House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee 2018 World Cup Bid Sixth Report of Session 2010–12 Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 28 June 2011 HC 1031 Published on 5 July 2011 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £12.00 The Culture, Media and Sport Committee The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its associated public bodies. Current membership Mr John Whittingdale MP (Conservative, Maldon) (Chair) Dr Thérèse Coffey MP (Conservative, Suffolk Coastal) Damian Collins MP (Conservative, Folkestone and Hythe) Philip Davies MP (Conservative, Shipley) Paul Farrelly MP (Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme) Alan Keen MP (Labour, Feltham and Heston) Mrs Louise Mensch MP (Conservative, Corby) Mr Adrian Sanders MP (Liberal Democrat, Torbay) Jim Sheridan MP (Labour, Paisley and Renfrewshire North) Mr Tom Watson MP (Labour, West Bromwich East) Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/parliament.uk/cmscom. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some or all written evidence are available in a printed volume. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Emily Commander (Clerk), Andrew Griffiths (Second Clerk), Elizabeth Bradshaw (Inquiry Manager), Ian Hook (Senior Committee Assistant), Keely Bishop/Alison Pratt (Committee Assistants), Steven Price (Committee Support Assistant) and Jessica Bridges-Palmer (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6188; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] 2018 World Cup Bid 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Introduction 5 2 FIFA’s role during the bidding process 7 3 The English bid 14 Previous reports: Lessons learned? 14 Composition of the bid team 17 Tone and message of the campaign 19 Role of Government 19 International influence 19 Way forward 21 Conclusions and recommendations 23 Formal Minutes 25 Witnesses 26 List of printed written evidence 26 List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament 27 2018 World Cup Bid 3 Summary England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup cost the Football Association (FA) £15 million and local councils £2.1 million. Had England won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, there would have been substantial economic, social and sporting benefits to the country. During our inquiry into domestic football governance, the Committee heard allegations of unethical behaviour by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) representatives during the bidding process for the right to host the 2018 World Cup, and noted criticism of the performance of the England bid team. We decided, therefore, to hold a one-off oral evidence session on England’s 2018 World Cup bid, just as our predecessor Committee had looked at the similarly unsuccessful England bid to host the 2006 World Cup. We were appalled by the allegations of corruption made against members of the FIFA Executive Committee during the course of our inquiry. Although they have been challenged in other evidence, they are sufficiently serious for FIFA to commission a full, urgent and independent investigation, and for the outcome to be made public. Instead, FIFA has given every impression of wishing to sweep all allegations of misconduct under the carpet and of dismissing anyone bringing allegations to them with an approach bordering on contempt. The Committee agrees with the conclusions of the FA independent review with regard to the need for greater transparency at FIFA. We urge FIFA to conduct a thorough review of its governance of bidding processes, incorporating independent input to address systemic reform as well as the conduct of individuals, taking heed of the example set by the International Olympic Committee following allegations of bribery and corruption relating to Salt Lake City’s bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The record of Sepp Blatter does not inspire confidence that this will occur. We look to him now to fulfil the undertakings that he gave at the time of his re-election to the Presidency. We urge the FA and other national associations to ensure that he is held to account for them. We find the decision to drop the investigation following the resignation of FIFA Vice- President Jack Warner extraordinary and it suggests that nothing has changed. As a first step towards restoring confidence we call upon FIFA to publish the Ethics Committee Report. England’s bid team appears to have lacked a number of the components of a successful bid. Lessons did not appear to have been learned from previous studies with regard to the composition and unity of the bid team, and the messages it needed to project. More fundamentally, it appears that the groundwork for a successful bid had not been laid effectively with football’s international bodies. We urge the FA to conduct a review of the 2018 bid along the lines of its 2006 bid report. We recommend that the FA also review its longer term strategy for engaging with FIFA and other international football authorities with a view to increasing its influence, including with regard to governance reform. 4 2018 World Cup Bid Finally, we recommend that the Government review its advice and its own actions on bidding for international sporting events in the light of our Report and any future FA report on the 2018 bid. The Government should consider, in particular, its early announcement of the bid and whether sufficient attention was given to evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the England bid both before the bid was declared and during the bidding process. 2018 World Cup Bid 5 1 Introduction 1. England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup cost the Football Association (FA) £15 million and a number of local councils hoping to host matches £2.1 million. Had England won, there would have been substantial economic, social and sporting benefits to the country. The announcement in December 2010 that the bid to host the 2018 World Cup had been won by Russia, with the UK winning only two votes, was a national disappointment. 2. During the bidding process, both the Sunday Times and Panorama accused a number of senior Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) officials of corruption.1 Indeed, following the Sunday Times allegations, two members of FIFA’s Executive Committee had their voting rights suspended. When they gave evidence before the Committee during our current inquiry into domestic football governance, both Roger Burden, FA National Game Representative, and Lord Triesman, former Chairman of the FA and of the England 2018 World Cup bid team, were, in passing, very critical of the conduct of FIFA during the 2018 bidding process. Lord Triesman confided: I think there will be a time, Mr Chairman, when the contacts that I and others had with members of the FIFA Executive should be described in detail, because some of the processes I don’t think really stand up to proper scrutiny.2 3. Given the above, there was a clear public interest in inviting Lord Triesman back to discuss the 2018 World Cup bid in more detail. We also invited Mike Lee to give a different perspective. Mike Lee had been a strategic adviser behind a number of successful bids for international competitions, including the Qatar bid to host the 2022 World Cup, the result for which was announced on the same day as the 2018 decision; Rio de Janeiro’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics; and London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics. We also approached David Dein, International President of the England bid, but he was unable to attend on the day of our oral evidence session. 4. In launching this inquiry we were also following in the footsteps of our predecessor Committee, which looked at the unsuccessful England bid for the 2006 World Cup as part of its 2000-01 inquiry into staging international sporting events.3 Given the extent of the interest in our oral evidence session, and the seriousness of some of the allegations laid against members of FIFA’s Executive Committee, we have decided to report our findings quickly and in advance of our Report into domestic football governance. Accordingly, this Report concentrates on the two main themes that emerged from the 2018 World Cup bid oral evidence session and related oral and written evidence: • the role played by FIFA during the bidding process, and • the performance of the FA bid team. 1 “FIFA’s dirty Secrets”, Panorama, broadcast on BBC1 on Monday 29 November 2010 and “Want the World Cup? It'll cost you money or girls”, the Sunday Times, 23 October 2010. 2 8 February 2011, Q 54, Football governance, HC 792-i of Session 2010-12 3 Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Third Report of Session 2000-01, Staging International Sporting Events, HC 286-I and II 6 2018 World Cup Bid As always with Select Committee inquiries, the Committee reserves the right to return to this topic should subsequent events merit it.