FIFA report reveals Japan sent executives 'gifts' during bid race

A controversial internal report published by FIFA on the race to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups has revealed Japan violated bid guidelines in 2010, sending then president Sepp Blatter and other FIFA executives "gifts" worth more than 100,000 yen. 

The report said Japan, which lost the 2022 bid, gave a "yakusugi ball", a ball made from Japanese cedar valued at 105,000 yen (around $1,200 based on exchange rates at the time) to Blatter and more than 10 FIFA executives. 

Other gifts, some even more expensive, were given by the Japan Football Association to the FIFA executives and their wives. 

Three executives had vague recollections of receiving gifts from the Japan bid team, but they neither disclosed their receipt of some of the more expensive items nor suggested that they believed any gifts they received were improper, the report said.