Press TV

A senior Kazakh sports official says the oil-rich Central Asian country plans to bid for the 2026 tournament for the association football world championship.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Astana, on Saturday, the outgoing head of Kazakhstan’s football federation, Adilbek Zhaksybekov, said Kazakhstan is making a drive to host the prestigious international sports event.

Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, is currently bidding to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Asian Winter Games were staged in Almaty, and the 2017 Winter Universiade will also take place in the city.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be hosted by Russia, and the Persian Gulf kingdom of Qatar will host the next edition of the tournament in 2022.

FIFA is currently facing strong criticism for not publishing a report by ethics investigator, Michael Garcia, into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Garcia’s original 350-page report has been summarized by FIFA ethics committee judge, Hans-Joachim Eckert, where he clears the winning bidders for the two World Cup events of corruption and rules out a re-vote for the tournaments.

Garcia has sternly criticized the 42-page summary report and pledged to appeal against the decision.

He has said that Eckert’s report “contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations.”

Back in 2011, FIFA whistleblower, Phaedra Almajid, said three FIFA executive committee members were paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar over its 2010 vote. Her name was mentioned in a statement that year, in which she said she was coerced to withdraw her claims of corruption by unnamed Qatari officials.

MP/KA/SS