There is “no way” that Qatar will be stripped of its right to host the 2022 World Cup, the country’s foreign minister has asserted, amid concerns that a widening FIFA corruption scandal could affect where the next two football tournaments will be held.
Speaking in Paris the day after FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s surprise resignation this week, Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah responded to questions about Qatar’s bid by saying, according to Reuters:
“No way Qatar can be stripped (of it). We are confident of the procedures and deserve to win it because we presented the best file (bid).”
His remarks came as US law enforcement officials who arrested several top FIFA officials over corruption charges last week confirmed they were widening their probe to include the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, Reuters reports.
The statement also follows the Swiss Attorney General’s announcement last week that it would undertake its own investigation into the bidding process.
Both Russia and Qatar have previously denied any wrongdoing and were not the subject of charges announced a week ago by US prosecutors.
Qatar was also cleared of allegations in the summary of an investigation led by US attorney Michael Garcia, which was released last year. However, Garcia later resigned after he claimed the summary misrepresented some of the findings in his own report.
‘Prejudice’
Meanwhile, Al Attiyah this week also accused critics of Qatar of running an anti-Arab campaign, fueled by “prejudice and racism.”
“It is very difficult for some to digest that an Arab Islamic country has this tournament, as if this right can’t be for an Arab state. I believe it is because of prejudice and racism that we have this bashing campaign against Qatar,” he said.
His comments echoed a similar statement made by Qatar’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani earlier this week, when he said in an interview with Fox News that residents in the region believe the Qatar criticism is driven in part by racism.
Reiterating claims that Qatar fought a clean campaign to win the rights to host the tournament, Al Attiyah added, “We are honest and confident we haven’t (committed) any wrongdoing.”
Finally, he suggested that Qatar would eventually expose the countries and organizations that it believes to be behind a smear campaign involving its bid:
“We are not in a position today to show what we have in terms of who is behind this campaign against Qatar and why they are trying to deprive Qatar of this right.
But when the time comes we will show the public what we have, whether it comes from entities or countries from outside the region or not. The time hasn’t come yet,” he said.
Preparations continue
Meanwhile, Qatar’s World Cup organizing committee said that Blatter’s resignation would “not impact” the country’s ongoing preparations for 2022, AFP reports.
In a statement yesterday, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SCDL) added that work had already begun on five of the stadiums that would be used during the tournament, and that everything is currently “ahead of schedule.”
Alluding to al-Attiyah’s comments on racism, the Supreme Committee continued:
“We remain committed to using the World Cup as a platform to break down prejudice and misconceptions, while leaving a lasting legacy for our country and the rest of the region.”
After Blatter stepped down, many commentators questioned if Qatar would retain its right to host the 2022 matches.
Just minutes after the resignation, Chairman of the English Football Association Greg Dyke said: “If I were Qatar right now, I wouldn’t be feeling very comfortable.”
But the president of the Qatar Football Association, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, quickly denounced Dyke for his statement, saying it “speaks volumes on his views concerning what will be the first FIFA World Cup to take place in the Middle East.”
Al Thani said he welcomed the forthcoming investigations, and challenged Dyke to focus on creating a winning English football team for 2o22, adding:
“We would urge Mr. Dyke to let the legal process take its course and concentrate on delivering his promise to build an England team capable of winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.”
Thoughts?
No WC in Qatar… We will see…
Suddenly investing in Qatar became all the more risky..
They must be really nervous……..I genuinely think, due to FIFA and a dangerous belief that money can always buy you what you want, there is a strong chance they will lose the WC. In that case, Qatar will need to just take in on the chin and move on. Can’t see kafala reform going through if that happens. Who will suffer the backlash if they do lose it? Probably the weak, vulnerable and powerless, as usual.
Lets face it, there never was any chance of any meaningful reform of the Kafala. Nothing will persuade Qatar to have a competitive labour market and have to pay the true cost of it’s development. Having or not having WC2022 makes no difference whatsoever.
True words. This “reform” will drag out until ’22 and as soon as it’s over it will return to business as usual without the lip service of “we are mulling reforms to be placed in the very very very very very near future.”
