FIFA investigating claims of Australia bid team 'gifts'

FIFA have confirmed they are investigating allegations that Australian World Cup bid officials handed out jewellery and paid travel costs for a Trinidad team in order to win votes reports The Sydney Morning Telegraph.

The newspaper quotes documents from Football Federation Australia that also details payments of up to 6.4million to consultants if the bid is successful. A FIFA statement said: "FIFA can confirm that it is looking into this matter." The most damaging allegations concern gifts of pearl necklaces for the wives of FIFA executive committee members, who will, in December, decide the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and that they funded the travel costs of Trinidad and Tobago's under-20 team to fly to Cyprus – one of FIFA's most powerful figures, Jack Warner, is from the Caribbean country.

FFA claim the necklaces and cufflinks were given before formal bidding had started. FIFA's bidding rules allows gifts of "symbolic or incidental value".