Blatter blames lack of evidence as World Cup probe ends

FIFA's ethics committee announced on Thursday they would take no action against Qatar and Spain/Portugal but FIFA president Blatter said the committee had not found the bidders to be "blanco" – in other words free of suspicion – only that they had found no evidence. With less than two weeks to go until FIFA's executive committee decide on the hosts of the two World Cups, Blatter's remarks will serve to confirm the belief that Spain/Portugal are leading the race for 2018 – and that Qatar have a real chance of staging the 2022 tournament in a country half the size of Wales.

Blatter conceded that with eight of the 22 executive committee members from the nine bidding nations there was always going to be some "collusion".

He told a news conference in Zurich: "Collusion... what does that mean? It's obvious that these people they all speak together so you cannot avoid collusion.

"If there should be something wrong with such collusion then naturally somebody would intervene. The ethics committee chairman explained yesterday they had not enough evidence but they have not said 'it's blanco'."

Blatter also said he believes England's bid would not be damaged by the fall-out of the Sunday Times investigation into corruption which led to six FIFA officials receiving bans of between one and four years. Blatter said that the "entrapment" was "not fair" but that it should not – as is feared by England 2018 – rebound on their bid.

The FIFA president said: "Why should this have an influence on the English bid? Human beings taking decisions don't look so much at the documents in front of them so I don't think they take into consideration what has been published or not.

"That's my opinion."

Blatter conceded that the bans – including those for two executive members, Nigeria's Amos Adamu and Tahiti's Reynald Temarii – had not gone down well with some of the other members who viewed them as overly harsh.

But he warned that the eyes of the world would be on FIFA when the decisions are made in Zurich on December 2.

Blatter added: "These decisions may not have found total support of all the members of the executive committee, it would be exaggerated to pretend that.

"But FIFA agrees with the decisions handed down by the ethics committee.

"The entire world is right now looking forward to December 2 and I am convinced that the executive committee has not only heard but has also understood my message."

Blatter also announced two former FIFA employees caught up in the Sunday Times investigation – ex-general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen and former tournament director Michel Bacchini – had been declared "persona non grata" by the organisation.

Blatter said the bans imposed by the ethics committee gave FIFA a chance to "clean up" but that the Sunday Times' investigation methods were not fair.

He said: "I cannot say that it is very fair when you open traps to entrap people. But if... the objective is to have a clean sheet in a football then I can understand it."