Wednesday 26 November 2014 11:26, UK
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Sajid Javid has written to FIFA President Sepp Blatter urging football's world governing body to publish a full account of Michael Garcia's investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids were awarded.
In the letter Javid argues that the way that FIFA has handled disclosure of the Garcia report "further calls into question FIFA's independence and transparency."
Javid adds: "Without the disclosure of the full report, FIFA risks not just further damage to its own credibility, but now significant damage to the reputation of football as a whole."
He continues: "I understand there are challenges around confidentiality within the report, but this is a challenge faced by many public bodies in conducting their work in an open and transparent way.
"It should not be beyond FIFA, working with those who contributed with an expectation of confidentiality, to publish the full report in a format that does not contravene assurances of confidentiality where they cannot be waived.
"FIFA is rightly proud of having a membership greater in number than the United Nations. With that in mind, FIFA has a public duty to operate with the highest ethical standards, and with the levels of transparency and good governance expected from an international body representing 209 nations, hundreds of millions of players and billions of supporters."
Javid's move backs the stance of the Football Association. The FA's Chairman Greg Dyke wrote to Sepp Blatter and every FIFA Executive Committee Member last week urging for the full Garcia report to be made public.