When all else fails play the racism card. Well sorry but it’s becoming a bit of a tired excuse. I am not racist, but I am anti-WC2022 Qatar. Don’t forget that Qatar submitted and ludicrously won a bid to stage a summer World Cup. I’ve been to a World Cup, in summer, and nothing Qatar could have done could have made it workable – neither for the players nor, far more importantly, for the legion of football-loving fans who turn up in their tents and campervans and stay in cheap hotels, and drink beer and party till dawn, and create one of the most spectacularly enjoyable events on the planet – and the change to a winter WC has proved the point beyond question. Add to that the disruption to the national leagues, the Human Rights issues in Qatar which I think the western media still doesn’t adequately portray, plus the connection to what is an unquestionably corrupt football governing body and I am clear in my mind that nobody needs to resort to racism to criticise WC2022 Qatar. It is an event where football and football-loving people are way down the priority list.
Agreed on all points. I hate that as soon as criticism comes about, it’s racism or islamaphobia these days
Succinctly and eloquently put………anyone who mindlessly stuck one of those ‘I support the Qatar WC 2022’ bid stickers on the back of their car must be feeling a bit silly now…..
Maybe they supported it presuming the best, they are now supposed to feel silly because you feel they should feel silly?
As ‘The Reporter’ says, the bid was always for a summer WC…..if you bought into that, and all the BS about air-conditioned stadia and hovering mist-machines, yes, you should feel pretty silly….
The bid was always for summer, but Blatter always knew it would be winter, even as far back as a few weeks following the vote. It’s pretty funny now, with the benefit of hindsight, to recall all the people who actually, truly, honestly believed that the air conditioned stadiums and fan zones and training pitches was ever going to happen.
As Blatter said:
“Already before the decision there were talks that we have to go there [Qatar] in winter,” he said [in January 2011]. “The [technical] reports are important, but all the committee members knew exactly what would happen when we went to Qatar, which is why two of them [Franz Beckenbauer and Michel Platini] immediately said we have to play in winter.”
Yes, it’s a really good question what induced Platini and Beckenbauer to say that at the time, instead of saying that the bid doesn’t meet the WC criteria. Maybe they were a little too close to the action.
It was summer! Summer I tell you! Does it really matter….summer, winter, fall, spring, who cares. If it was summer 2022, maybe that should be required….like the Olympics, to be on the logo. If they bought into, then yes there is a problem…..if Qatar didn’t, then it is what it is, so who really cares what month they play it in. And honestly, adapting to the climate is part of sports. Oh…we can’t play in Nepal, its too high up! Oh we can’t play in England, the grass gets wet in the rain! Oh we can’t do this in Brazil, the humidity…….what a bunch of boobs.
How sweetly naive…….you don’t ever adapt to playing 90 mins+ (running maybe 15-20 km if you’re a midfielder) in 45C+ temperatures…….it’s impossible, even at night, when it may be 33C, but with rank humidity……the games would be slow and dull.
You forget that other countries spent millions of dollars on their bids to hold a summer WC – they and everyone else concerned with football was cheated, that’s why it matters.
It was “convincing” enough for FIFA, the body that got to examine this proposed technology and ultimately decided to award Qatar the games. Whether you knew it was a farce or not is irrelevant to the fact that the body established to manage the event had “bought” into it (or were “bought” into it as you would see it), hence even if they secretly didn’t believe in the bid, they still deemed it plausible enough to pander to just for the sake of their own interests,so how can you label fans silly for expecting an appointed body to do what is expected of it?
Agree lol
I love the assertions that Football, and the WC must be people camping in tents and getting trashed drinking, fighting, and partying for it to be a success. Comments like these are laughable, as it assumes that the only people that watch football must be drunken Brits and French nationals, and assumes, quite wrongly, that the 2 billion Muslims in the world might actually appreciate attending an event that isn’t all of those things. To make this work, they need only sell enough tickets to fill what are largely smallish stadiums by international standards, for 2 weeks. You really think its going to take swaths of drunken fools to do that? It will not. Will it be Rio, no, but for lots of people in parts of the world that are not America(s) or Europe, it will be something they would want to attend. Isn’t that the purpose of a “global” sporting event. Or is it just a venue for football hooliganism. In which case, who cares about the corruption….its all a scam.
