World soccer ruling body, FIFA, yesterday afternoon suspended the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup in light of the ongoing investigations into the award of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

FIFA has been engulfed in a gale of corruption allegations that led to the questioning of some of its key officials by federal prosecutors and the resignation of its former President, Sepp Blatter,

FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke, under pressure over a $10m payment from South African World Cup organisers to the former FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner that US prosecutors say was a bribe, confirmed the move at a press conference in Russia, saying it would be “nonsense” to begin the process in the current climate.

Amid the crisis caused by US charges against 14 football officials, and guilty pleas from four more, the world soccer body decided that bidders from any confederation except Asia could bid for the 2026 tournament and that a decision would be made by the 209 member associations in May 2017.

However, Valcke said the process had now been postponed. The US, Mexico and Canada were expected to be among the bidders.

Swiss prosecutors and the FBI are both looking into the controversial bidding process for the 2018 tournament, to be played in Russia, and the 2022 World Cup, awarded to Qatar.

A disputed summary of a FIFA ethics committee report last year ruled there was not sufficient evidence to strip either country of the World Cup but the head of the audit and compliance committee, Domenico Scala, has confirmed it remains a possibility if new evidence emerges.

The summary, which sparked the resignation of the report’s author Michael Garcia, detailed a list of allegations against Qatar and said Russia had been unable to cooperate because the organising committee had lost all its emails.

Following a meeting of the World Cup organising committee in Samara, Valcke insisted the Russian World Cup was on track before the qualifying draw in St Petersburg in July.

“Overall the preparations for the FIFA Confederations Cup and the World Cup as well as our first major event, the preliminary draw, are well under way and on schedule,” said Valcke.

Russia’s 2018 local organising committee chairman, Vitaly Mutko, also a member of the FIFA executive committee and the country’s sports minister, said preparations were “well on track and on schedule.”

He added: “There’s no doubt all the events of 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will go through at top level.”

•Photo shows FIFA Sec. General Jerome Valcke.

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