Russian investigative outlet The Insider claimed to have obtained leaked correspondence from a member of the Russia 2018 organising committee to three other officials, which included detailed dossiers on how Fifa’s executive committee could be swayed.
The alleged dossiers, from which the publication reproduced screenshots, along with the March 2010 email to which a document containing them was purportedly attached, included photographs of the likes of Franz Beckenbauer and Michel Platini alongside strategies for winning their votes. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by either man.
The dossier on Sepp Blatter, then president of Fifa, had his nephew, Philippe, identified as a potential influence, and Roman Abramovich was also allegedly named, as well as England’s voting member Geoff Thompson, the former Football Association chairman.
His alleged dossier recommended offering “valuable gifts to his wife,’’ claiming she had a ‘‘strong influence on him”. There is no suggestion that Thompson or his wife were ever offered any gifts.