You’re assuming it will organized well enough for people to actually get into the venues – that’s if they’ve been built of course.
No lets just have the rich there who can afford the 5* hotels and take it even further away from the grass roots fans. It’s supposed to be an event, entertainment, people coming together, everything that happens around the periphery of major sporting events – and you want to reduce it to a TV documentary showing men in suits watching a football match. In WC2006 100’s of 1000’s of ordinary people, not rich, not VIP’s, scraped together enough cash to get to Germany to support their teams and have a party – that is what the WC is supposed to be about.
You assume all hotels are Qatar 5*….they are not, less than half of all rooms currently are. Additionally they plan cruise ships and other means. Need I mention airbnb? Don’t be so naive to think it’s all about five star. It also means that Qatar doesn’t have to cater to the hooligan crowd. it’s such a shallow argument. There are enough Saudis, Emiraties, Indians, Pakistanis, Omanis, Africans, Indonesians, Malaysians, etc that it’s a question of who cares if a bunch of Europeans don’t go. Would it be the end of the world? I really doubt it. I hear they do this same thing every few years anyway, so the drunkfest can be repeated.
You are the only one to mention ‘drunkfest’. Have a problem handling your drink, do you?
“Qatar doesn’t have to cater for the hooligan crowd”…..”who cares if a bunch of Europeans don’t go”. Did you get those quotes direct from the FM?
You are the only one to mention getting ‘trashed’. Have a problem handling your drink, do you?
And what are the things we do not know? Did FIFA just randomly pick Qatar and say-give us money under the table to win? The same with South Africa? Russia? Brazil? If FIFA is as corrept as it seems, they are probably as good at extracting money out of all bidders,knowing that any wrongdoing would most likely be kept quiet.I really feel FIFA ultimately needs to shoulder the blame for this corruption as it allowed this to happen.Make something available, and they will come, as they say.In terms of racism, your comments could lead one to believe that one can be racist about the following: weather/nice hotels/fans who bring families and don’t party till dawn/disruption of the almightly national leagues etc.Human Rights is a legitimate issue, and one that I will say winning the WC bid has brought attention to this issue, so that is a work in progress.My opinion is rearrange FIFA, top to bottom.Move forward, even if it means keeping the existing bids as the mess is already huge.Now shall we add lawsuits and even questioning of previous wins/records because of wrong bids in previous WC’s? Yea, many of the detractors paint a real ugly picture,pictures that most would take offense to.I would say it could be deemed racist to not include regions for WC bids because they are hot/cold/poor/small-and not just the Europe/Americas of the World.
Wonder if American expats should concerned for their jobs if Qatar is denied the WC.
Why specifically Americans?
Because it was the Feds who were the ones to actually bring down Blatter and the rest. (though it was brewing, Loretta Lynch did the deed)
Most of Europe is just as unhappy, but the US is the highest visible symbol of opposition because it has proven corruption on it’s own territory.
Because they are the Great Satan.
wonder if Qatar should be concerned for an even worse image in the eyes of the world by its association with all that is wrong with FIFA, instead of being open and forthcomming ? If you have nothing to hide you welcome investigation and cooperate with it – Qatar does neither, nor has there been any line in the scandal at FIFA….. could well end up with an infrastructure and stadia several times greater than the needs of a declining population
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/01/the_fifa_indictment_is_just_one_more_blow_to_qatar_s_plummeting_reputation.html?wpisrc=obinsite
An interesting analysis subtitled ‘The FIFA Indictment Is Just One More Blow to Qatar’s Plummeting Reputation’. Has some interesting insights into the leadership and PR missteps.
What an astounding response from the FM. I wonder what school of diplomacy he went to.
true – the flaw in all of these statements is a failure to grasp that respect is something you earn, not buy or command
The Gulf School, of course. Where you learn that if people disagree with you, then it can only only only be because they are racist / nationalist / Islamophobe / whatever whatever, just some ‘ism’, such that – per usual – we are not responsible for what happens to us. It is those horrible ‘outsiders’.
