Earlier this morning, it appeared that FIFA's report had put question marks over the bidding process involving the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to bed - at least in FIFA's eyes. Instead blankets remain tussled.
Their report, which was published this morning, claimed that Russia and Qatar's winning bids were not compromised by corruption, instead pointing the finger at England's bid for allegedly breaching rules.
Yet, American attorney Michael Garcia, the man who actually led the investigation into the two World Cups says the FIFA report which draws on his work is flawed, which seems to have reopened the can of worms.
With a potential standoff in the works, football writer Philippe Auclair joined Off The Ball on the line to make sense of the chaotic situation.
"If anything, it has taken on a new dimension because we've now got the chief investigator into FIFA's darkest corners, who's come up with an extraordinarily strong statement basically condemning what the man he's supposed to work with has published. The word that really struck me was 'erroneous,'" said Auclair, adding that the "can of worms is overflowing with strange looking creatures once more."
He believes the situation is now almost back to square one, although contracts have been signed and Qatar's preparations for 2022 are already in full swing.
"The more we wait, the more difficult it will be to go back on the decision, if that were possible. But we've waited so long already," said Auclair.
Listen to the full interview via the Football Show podcast player above, where he also spoke about an interview he conducted with controversial FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
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