FIFA Suspends 2026 World Cup Bidding

Moscow (PNA/Xinhua) — FIFA has to suspend the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup as the world football governing body is facing a raging corruption scandal, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke announced Wednesday.

“Due to the situation, I think it’s nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being. It will be postponed,” Valcke was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency at a press conference in the southern Russian city of Samara.

Details of the new timetable will be sent to the 209 members of the association, Valcke added.

Samara is one of the 11 Russian cities to host matches of the 2018 World Cup. Valcke was visiting the city to check how preparations for the tournament is going on.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced earlier this month an unexpected decision to lay down his mandate just days after he was re-elected as FIFA’s head for a fifth consecutive term, amid tumultuous times for the federation following the arrest of nine high-profile FIFA officials and five corporate executives earlier by Swiss police in Zurich on the request of U.S. authorities. (PNA/Xinhua) RMA/RSM