Qatar’s bid was not the “best” as claimed by the FM. The “Overall Operational Risk” was “High” in FIFA’s own Bid Evaluation Report. The USA bid was the “best” with only one “Medium Risk” for “Ground Transport.” Qatar’s bid actually was evaluated as the worst bid of those submitted. (http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/33/59/45/bid_evaluation_report_1911.pdf)
That’s what is so bizarre of this whole thing.
‘bizarre’ is a cute substitute for ‘corrupt’.
I’ve got lots of words for it. Bizarre being the most tame.
the ‘tamest’, habibi.
I was just about to say the same. I couldn’t believe he even wrote that. Didn’t it rank the worst not only for 2022 but 2018 combined?
Well, you can read the report. I posted the link.
I think you mean this link:
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/33/59/45/bid_evaluation_report_1911.pdf
Turn to page 9, which is the page that showed that the Qatar bid was the bid that presented the lowest scores and highest risks of all the bidding countries.
Best bid my hat!
That was the technical inspection report based on site visits in 2010 – Qatar had little in place compared to any other other bidding nation. Transportation network – to be developed, stadia – not upto standard, airport – not ready, rail – does not exist, untested technology etc etc. All were plans and guarantees. Operational risks being only medium was a pretty good outcome. Obvious physical observations by the inspection team based on what they saw at that time. Qatar put in lot more effort than any other bid – it had too. No one even knew where Qatar was in 2009.
You are seeing all the development now thanks to the WC. Oil & gas laying off people, construction and real estate too would have been laying off staff if not for the WC.
As for workers welfare – they have been treated poorly since decades in the entire Middle East. At least with the media spotlight on Qatar, one will see some change, albeit slowly.
Now tell me who do I have to pay to get these lucrative construction contracts 😉
No honey, the developments are all part of qatars 2030 vision
The WC is a catalyst to deliver the 2030 vision, economic transformation being one of the pillars – Agreed most projects were already in the pipeline but had there been no definite deadline (2022) most of the projects would be delayed, deferred, reprioritized. The original timeline for the rail project (phase 1) was much later than it currently is, Doha port (1st phase) again key to supply chain for primary materials for the WC infrastructure projects will be delivered by 2016 etc. The timelines for most projects have been brought forward on account of the WC else most would suffer the fate of the airport, lusail etc. Projects with no will to end on time.
Not only that, it was way before that! – Fifa decided to award the two consecutive world cups during one event. Why? …hmmm, to give assurance and enough time to the best bidder! 🙂 Hahaha, the amount of loops and turns the 2022 process has taken is OUTSTANDING, and yet many insist it is just coincidence…
something tells me the next move is to buy 1000 F16 fighter jets,50 aircraft carriers, 1000 tanks and lots of coca colas (all american made) in an attempt to “persuade” Loretta to find something else to do.
something tells me that crack pipe in your home just got used a few minutes ago.
Deleting for irrelevance.
How is it irrelevant? Isn’t that what the whole mess is about? I scratch yours, you scratch mine?
I love how one sentence from a Qatari official every few days is enough to have the resident DN commentators repeat the same long paragraphs they had wrote the last time a statement was made by a Qatari official, as if the more times they write the same thing, the more likely Qatar will be stripped of the WC.
You mean like the same tired statements by Qatari officials and commentators like you on here that it’s not corruption but racist and islamophobic, jew loving, blah blah blah… seriously dude?
The Qatari officials are responding to those attacking them, they are entitled and expected to respond, irrespective of your view of the merits of their arguments. I have never said anything about racism or islamophobia so stop your usual habit of fabricating and imagining stuff to make yourself appear more credible.
“because we presented the best file (bid)”.
But this is a lie.
If it is a lie, FIFA had not challenged it, and in due time the new leadership of FIFA will ultimately determine whether it is or not a lie.
FIFA did not challenge what the FM said today, or yesterday. FIFA evaluated the Qatar bid. It is the worst of those submitted. If the FM says “our bid was the best” then he is lying.
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/tournament/competition/01/33/59/45/bid_evaluation_report_1911.pdf
At the end of the day, we all need to be honest and admit that a WC tournament that fits Blatter’s vision of global circulation i.e. rotation through different regions, will not always be granted on who scores the highest in all categories under consideration. It is probably more about meeting certain basic minimums otherwise it will always be hosted by Europe and the USA where the highest concentration of money controls the game.
