The leader of the Spain-Portugal bid to host the World Cup denied it has formed an alliance with 2022 hopeful Qatar to gain an advantage in the voting process.
FIFA opened an investigation into claims of collusion and vote-swapping between the pair after football’s governing body had provisionally suspended two of its own members last week after The Sunday Times in London alleged they tried to sell their votes.
“The Iberian bid denies reaching any pact with Qatar or any other candidate and has made itself completely available to FIFA to investigate the allegations,” bid chief executive Miguel Angel Lopez said in a statement. “There is no basis to (reports) that our World Cup project is in danger.”
Marca newspaper reported on Thursday the bid was in danger of missing out on hosting football’s biggest prize due to the investigation, although Lopez added he had already been in contact with FIFA last week to dispel such allegations.
Spain, which hosted the World Cup in 1982, is competing with Russia, England and Netherlands-Belgium for the 2018 tournament. The United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Qatar have focused on 2022.
The vote is on December 2.
