Fifa voted to publish Michael Garcia’s report yesterday but president Sepp Blatter immediately ruled out revisiting the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Former US lawyer Garcia resigned from his role as Fifa’s ethics investigator on Wednesday after losing his appeal to get his findings published.

But during a meeting between Fifa’s executive members it was unanimously agreed that the report should be published but with names and other details taken out for legal reasons.

The report will not be published until the investigation into three members — Angel Villar Llona of Spain, Belgium’s Michel D’Hooghe and Thailand’s Worawi Makudi — has finished.

Blatter said: “The report is about history and I am focused on the future. We will not revisit the 2018 and 2022 vote and a report by independent, external legal experts commissioned by Mr Scala (head of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee) supports the view that there are no legal grounds to revoke the executive committee’s decision on the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

“We also need to remember that while the report is complete, the investigations flowing from it are not. We must ensure that we do not jeopardise those investigations and the proceedings against various individuals already initiated by the independent ethics committee. Participants in the investigation also deserve to have their rights respected.

“It is clear that while a summary of the report was issued, the publication of this report has become a barrier to rebuilding public confidence and trust in Fifa. Part of this is due to the fact that we have been deliberate in the way that we have moved through the process. 

“We need to ensure that we respect the rules of our organisation and that we do not breach confidentiality in a way that will prevent people from speaking out in the future.”

Britain’s Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce was pleased with the decision, saying: “I am pleased the the Fifa executive commitee decided without a vote to publish this report. It shows that people at Fifa at the moment do desire transparency and the sooner we can get on with talking about the game of football that we all love, the better.”

Fifa also confirmed that a final decision on the timing of the 2022 World Cup will be taken in March, with November/December 2022 remaining the most likely time in order to avoid the extreme heat of the summer.