Important word there being “basic”. Qatar offers none.
That is disputable. People are too far divided on this and will not be reconciled on Disqus.
Fair enough that the overall winner of the bid will probably not have been the winner for each and every one of the bid categories.
But excuse me for being a cynic when the overall winner of the bid was the only bidder to be classified as High Risk for Overall Operational Risk, and scored lowest or equal for all but a couple of assessment categories.
In every category it ranked “medium risk” except for one “low risk” and one “high risk” for team facilities. So yes, it is marked as high overall risk but it met most basic requirements. Not listed but I’m sure taken in consideration for such tournaments are a country’s economy (potential to tackle that high risk for team facilities) and whether it or the region has hosted the games before (fairness; spread the game around the globe).
The reason being that as long as Qatar retains the WC the anger of football loving and basically honest people will not dissipate and we (happy to include myself) will take every opportunity to vent that anger.
Honest by whose definition? You sure they all honest?
I have a belief in the basic honesty of people, unless driven by greed or desperation. I leave you to do your own split of the worlds population into the two categories.
It is not as simple as an equal split between the honest and the dishonest…
Not sure how you can even defend this. If I was a Qatari I’d be a lot embarrassed by this whole thing. If I was an Arab I would be upset that a ME country brought so much shame on my region.
Well, as they say no evidence has been presented to the public about Qatar 2022 and usually those investigating waste no time in making it public as they have with France 1998, South Africa 2010 and Copa America (US) 2016. So in the end, something solid needs to be placed on the table for all to see.
Yep, the wait is on.
Seriously you think this was all legit? lol
Act on speculation?
if Qatar is investigasted, proven to have acxted unlawfully and stripped of the world cup – I will have a party – if they are proven to have won it fair and square, then they really do need to change their attitudes to releationships with the global viewers… it matters
If I were you I would have a party anyway.
We had a wild party after the chess games, no alcohol was being served, but with enough sugary karaks and sodas, you can get the effects of same famous prohibited party drugs (much cheaper too).
I’ll just take your word on that. Whatever floats your boat! 🙂
Why is your party conditional on unethical and illegal practices being exposed? Surely a party everyday is good for the spirit.
my friend, I am hoping for either a very quick result or a delayed one, as we are about to enter the holy month, where such celebrations would be haram, and shortlived between calls to prayer. Eid of couse would be perfect !
Qatar should keep the WC2022 just so the the world can see how stupid it is to play outdoor sports in the desert heat and that the Qatari can have their ‘culture’ challenged by the thousands of beer drinking yobbos who will party the nights away!
Don’t know if you follow the news but the dates have been changed so it is no longer during the “desert heat” time of the year.
As for hose yobbos, they will be welcomed but will be cordoned to a zone to party the night away, hopefully it doesn’t catch fire and a vilaggio scandal of a global scale ensues.
Have you ever been to a big event? Best of luck containing them and what you have said is an example of why the event should not be held here.
I have been to many big events, and you nor I have no idea what they intend to do and how they will do it.
In the worst case they can call brotherly Saudi troops.
Thats my point Dan, the whole setup here is contain and enslave. Wait until there is the fiasco of thousands of people being contained by riot police or rent an army and the fighting starts. No sporting event is well run here bar the golf so it will be a fine showcase to the world.
I have been to a few chess games here, they were managed superbly and at no point in time did I feel any of the fans or chess players lives were at risk. Although at one point, it did look like one of the frustrated contestants was about the fling a pawn at his opponent, he might have missed and hit a fan in the eye.
Ha! Coffee through nose onto keyboard. Well done, needed that little jolt!
A chess game? With 40,000 fanatic spectators? Where?
Don’t encourage him.
If I told you, would you buy a ticket for the next event and join us?
No, I’d be afraid of an angry contestant.
And when the Asian Games were held in 2006, you were sleeping in a cave I assume.
Yes, but that was nearly ten years ago and there hasn’t been a successful event since. Or were you sleeping in a cave during the last shambolic matches in Khalifa Stadium?
