The FBI's investigation of soccer governing body FIFA includes scrutiny of how the organization awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 competition to Qatar, a U.S. law enforcement official said on Wednesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the review of those awards would be part of a probe that is looking beyond the allegations in an indictment of FIFA officials announced in the United States a week ago.
Swiss prosecutors said at that time that they were investigating the 2018 and 2022 bids. The decision on Qatar, a tiny desert country with no domestic tradition of soccer, was heavily criticized by soccer officials in Western countries.