ZURICH (Reuters) - FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the bid process for the 2026 World Cup as "fair, objective and transparent" after the global soccer body announced it had received bid books from two candidates on Monday. The two bids will be evaluated by a task force which will visit all the potential host nations, FIFA added. "I challenge anyone to point out an organisation that conducts a bidding process as fair, objective and transparent as the one that FIFA is carrying out for the 2026 FIFA World Cup," Infantino said in the statement. The last World Cup bidding process, for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, became embroiled in persistent allegations of illegitimate attempts to influence the 22 voting FIFA executive committee members. In light of the allegations, FIFA expanded the right to vote to all its 211 member national associations.

Source: The Star March 26, 2018 13:41 UTC