Qatar does not need football hooligans. If you love getting drunk, puking on the streets and attacking others, get ready for the fines and the jail time. When the world cup was held in SA, they had to go out of their way to ensure law and order. same will be in Qatar, dont like, dont come.
In SA they went out of their way to control the locals not the visitors. You may be right, they could do the same here.
I won’t.
Welcomed? There is no infrastructure being provided. Do you think normal fans can afford 5* hotels?
The yobbos will be staying somewhere cheap in Dubai and be on the flydubai or Emirates flights over and back for each of the matches. As you say, there is at present no adequate accommodation for them to stay in Doha, but there is more than enough in Dubai.
I’ll bet that idea wasn’t in Qatar’s bid documents. Another bid fail.
The problems with accommodation were highlighted in the technical review:
“In terms of accommodation, over 84,000 rooms have already been contracted, thus exceeding FIFA’s minimum requirement of 60,000. That said, the accommodation plan heavily depends not only on the capacities of two candidate Host Cities but also on signifi cant construction.
The final number of accomplished projects would determine the number of supporters
who could be accommodated. Furthermore, the concentration of the majority of rooms in just a few properties could lead to the risk that the exclusivity of certain constituent groups could not be ensured. ”
The issue of Accommodation was rated as “Medium Risk” behind Japan, USA and the joint Spain/Portugal bid in the technical review (despite claims by some that the Qatar bid was the best bid file).
Anyhow what’s with the “yobbos”? The people I met at WC2006 were just great people who were enjoying themselves. No violence and not even a hint of malice, and we were on campsites where every nation under the sun were thrown together – we even partied with the Germans!!!
There isn’t the capacity in the daily flights from Dubai for say 10,000 fans. So most will have to stay in Doha.
There fault for not being rich enough.
I kid I kid.
On a serious note I recall them mentioning subsidized cheap accommodation, not sure if cheap enough for “yobbos”, nor can I tell you what exactly they have in mind.
Why is it that people think only troublemakers travel to games? In general the WC is a very peaceful affair for everybody.
I never said anything about troublemakers attending. I am sure it is as you described, but with any event of that magnitude, trouble can emerge even from “good” people, it is natural and expected. I have been to two WCs and aside from a few drunken fist fights, I saw nothing that was particularly worrisome.
yes cause the world cup is all about beer drinking hooligans. Qatar has already made few compromises. Hope they dont give more. The last thing you need is a bunch of hooligans roaming around and destroying everything.
Of course the WC will be in Qatar and Russia. Even if all allegations prove to be true, you can’t punish a country for the wrongdoings of some individuals. Some might say, me included, that the event itself is punishment enough.
That aside I’m getting tired of this politically correct world where white people need to constantly apologize for their skin color. Please try to use the term westernophobia as much as possible until it becomes an argument and a way to shut down debate. What is this nonsense? If I disagree with a person I do it because I don’t share their views, skin tone is not a factor.
A decent PR team is desperately needed. Everyone tries to sweep stuff under the rug, but they spread it evenly. These sort of statements make an otherwise unproven lie seem real.
Other than that I wish the WC will be a success, I honestly do for the sake of Qatar and football fans around the world. I can’t really see it at the moment, but I wish them all the best in achieving it.
As a general tip: sometimes the less you speak the better your odds are. Why not hire the ILQ boys (young, smart, friendly) to be in front of the cameras? I guarantee you that even if they transmit the same message it will be received differently. Better yet, get some brown, black, white, yellow, red people to sit next to them and speak about it.
Why is it so hard to say “Yes, we do have issues that we must overcome but our biggest hurdle is mentality mingled with tradition and we’re trying to update our moral code with internationally recognized principles. We guarantee we are doing our best to ensure the wellbeing of all our residents as we consider all of them Qataris and we greatly appreciate their efforts in assisting us create a healthy society.” Again, you don’t even have to mean it it’s just common sense to assume some responsibility and show some inclusion of the expats as this seems to be on everyone’s lips.
It’s like with the “no littering” campaign…even if your intentions are admirable, it’s hard to get the message through if it’s not clear.
Agreed. PR from Qatar is usually terribly done and very amateurish.
