Garcia submitted his findings to Eckert in September at a meeting that quickly revealed that they had different agendas with respect to releasing the contents to the public. According to several people briefed on the meetings, Eckert and his deputy, Alan Sullivan, told Garcia early on that they thought much of the report could probably not be made public because of privacy concerns. That surprised Garcia, who had assumed that if the report was appropriately redacted — to protect a few crucial witnesses — most of it could, and should, be released.

Image Hans-Joachim Eckert will summarize the findings of an investigation of FIFA's bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Credit... Sebastien Bozon/AFP, via GettyImages

Garcia contended that the FIFA inquiry was not a criminal investigation but a review that related to FIFA’s internal rules and regulations; Eckert expressed concerns about the privacy of those accused of wrongdoing. (In the structure of FIFA’s ethics committee, Garcia leads the investigatory chamber and Eckert the adjudicatory chamber.)

Eckert later released a statement through FIFA announcing that he would release his initial impressions of Garcia’s report in early November, but in doing so he also outlined how the process would proceed from there.

“Our primary task for now is to examine whether the investigatory chamber has followed all the correct procedures and whether, in our assessment, more detailed information is required in certain areas,” Eckert said in his statement. “However, it is up to the investigatory chamber, under the chairmanship of Michael Garcia, to decide whether — and if so against whom — specific ethics proceedings should be opened.”

If Garcia determines that such proceedings are required, Eckert said, “the matter will be formally referred to the adjudicatory chamber, which will then initiate the adjudicatory proceedings.”