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FIFA Investigator to Appeal Ruling That Declared Russia's World Cup Bid 'Fair'

Fans of Russia pose during the 2014 World Cup Group H football match against South Korea at the Pantanal arena in Cuiaba on June 17, 2014.

LONDON — Michael Garcia, chairman of the investigatory chamber of FIFA's Ethics Committee, plans to appeal against the report by world soccer's ruling body into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, he said Thursday.

The tournaments are set go ahead in Russia and Qatar as planned after FIFA's ethics committee said it could find no grounds for reopening the controversial bidding process.

"Today's decision by the Chairman of the Adjudicatory Chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the Investigatory Chamber's report. I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA Appeal Committee," Garcia said in a statement.

In a long-awaited report, the ethics committee said that "the various incidents which might have occurred are not suited to compromise the integrity of the FIFA World Cup 2018/2022 bidding process as a whole."

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