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The German Football Association have ruled out any participation of a boycott of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, following the recent comments made by UEFA regarding the FIFA corruption scandal.
The German FA president Wolfgang Niersbach insists that a boycott “won’t achieve anything.”
Speaking ahead of a UEFA meeting later this week, Niersbach said; “We don’t want to go down the route of a boycott.”
Niersbach, who has held his position since 2012, added; “We don’t want to get into a situation like with boxing where there are several parallel associations. That doesn’t work.”
If Germany, the current World Cup champions, participate in the 2018 tournament, it would look less likely for a boycott to take place amongst other European nations.
That said, the English Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has backed the announcement made by UEFA, despite Niersbach’s comments, saying that they’d support any action led by the head of European football.
The news comes following FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s recent re-election, after the arrest of seven officials over claims of corruption and bribery amongst the organisation.
No further news has been issued by UEFA of what the decision could be, but it’s reported that Swiss prosecutors have began a separate investigation over the bidding for both the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
