Can FIFA World Cup vote be clean?

Perhaps the only thing scarier than the scale of corruption that US investigators are uncovering in football is the thought that a sizeable chunk of those indicted administrators might soon also have laid paws on the sport’s crown jewel, the World Cup. Back in 2013, it seemed like a smart move when the power to decide where soccer’s showcase tournament is played was taken away from Sepp Blatter and the FIFA president’s discredited Executive Committee.

Sepp Blatter (PHOTO: COURTESY)

Their scandal-tainted selection behind closed doors of not just one but two dubious World Cup hosts — Russia for 2018 and Qatar for 2022 — had caused a reputation-shredding stink for FIFA. So at a May 2013 congress on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, 200 of FIFA’s member associations approved by 198 votes to 2 that they would henceforth make future World Cup hosting decisions themselves.