Dr Rogan Taylor, from the University’s Football Industries Group comments on the Sunday Times allegations of corruption surrounding FIFA’s decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar
“So far, the allegations against FIFA are not a disaster, it has survived many such claims before.
“However, it will be a significant blow for FIFA if the Sunday Times can prove that money was handed out to the four African representatives whose votes led to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup.
“If this isn’t proven, this will be seen as the English media having another a go at FIFA because it wasn’t awarded the 2018 World Cup.
“FIFA is an enigma of an organisation because of its influence, its power and its access to large sums of money and this is all out of context with the way it is elected, which is partly democratic and partly not.
“I personally know a number of people who work for FIFA Executive and can categorically say they are not corrupt.
“To summarise, FIFA is not all a bad egg, but parts of it are a bit smelly.”
