Fifa: Michael Garcia urged not to quit over World Cup row

The 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded to Russia and Qatar in 2010

Fifa's independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia has been urged not to quit - despite the continued fallout from his World Cup bidding report.

Former Fifa advisor Michael Hershman has "pleaded" with Garcia not to resign from world football's governing body.

Garcia's report findings were released as a 42-page summary by Fifa-appointed independent judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.

Garcia said the summary was "erroneous" and complained to Fifa, but it said his appeal was "not admissible".

American lawyer Garcia was appointed by Fifa to lead the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar respectively following a series of damaging allegations.

A summary of that report cleared the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 World Cup bids of corruption.

Hershman described Garcia as one of "very, very few independent voices" within Fifa and that he believed Eckert had "made mistakes" in publishing Garcia's summary.

"I'm very, very hopeful that Michael will stay on and will continue to push for a complete reform of Fifa's compliance and governance procedures," he told BBC Sport.

Hershman added Eckert was "a man of integrity" but believes serious questions need to be asked of the German's professionalism. He added: "I suspect that if Judge Eckert had a chance to do it over again he would have done it differently.

"In my judgement frankly it is not a very professional message of summarising the report that Michael Garcia put forth."

Fifa meet in Morocco later this week and will decide whether to release a full, redacted copy of Garcia's 430-page report. Hershman believes Fifa should approve the proposal so the organisation doesn't look "foolish".

Hershman was a member of Fifa's Independent Governance Committee, a panel introduced by president Sepp Blatter in 2011 to advise the organisation on reforms after a series of financial and vote-buying allegations.