There have been calls for a refund on the millions spent by Australia to win a ‘rigged’ World Cup bid.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon claims Australia was “treated like a mug” after corruption charges were laid on nine former and current FIFA officials and four marketing executives on Wednesday.

Australia spent $46 million in the hopes of winning the 2022 World Cup. Qatar controversially won the bid.

“There must be a re-opening of that bid,” Mr Xenophon said. “It’s not too late. At the very least Australia deserves a refund.”

FIFA has closed the door on reopening the bidding, while Qatar has already started on building facilities to house the competition.

Australia only received one vote for the bid, while the United States, South Korea and Japan also made unsuccessful bids.

“Really, Australia has been treated like a mug in the way that it spent tens of millions of dollars in a failed bid, where it never had a chance because it seems the fix was in early on with FIFA,” Xenophon said.

Les Murray wants to see Australia bid again

Football commentator Les Murray believes FIFA doesn’t have a choice and must re-do the bid.

“If it comes to pass and the courts rule that in fact, some manipulation was made and bribes were taken, then I don’t believe there’s any other choice but to have a re-vote,” he said to the ABC.

“If there is a re-vote, I think Australia should bid again.”

As a former member of the FIFA Ethics Committee, Murray says it’s good for the game that the governing body is being finally investigated.

“It’s obvious that FIFA was not capable of cleaning things up,” he said.

“It’s good that outside forces like the Swiss police and the FBI got involved to clean it up.

“It’s good news for the game.”

FFA abandons Blatter

Australia’s own football governing body has revoked its support for FIFA president Sepp Blatter and has voted against his re-election.

“FFA believes that profound change within FIFA is needed as soon as possible to address issues of governance and transparency,” FFA chairman Frank Lowy said in a statement.

The only person challenging Blatter for the presidency is Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, after Luis Figo, Michael van Praag and Jerome Champagne withdrew.

Blatter, who was re-elected on Saturday, has stood defiant despite a chorus calling for his resignation.

Australia will also investigate what happened to the FFA’s payment to Jack Warner in 2010. Warner, who was FIFA’s vice president at the time, was paid $500,000 for football stadium upgrades, which he allegedly kept and deposited into his personal bank account.

The Australian Federal Police say they might also investigate the matter.