Updated at 12:30 to include comments made by FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce to the BBC. Updated again at 19:15 to include statement from Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.
New corruption allegations surrounding Qatar and its 2022 World Cup bid have surfaced following a front-page report in weekly newspaper the Sunday Times (paywall).
In a series of articles, the newspaper states that it has obtained “millions” of documents that show Qatar bribed FIFA Executive Committee members with payments totaling some $5 million to help secure support for its bid.
It’s not clear what impact, if any, the alleged bribes had when FIFA awarded hosting rights to Qatar. But allegations of corruption have dogged the country since the vote, and this new report is likely to give critics fresh ammunition with which to question the bid.
The Sunday Times states that emails, letters and bank transfers detail how Mohamed Bin Hammam, a Qatari official who formerly served as president of the Asian Football Confederation, began lobbying for Qatar’s bid in 2008.
The documents apparently show that Bin Hammam built support for the Gulf state among African football officials through several payments, parties and gifts – which FIFA officials are not allowed to accept.
His actions helped buy the four votes of African ExCo members, the Sunday Times states.
For its part, Qatar’s World Cup organizing body, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, said it “vehemently” denies all allegations of wrongdoing.
“Mohamed Bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in Qatar’s 2022 Bid Committee … (We) remain totally confident that any objective enquiry will conclude we won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup fairly.”
Bin Hammam resigned from all football-related activities two years ago, shortly before being banned from the sport for life by FIFA over bribery charges when he was a presidential hopeful of the organization.
The 65-year-old declined to comment to the newspaper about the allegations, though Qatar’s bid committee told the Sunday Times it denied all involvement or knowledge of such actions.
But according to the Sunday Times:
“However, the leaked documents show close contact with the leaders of the Qatar bid, arranging a lavish junket paid for by the 2022 team at which he offered football officials large payments in exchange for their support.”
Implications
In his blog “The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer,” James Dorsey points out that any sort of impropriety of this scope should give FIFA officials pause. He states that the fallout of these charges, if they can be proven, could include:
- A rerunning of the 2022 bid vote;
- Increased pressure on FIFA and other football bodies to radically reform;
- A dialing back of labor rights improvement in Qatar, as the international spotlight fades; and
- A weakening of Qatar’s soft power and thus ability to stand up to neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Still, the Sunday Times, which is planning a weeks-long series on this issue, has so far only alleged that four votes from African ExCo officials were bought, while some 22 14 out of 24 people supported Qatar in the landslide 2010 vote. Whether those handful of votes changed the direction that the vote was going is unclear.
But that may not matter, Dorsey told Doha News:
“If true, (the charges) would constitute bribery and corruption as part of the bid process and give Qatar’s detractors a significant axe to grind. It also makes a refusal to review the awarding as well as FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s position more difficult. The bottom line at this point is that Qatar can no longer afford to be non-transparent about the details of its bid campaign and its relationship to Bin Hammam.”
The allegations come as Qatari officials were set this week to meet with FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia, who has been looking into long-standing accusations of wrongdoing during the awarding of both the 2018 World Cup in Russia and Qatar’s 2022 bid.
According to the BBC, “that meeting may now have to be postponed in light of the Sunday Times revelations which have raised important new questions about the link between Bin Hammam and the successful Qatari World Cup campaign.”
‘No problem’ re-running vote
Following the publication of the Sunday Times’ story, FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce told the BBC that he would have “no problem” re-running the vote for the 2022 World Cup hosting rights if that’s the recommendation of FIFA’s ethics chief, Michael Garcia. He’s currently investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. Boyce said:
“If Garcia’s report comes up and his recommendation are that wrongdoing happened for that vote for the 2022 World Cup, I – as a member of the executive – would have absolutely no problem if the recommendation was for a re-vote … If Garcia comes up with concrete evidence … then it has to be looked at very seriously at that time.”
Boyce, who had not read the Sunday Times stories, also speculated that the latest bribery allegations may have been related to Bin Hammam’s run for FIFA presidency:
“Was a lot of this involved with him trying to influence people, to buy votes or to vote for him for the presidential election as well? That was going on at the same time (as the 2022 World Cup vote).”
Thoughts?
Note: This article has been corrected to reflect that Qatar received 14 out of 24 Executive Committee member votes for the 2022 bid, not 22.
Does this surprise me? No!
No one would have given Qatar, a country with no football culture up to a few years ago, surely not a country where football is played on the beach like in Copacabana; a country where “attractions” are honestly very very few, with high number of restrictions for everything and temperature is not merciful in summer….unless paying a lot of money.
After all FIFA is corrupted.
Your talking about Russia 2018 or Qatar 2022??
As much as I agree that Russia likely used corrupt tactics to secure a bid (seems to be par for the course with fifa), Russia has a football culture (regularly qualifying for the World Cup) and a decent tourism sector.
If fifa is so corrupted then is there a need for fifa
Obviously you need some sort of governing body for the sport. Be it called FIFA or any other acronym.
You need something. Either fix FIFA or start fresh.
