BRUSSELS — Belgium’s football federation could seek compensation for the money spent on its unsuccessful bid for the 2018 World Cup if there evidence of criminal wrongdoing in FIFA’s choice of Russia as host.
Federation president Francois de Keersmaecker tells Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad that “if fraud is proven, it is clear that we will ask for damages.”
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Belgium bid jointly with the Netherlands for the 2018 tournament, finishing a distant third among four candidates in the vote of FIFA executive committee members.
Het Nieuwsblad says the Belgian federation spent 450,000 euros ($514,000) of Belgium’s total share of 4.5 million euro ($5.14 million) of the bid campaign.
De Keersmaecker says “the federation put a lot of money and effort in this.”
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