Calls for Australia to host the World Cup amid fresh corruption claims against Qatar

A senior FIFA official says he would support a re-vote for the right to host the 2022 World Cup in the wake of fresh revelations of alleged corruption.

As Qatari officials scramble to deny the latest claims they bought the rights to host the event, FIFA Vice President Jim Boyce says a fresh ballot would be appropriate if the allegations of impropriety are proven.

The Qatari bid has long been shrouded in controversy, but this is the first time a FIFA official has publically spoken about the potential for a re-vote.

Several high-profile football pundits have also added their support for a fresh ballot, saying Australia deserves to host the event.

Over the weekend, UK paper The Sunday Times published what is says are millions of documents that prove disgraced Qatari FIFA official Mohamed Bin Hammam bribed officials in return for votes.

The report, which filled the first 11 pages of the paper, alleges Bin Hammam paid around $5 million in cash, gifts and legal fees to senior football officials.

The allegations come as American lawyer Michael Garcia continues his wide-ranging investigation into alleged corruption in the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The FBI is also conducting an ongoing investigation into payments to former FIFA officials.

Boyce, who was not on the FIFA executive committee at the time of the vote, says he would support a fresh ballot if corruption is proven.

"If Garcia's ... recommendations are that wrongdoing happened for that vote for the 2022 World Cup, I certainly ... would have absolutely no problem whatsoever if the recommendation was for a re-vote," Boyce told the BBC.

Former England captain and current commentator Gary Lineker tweeted that Australia should be awarded the event.

"I think FIFA need another vote. The best candidate for 2022, given 2018 is in Europe, was, and still is, Australia," he said.

Henry Winter, senior football correspondent for London's Daily Telegraph, also tweeted his support for Australia.

"2022 World Cup should have gone to Australia. Latest allegations against Qatar confirm need for a re-vote @SeppBlatter," he tweeted.

Football Federation Australia officials remain cautious, with a spokesman saying they trusted Garcia's ability to "uncover the facts" in his report.

"FFA notes that these are very serious allegations," FFA said in a statement.

"We have been monitoring FIFA's investigation for many months and will be keenly interested in the response.

"At this stage we can only continue to encourage a thorough process that uncovers all the facts in a timely way."

Qatar controversially won the rights to host the event back in 2010, beating out bids from Australia, United States, Japan and South Korea.

Qatar's World Cup organising committee said on Sunday its lawyers are looking into the allegations from The Sunday Times.

It said it was confident Garcia's investigation would conclude that Qatar had fairly won the bidding process.

"The Qatar 2022 Bid Committee always upheld the highest standard of ethics and integrity in its successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup," it said.

"In regard to the latest allegations from The Sunday Times, we say again that Mohamed Bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in Qatar's 2022 Bid Committee.

"We will take whatever steps are necessary to defend the integrity of Qatar's bid."

Qatar's claim that Bin Hammam played no role in their bid contradicts comments from bid chairman Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in 2010, who described Bin Hammam as the campaign’s "biggest asset" who had been a crucial mentor for his team.

Australia's bid has also been shrouded in controversy, with $45 million of public money spent on a campaign that secured only one solitary vote.

The UK government has previously stated that allegations of corruption are a matter for FIFA, but Sports Minister Helen Grant has indicated a change in policy following the latest allegations.

"These appear to be very serious allegations," she said.

"It is essential that major sporting events are awarded in an open, fair and transparent manner."

Shadow UK Sports Minister Clive Efford called also for a re-run of the vote.

"This issue calls the governance of football into question. No one will have any confidence in a FIFA investigation run by (president) Sepp Blatter," he said.

"FIFA must take urgent action and reopen the bidding for the 2022 World Cup if it wants to restore its credibility."

That view was echoed by Per Ravn Omdal, who served on the FIFA executive committee with Bin Hammam.

"If it can be proved that this corruption took place ... I think it would be wise to put it to another vote. If there is more corruption, FIFA should re-examine the decision," the former Norway FA chief told Reuters.

The latest allegations of corruption come at the worst possible time for FIFA executives, who are in Brazil for their annual congress ahead of the start of the 2014 World Cup on June 13.

Blatter last month said it had been "a mistake" to award the 2022 tournament to Qatar, but quickly backtracked saying his quote in French had been mistranslated.