Lets say that for arguments sake that the WC in Qatar was corruptly gained. It is inconceivable that one corrupt individual went off on a limb and bribed FIFA. Nothing happens in Qatar without the will of the state organs. As for trying to update the moral code, actions speak louder than words.
As per the latest reports bribes were given for the 1998 France, 2010 SA world cups also. So should those countries be banned from participating again. Now I get why France voted fro Blatter in the recent elections. Qatar just did what others before did to secure the tournament. The corruption in Fifa was institutionalized and was part of their working process.
I agree that regardless of the outcome of the various investigations taking place that the WC in Qatar will go ahead. Too much preparation has taken place for that decision to be reversed.
But having said that, just because there is a WC taking place doesn’t mean everyone has to come to the party. The FA are clearly prepared to sit it out if they are supported by other organizations. Depending on the outcome of said investigations UEFA may decide not to attend. I see this as a more realistic outcome than Qatar losing the WC.
Reading many opinions and articles about contesting Qatar’s World Cup 2022, I found a phrase that really connects:
“If FIFA is serious about transparency and reform, its next president must take a stand against a country that jails journalists reporting on World Cup construction abuses and its kafala system of labor, which amounts to modern-day slavery.” (http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-03/blatter-s-gone-qatar-should-be-next)
Now, If Qatar is truly serious in showing that they are indeed qualified to host the World Cup. They have to prove it by expediting the revision of the Kafala system and prove that they have nothing to hide by allowing journalists to openly investigate and report any abuses found towards workers (while penalizing those companies in the process).
Failure to do so, will only allow overall public opinion to escalate, negatively against Qatar, and result in Qatar losing its 2022 privilege.
This is well worth a watch again, in light of what has happened in the last week……….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm-q75Z1NUs
Andrew Jennings, who put together the Panorama documentary you have linked to, deserves a lot of praise for his role in bringing this whole FIFA mess out into the open.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/03/how-a-curmudgeonly-old-reporter-exposed-the-fifa-scandal-that-toppled-sepp-blatter/
Indeed……this video is worth watching for many reasons, but especially for when Andrew Jennings tries to collar Jack Warner at Zurich airport over him selling on WC tickets for profit, and Warner delightfully tells him, ‘If I could spit in your face, i would….’
He did the same on the Olympics – read his book “The Lord of the Rings”. Samaranch avoided prosecution – is Blatter clever enough to do the same?
Ha where back to the WC topic… I say change this to the WC2022 forum… And every now and then throw in a villagio story to mix it up…
Where can you get the best coffee in Doha? Serious question
Aside from my kitchen and my Gaggia machine (to which no-one is invited) Jones the Grocer – but theirs is at best 6/10.
And their service is 2/10 on a good day.
well i still need a decent job :- (
Well, CNN says that Warner has said that he is going to spill all. I’m not sure that I have enough popcorn for all of this.
Warner suddenly struggling with his conscience? – no in the interests of halving his jail sentence
His reasons don’t interest me, the information and the others it brings to light does.
Warner is innocent, he said so himself on numerous occasions.
save that one for ‘The Comedy Store’ LOL
I heard he will only give details in an exclusive arrangement with a specific online satire publication named after a bulb vegetable related to garlic (not sure why the Disqus filter had a problem with the publication’s title). You know, since he obviously thinks so highly of it.
A lot of official FIFA statements in the past few years do seem like they came directly from there to be honest.
I have to agree with the FM, i can’t see Qatar losing the rights to the world cup, for various reasons.
Qatar has already invested too much in infrastructure and, to be fair, you would have to say they are ahead of schedule, not the position Brazil was in leading up to their World Cup fiasco.
Fifa & The World cup have a long sordid history of corruption and bribery, it’s how it is done so why should Qatar be penalised for doing what South Africa and others have done in the past.
Too much has already been invested, not the least of which have been the lives lost as a result of working on infrastructure projects, sorry, i mean the 900+ heart attack victims coincidently linked to the World Cup Building.
The racism card does not work, do they have to pull it out at every opportunity?
The majority of the world isn’t racist towards Qatar because the majority of the world has no idea and has never heard of Qatar. Allegations of bribery are the smallest of reasons as to why Qatar should not have been granted the WC, the lack of history or involvement on soccer should have been the first reason, the heat the next reason.
