"Russia and Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups by democratic vote of the Executive Committee. Based on expert opinions and available facts, FIFA has no legal grounds to take away the hosting of the FIFA World Cup from Russia and Qatar."
"We will not speculate on possible scenarios and therefore have no further comments for the time being," the statement said.
Russia and Qatar, hosts of the next two soccer World Cup tournaments, could be disqualified from holding the games if evidence of bribery emerges, says a senior FIFA official.
Domenico Scala, head of FIFA's auditing and compliance committee, told Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung at the weekend that the countries, which will hold the 2018 and 2022 events respectively, would lose their privileges if he discovered that their selection was the result of bribery.
However, he added that no evidence has yet been found.
This is the latest development in the FIFA scandal, which began in May when seven FIFA officials were arrested by U.S. authorities. So far, 14 people have been indicted with charges of racketeering and money laundering. They have been accused of receiving more than $150 million in bribes over 24 years.
U.S. and Swiss authorities are separately investigating the football organisation's bidding process for corruption.
If either country does lose its hosting privileges, a several countries have already put their names forward as possible replacements.
