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Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected the need for a probe by his country against FIFA, the governing body of global football, because of allegations of corruption in the award of the 2018 football World Cup hosting rights. He said the World Cup would be held in Russia in 2018 as scheduled.
Russia had won the bid fair and square, Putin said, and that even the FIFA international investigation had not found any evidence of corruption. "If someone has evidence, this should bring that forward," he told media, adding that Russia is against any rebidding.
The United Kingdom has expressed its desire to host the football World Cup, in case FIFA decides to take it away from Russia. But Putin said the UK had not put in adequate effort to win the bid to host the Cup. "You did not actually do enough to win," he said.
Putin said that all details should be investigated in a transparent manner, and that no one country should try and prosecute citizens of other countries.
He said he was grateful to FIFA for aiming to expand the game to a much wider group of countries than before. The FIFA scandal had recently hit the headlines, forcing newly re-elected president Sepp Blatter to resign.
The United States and Switzerland have launched investigation and prosecution of former FIFA officials and others, in the biggest scandal to hit world football.
Putin said Russia went through the World Cup bid in a legal manner and had won it fairly. He said any argument of violation by FIFA or its officials would be settled in the court. "We are in favour of fighting against corruption and money laundering," Putin said.
