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Russia’s FIFA World Cup organizers denied playing a part in dirty dealings over their bid to host the 2018 competition Friday, saying their application was “transparent” and met all requirements.
"The Russia 2018 Organizing Committee wishes to underline once again that Russia's bidding committee carried out its campaign for the right to hold the 2018 FIFA world cup in full compliance with FIFA's code of ethics, and the regulations that determine the rules of application," the committee said in a statement.
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The statement came after Russian officials were obliged to clarify that they were not aware the vote to elect them as host was rigged.
"If there were people who had a clear position on who to vote for its their right, they are entitled to that. Its their business to make decisions about world football," Alexei Sorokin, the chief executive of the Russian committee told World Football Insider in an interview.
"All I know is we did not know the outcome of the vote until after the vote."
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Sorokin was responding to allegations from disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who has been suspended for 90 days by the Ethics Committee of world soccer's governing body amid a corruption investigation and since stepped down, who said that the result was prearranged.
"It was agreed that we go to Russia (for 2018) ... and for 2022 we go back to America,” he told Russia’s TASS news agency.
Fourteen soccer officials and sports marketing executives face criminal proceedings in the U.S. Department of Justice for bribery, money laundering and wire fraud in an ongoing multi-million-dollar investigation.
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