Criticism about Qatar’s WC bid isnt based on racism, it’s based upon the issue of no history in the sport..
How much of Qatar’s investment is in the world cup? – very little. Qatar lumped everything it was spending and called it investment on a WC. The WC is merely a catalyst for Qatar to provide the infrastructure that Qatar never had as Doha grew like topsy, and is being provided with one eye on Qatar’s future role as a modern tourist destination for GCC and other Middle East states.
Mainly stadiums and hotels. Otherwise it’s as you said above.
Hmm, i don’t know..would any of these projects get off the ground with out the catalyst of the WC?
EG the Train thing..that would not have happened with out the WC, there is no perceptible need for it..the population of Qatar has exploded due to the WC, traffic was horrible but manageable prior..and you know that Qataris will never use the subway system.
The official figure is that Qatar is spending $260 billion on the world cup, (or $400 billion if Al Baker was in charge ) And money well spent & budgeted, some might be a gasp at the expenditure, thinking perhaps such a vast fortune could be better spent on enviroment concerns, cleaning up the wetlands, recycling programs, greening Qatar, contributing to the Gates foundation, Malaria research etc etc but these stadiums, like Brazil’s will surely be a good investment.
“Qatar’s future role as a modern tourist destination”..no, i can’t see it..why? There is Dubai which is leaps & bounds ahead and also has the history..Qatar is trying to play catch up with Dubai but it’s never going to happen..
True, but tourist don’t want a trash pit.
Fancy hotels do not make Qatar attractive. And those can be found everywhere .
Qatar does not preserve the beautiful environmental resources it has. It’s unique environment is a resource. It has been destroyed (filth and trash everywhere) while more shopping malls are built. It is sad.
I can’t wait until 2022. I will be watching from the safety of my armchair in the EU, laughing at all the negative comments coming back about the chaos, traffic, smelly cabs, finding Qataris in your seats, expensive hotels, even more expensive beer….It will be great fun!
The same comments on the same issues are already being made today, but you are excited at the opportunity to laugh at these issues seven years down the line? I know of people who have a delayed response to humourous situations, but seven years is quite ridiculous don’t you think?
It will be worth the wait, for the one and only WC to be held in the middle east.
Well it would have to be the only one, where else in the ME could such an event be hosted? Iraq? Saudi?
UAE…
They already said they didn’t want it when previously offered to co-host.
Famous Last Words.
What I think would be more fascinating than anything is the potential fallout within Qatar if it does lose hosting rights. That would be a welcome dosage of humility for the royals that might translate to better governance of the state. In a place without elections to humble the mighty, that’s the best you can ask.
I can’t speak for what moral lessons it would teach, but I would expect there to be humiliation for not just the royals, but even the Qataris.
If Qatar were to lose the WC and if they are smart, they could turn it around and save face. Look, Qatar made a bid and they played by FIFA’s filthy and corrupt rules. Qatar had the most money to throw around on the bid. They won the bid by FIFA’s rules. We all know what those rules are.
So instead of playing the pathetic and childish racism card, they play the “we were only playing by the corrupt rules of FIFA.” Just as previous countries like Brazil, SA or France. False tears about false racism makes Qatar look ridiculous and pathetic.
If Qatar loses the bid, they are a victim of FIFA. As for Royals, ideas of Royalty is not Islamic. And elections do not automatically translate into better governance.
It may be a blessing for Qatar to lose (or save face and give up) the bid and start putting their resources into environmental clean up of the trashed country and it’s waters. THAT would lead to a pillar of a sustainable economy, cultural preservation, and respect of the world — if that is a goal instead of a one-time stupid sports event.
Humility? Don’t hold your breath!
England would be ready and able to host the Fifa World Cup in 2022 if it
is stripped from Qatar, according to a British government minister.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33005152
Let’s wait and see.
He’s basically saying what you would expect any representative of a government in that position to say. I can’t fault him for that. However, I am sorry to see him follow HbJ’s lead and cry “racism”. We discussed this in the thread on HbJ and I think that is basically trying to recover by offering a straw man argument.
Great discussion, all! Closing the thread now.