Garcia, a former United States attorney, delivered a 350-page report to FIFA's Adjudicatory Chamber yesterday following a year-long investigation into the bidding processes of the two World Cups.

A final decision on whether any disciplinary action will be taken with regard to the report's findings will be taken by the Chamber, which is headed by judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, with the German also set to decide whether the report will be made public.

This verdict is not likely to be revealed before November.

There were a total of nine bidders for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups with Russia, England, Holland/Belgium and Spain/Portugal all looking to host the tournament in 2018, and Qatar, the United States, Australia, Japan and Korea bidding for the 2022 edition.

Garcia's report refers to seven of the nine bids for the two World Cups, with particular emphasis likely to be given to Qatar's bid following years of corruption allegations.

The American did not investigate the activities of the US bid for 2022 due to conflict of interest reasons, while also being unable to investigate Russia's successful 2018 bid due to the fact he is on a list of Americans banned from entering Russia over alleged human-rights violations.

Garcia is blacklisted by Russia for his former role as a prosecutor in sentencing Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

These later two investigations were led by Ethics Committee deputy Cornel Borbély, who delivered separate supplemental reports to the Adjudicatory Chamber.

Qatar was elected to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup during an Executive Committee meeting in December 2010, however, the bid process has been shrouded in corruption allegations ever since ©Getty Images



FIFA's statement made no reference to any possible implications for either of the bid winners, Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, but clearly suggests some action against unnamed individuals, as well as recommendations to change the entire process.

"Over the course of this year-long investigation, the Investigatory Chamber interviewed more than 75 witnesses and compiled a record that, in addition to audio recordings from interviews, includes more than 200,000 pages of relevant material," the statement read.

"The report sets forth detailed factual findings; reaches conclusions concerning further action with respect to certain individuals; identifies issues to be referred to other FIFA committees; and makes recommendations for future bidding processes.

"Pursuant to the FIFA Code of Ethics, the Adjudicatory Chamber will now make a final decision on the report and supplemental reports, including publication."

The Ethics Committee investigation was given the go-ahead following serious allegations of bribery and collusion surrounding the bids.

News reports have focused most of the suspicion on Qatar's bid, with several British newspapers outlining claims that the country's World Cup bid committee secured blocks of votes through cash payments via a powerful FIFA figure from Trinidad and Tobago, Jack Warner, who has denied wrongdoing.

The former FIFA vice-president and President of Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), along with former FIFA presidential candidate and ex-Asian Football Confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam, and ex CONCACAF secretary general Chuck Blazer, all quit FIFA after being engulfed in the corruption scandals.

They were not interviewed by Garcia.

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