The man in charge of FIFA ethics–seriously, that’s a job–resigned this week. Michael Garcia stated the equivalent of “irreconciliable differences” for his departure. He was basically unable to reconcile “ethics” and FIFA. Garcia was the lead investigator on a two-year probe that resulted in a 430-page report about the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were given to Russia and Qatar. The bids were believed by many to have been tainted by corruption.
Garcia objected to FIFA’s handling of the report. Instead of making the 430 pages public, FIFA issued instead a 42-page summary of it in November. Garcia stated at the time that the summary “contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the Investigatory Chamber’s report.” The full and detailed statement on his resignation was published by the AP today. Garcia says he lost “confidence and independence.”
