The Garcia Report on the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid process has been released

Back in 2012, FIFA asked American investigator Michael Garcia to look into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process and determine whether or not the votes were corrupted. He produced the Garcia Report, most of which the public had never seen. Then German outlet Bild got a copy.

It claimed the report had details of bribes, from luxury hotels, to construction contracts, to straight-up cash payments. Nothing along these lines was mentioned in the Garcia report summary that FIFA released in 2014.

FIFA’s decision to release its own adapted version of the report that didn’t implicate the Qatar bid at all — rather than the full report — led to Garcia’s resignation from his position with FIFA. But with Bild threatening to reveal all the details on Wednesday, FIFA pre-empted it by releasing the report a day early.

In its press release, FIFA blamed recently fired ethics committee members for the Garcia Report remaining secret until now.

“This had been called for on numerous occasions by FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the past and also supported by the FIFA Council since its meeting in Mexico City in May 2016,” FIFA said in a statement. “Despite these regular requests, it is worth noting that the former chairpersons of the Ethics Committee, Cornel Borbély and Hans-Joachim Eckert, had always refused to publish it.”

Back in 2015, when the United States Department of Justice’s case against soccer officials was unfolding, FIFA said that Russia and Qatar could lose their World Cup bids if evidence of bribery was found. A year after that, FIFA admitted for the first time that previous World Cup bids had been influenced by bribes, shattering any illusions that this process had ever been clean.

But FIFA doesn’t want to move the World Cup away from Qatar, because the officials who allegedly accepted bribes or engaged in otherwise unethical practices are not all known. If the people on the other end of those deals lose out on the World Cup and what it would bring to them, they have no reason to keep the names of those officials secret.

The only thing that gets FIFA to do anything is the threat of losing money. Sponsor pressure helped lead to Sepp Blatter’s resignation and FIFA committee reforms. No matter what the Garcia Report reveals, only FIFA’s corporate partners can enact change.

One year ago, Iceland beat England in the European Championship. Here are the highlights. (r/soccer)

NASL has announced an expansion team in San Diego with some unlikely investors: Eden Hazard, Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye and Moussa Sow. (NASL)

Slovakia’s prime minister wants UEFA to look into potential match fixing after Italy and Germany produced the only result that could have knocked his country out of the Under-21 championship. (BBC)

Shrewsbury Town will become the first English club to introduce safe standing. (Guardian)

Sampdoria’s president has confirmed that Milan Skriniar has been sold to Inter Milan. (Football Italia)

Stephanie Yang on the lack of women in soccer coaching and what to do about it.

Duncan Tucker on Mexico’s new women’s league and what it might do for its national team. (Vice)

Matt Stanger on what Paulinho to Barcelona could mean for the future of the Chinese Super League. (The Set Pieces)

The best kind of transfer rumor story: Alvaro Morata’s wife followed Manchester United on Instagram. (MEN)

United is also willing to pay up for Radja Nainggolan. (Mail)

After a quick glance at some alternatives, Chelsea is back in for Virgil van Dijk. (Standard)

Lyon is signing Mariano from Real Madrid, which could clear the way for Alexandre Lacazette to go to Arsenal. (Marca)

And that, in turn, could free up Olivier Giroud for a big money move to West Ham. (ESPN)

Kevin Kampl could move to China to join up with former coach Roger Schmidt. (Bild)

Atletico Madrid is reportedly interested in Zlatan Ibrahimovic. (Into the Calderon)

Adam Ounas’ move to Napoli looks imminent. (Football Italia)

Liverpool will reportedly bid £25 million for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. (Mirror)

U-21 Euros: two games (from 12 p.m.) — The semifinals are here, and the big name countries all made it. England faces Germany, while Spain takes on Italy.