<
        >

          FIFA's Jerome Valcke says 2018 boycott talk is 'nonsense'

          play
          Valcke: No question about decision (1:05)

          FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke says there is doubt about the validity of the Russian and Qatar World Cup bids following Judge Eckert's report. (1:05)

            Nov 21, 2014, 01:55 PM ET

            SOCHI, Russia -- FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke says a boycott of the 2018 World Cup in Russia would be "nonsense."

            Some European politicians have suggested that European countries could boycott the World Cup over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which many Western governments accuse Russia of provoking.

            Valcke says talk of a boycott is an attempt to "provoke" discord rather than "to be realistic on what the world is today."

            He says the World Cup "is a sporting event" and has "nothing to do with politics."

            Valcke spoke after meeting with Russian World Cup organizers in Sochi.

            He's the first senior FIFA official to visit Russia since last week's publication of a report by FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert that closed the probe of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests.

            Former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman has backed calls for a World Cup boycott to force FIFA to introduce more reforms and admitted that some of England's tactics in pursuing votes for its 2018 bid were "unwise.''