FIFA is in trouble once again. The embattled organization is facing possible legal action from the English Football Association following President Sepp Blatter's revelation that the 2018 World Cup was handed to Russia before votes had even been cast.
Simon Johnson, the COO of England's failed World Cup bid, told The Guardian the whole ordeal is an 'absolute scandal' and urges the FA to take action against FIFA.
"I no longer work for the FA but I personally think they should bring an action to recover the costs of a bidding process which was neither fair nor transparent and we've now discovered was rigged." He told The Guardian. "I think the FA has an obligation to bring an action against Fifa to recover not just their own costs but those incurred by the 12 host cities who were part of the bid, our sponsors, contractors and the government."
FA chairman Greg Dyke said that the organization will have to consult its lawyers on the matter to see what can be done about the situation. The country spent an estimated £21m on their bid, £2.5m of which came from public coffers. Dyke said "it would be very nice to get taxpayers' money back".
Earlier this week, Blatter threw the scandal-mired organization into the fire once again by revealing the specifics of the bidding process for the 2018 tournament.
'In 2010, we had a discussion of the World Cup and then we went to a double decision. For the World Cups, it was agreed that we go to Russia because it's never been in Russia, Eastern Europe, and for 2022, we go back to America. And so we will have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers.' Said Blatter to Russian news outlet TASS.
