FIFA rejects Michael Garcia's appeal over summary of his corruption report

FIFA has rejected an appeal launched by ethics investigator Michael Garcia over the handling of his inquiry into the alleged corruption that allowed Russia and Qatar to win the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert published a 42-page summary of Garcia's investigation last month, clearing the respective organizing committees of any wrongdoing - something Garcia instantly dismissed as an "erroneous representations of the facts" he had uncovered.

In a statement, football's governing body explained its decision to deem Garcia's appeal inadmissible:

"The FIFA appeal committee ... has concluded that the appeal lodged by the chairman of the investigatory chamber, Michael J. Garcia, against the statement of the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee, Hans-Joachim Eckert, is not admissible. 

"The said statement about the report on the inquiry into the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™ Bidding Process does not constitute a decision ... and as such is neither legally binding nor appealable."