The report - published by Hans-Joachim Eckert, chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's independent Ethics Committee - cleared Qatar, confirmed host of the 2022 World Cup, of any wrongdoing, seemingly ending the possibility of the bidding process being restarted.

READ THE FULL FIFA ETHICS COMMITTEE STATEMENT HERE

However, Australia received heavy criticism for its efforts to win the 2022 edition of the tournament, reportedly attempting to use taxpayers' money to fund bribes and other dirty tricks in its failed $46 million bid to host the that World Cup.



The report says Football Federation Australia was aware of the conduct.



FFA last night released a statement and will contact the FIFA committee about the next steps in the process and fully review the report's findings before making further comment.

"In an interim response to the statement, FFA says it will seek advice from the FIFA Ethics Committee on the next steps in the process," the FFA statement read.

"FFA notes that the Australian Bid team co-operated fully with the inquiry and provided transparency on the conduct of the (World Cup) bid.

"FFA will now fully review the statement and its findings before making any further comment."

The Football Association and England's bidding team for the 2018 World Cup also faced criticism, with the report claiming the FA had "damaged the integrity of the ongoing bidding process" by trying to get former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner onside with its application.

Warner resigned from his role in 2011 amid bribery allegations.

England's FA has rejected the criticism, insisting its bid was completely transparent.

The UK press was also in a frenzy over the findings, as this tweet illustrates.

Fair to describe the UK press reaction to the FIFA corruption report as sceptical. #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/164JA99ZPj — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) November 13, 2014

Former United States attorney Michael Garcia led the investigation by FIFA's Ethics Committee into the bidding process for the next two World Cups, to be held in Russia and Qatar respectively.

Garcia, however, has blasted "erroneous representations of the facts" in his investigation into the bidding process.

FIFA's overall findings on Garcia's inquiry claimed that "the various incidents which might have occurred are not suited to compromise the integrity of the FIFA World Cup 2018/2022 bidding process as a whole".

The decision to award Qatar the 2022 showpiece was met with particular criticism over alleged corruption and staging the tournament in the country's extreme weather conditions.

Garcia has now released a statement claiming that the report does not fully represent the facts of his investigation and he could appeal the findings.

"Today's decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber's report," the statement read.

"I intend to appeal this decision to the FIFA appeal committee."

Garcia previously called for a full publication of the report but a FIFA statement released by Eckert last month stated that to do so would be a "very difficult situation legally".

Meanwhile, Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa welcomed FIFA's ruling on Qatar 2022.

"I am satisfied that Qatar has been absolved of any misconduct in their bid for the 2022 World Cup," he said.

"The AFC has always stood by Qatar as we defend their right to host the 2022 World Cup, and this finding reaffirms our belief and support for the country.

"We would now be able to move on and work with Qatar to ensure that we deliver the best World Cup that Asia can offer."