia's bill of indictment too, so it becomes clear what the charges were and how they were judged.

Additionally, Rauball said that the areas that were not evaluated in the report and whether that was justified should be made public. He said that that is the only way FIFA can deal with the complete loss of credibility.

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He said that if the report was not published in full then UEFA should consider its own position within FIFA.

Rauball said that if this doesn't happen and the crisis is not resolved in a credible manner, one has to entertain the question of whether one is still in good hands with FIFA, and added that one option that would have to bear serious consideration is certainly that UEFA leaves FIFA.

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First Published: Nov 16 2014 | 3:42 PM IST

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