The survey, conducted by Russia’s oldest pollster VCIOM more than a week after the FIFA fallout, found that 65 percent of respondents in 130 cities across the country think the criminal investigation against FIFA was a hidden attack at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The scandal erupted in late May when Swiss prosecutors held several high-ranking FIFA officials at the organization’s headquarters in Bern. The arrests were made on a US federal corruption warrant.
Switzerland launched a separate criminal probe into the bidding process for World Cup host countries, specifically Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
The same survey showed that 65 percent of those polled think that Russia’s win in the World Cup bid was fair, while 13 percent suspect foul play. A fifth of respondents said they have doubts about the fairness of the bidding process.
Russia won the 2018 World Cup bid in December 2010. The world's biggest football championship is due to take place from June 14 to July 15, 2018, in 11 Russian cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan and Sochi.