Personally, I don’t have an issue with the way Qatar got the bid. If it did include bribery, then the team was doing what it took to win against competitors who were behaving the same way.
I don’t understand your logic. So you must have qualified to the WC before in order to bid and host? If so why is this not a FIFA condition.
Football culture? Football is the most and probably only sport followed in Qatar. Unlike other bidders like America where football os fifth most popular (american football, basketball, baseball and hockey). Or the UK were other sports like cricket and rugby are widely
I didn’t say one has to qualify to host a WC. It was suggested that Russia doesn’t have a football culture; I was saying that it does.
In America, soccer is the most popular sport played by children, but when they get older they migrate to other sports. I think the argument was that hosting the WC would be away to bridge that gap (although I don’t think it would).
Personally, I think it is good to host world cups in emerging markets for the sport.
For the last world cup in South Africa there were more visitors from the United States than from any other country so they can’t exactly hate the game.
They probably didn’t drink as much though.
Yep, soccer is very popular amongst younger people. Even as a mid-level sport in terms of national enthusiasm, that means big interest: world’s largest economy with 300 million people.
Also a decent tourism sector should
compensate the fact they did a horrible job at the winter games followed by the invasion and annexation of an independent European nation because it wanted to be more democratic?
Again, it was suggested that Russia does not have a strong tourism sector. The reality is that it does have quite a bit of tourism, and most people who go to Russia seem to enjoy it reasonably well. I think the winter games will prove better managed than a number of other games, but not as well as others.
I think the Russian/Ukraine situation is more complicated that you depict it, but that’s for another thread–particularly if you want to use democratically elected rulers or military intervention as criteria for hosting international sporting events.
Inbound tourists to Russia – 25.7 million (2012)
Inbound tourists to Qatar – 2.5 million (2011)
Those 2.5 million aren’t really tourists are they though. Flying in, having a meeting, staying the night in a hotel then flying out doesn’t count as a tourist in my book.
in fact to talk about tourism when the country has no idea of what tourism is, it is like doing a paella without the rice!
And probably half of those to Russia were Finns looking for cheaper vodka. What’s your point?
Just an off point observation…I wasn’t making a point as such
Probably Russia had to compensate the loss of revenues from Olympics 🙂
I really don’t see how they could strip Qatar of the 2022 world cup now. Regardless of how it was awarded, surely it’s too late now. Numerous companies have set up shop, hired people, spent money, started projects. And this includes companies from Europe and elsewhere. If FIFA suddenly takes the world cup away, the impact even just from a business perspective would be catastrophic.
says who? check Colombia 86, the WC that did not happen
There’s 8 yrs to go. Many many countries could host it with little notice. Just because a handful of projects have started means nothing. Not really much done to make it catastrophic. I’m sure Qatar will bounce back just fine.
Japan has already announced that they would be willing to pick up the WC on short notice. It will be two years after the 2020 Japan Olympics, and they would have the people and infrastructure all in place. Finding an alternate venue is not a problem – the legal and financial repercussions of such a move are.
Same with the USA. Apparently they were the fallback as they were 2nd in the ’22 bidding fiasco, have already hosted one and have the stadiums built.
I’m not worried about Qatar, I’m worried about myself and countless others if we’re suddenly out of a job
As opposed to the people who were put out of jobs in the other bidding countries?
Because I took their job? Before it even started? Listen, I applied for a job, I got it, I came here, that’s it. And right now, I’d like to hold on to it so I can keep the mouths at home fed. If that makes me some kind of selfish monster, fine by me.
No one is accusing you. Everybody understands one wishes to keep one’s job. But the same applies to others, whose conditions deteriorated due to the fact, that they did not get jobs in other countries. So you can not use it as an argument (use Kant’s categorical imperative and will understand why).
LOL – Kant & football? Now we’re talking!
I wasn’t the first. Classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta1KfRX06kA
Somehow that seems strangely appropriate.
I haven’t seen this in years, excellent!
Ah, humour. What we need to make it through the day. Thank you!
It would be pretty easy to shift. All the other bidders have already held either a World Cup or an Olympics or two so they easily have the capacity to manage another World Cup. They also have the facilities in place already.
Your logic is a bit flawed. It is like saying no point prosecuting someone for murder as the victim is already dead and you can’t bring them back to life.
I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a punishment, but taking the world cup away will punish innocent parties involved in the build up. Maybe the punishment should be a huge fine to some humanitarian cause
Like cheating to get the WC, if proven, didn’t punish innocents in the countries who bid legally?
Sure it did, and now you have innocent people that will be punished here if it’s taken away. Is that the best solution? Just because people got screwed before doesn’t make it ok for others that have nothing to do with the cheating to get screwed now as well.
So then all the cheaters of the world rejoice because we’re not going to hold you accountable for your wrong doings. That’s a good solution. I’m sorry your job is tied to this but unfortunately you may have hitched your horse to the wrong wagon. When you took this job was the “company” tainted then? If not, sorry. If so, you had to know the day of reckoning would come.
Yes, cheaters will be let off the hook, that’s the plan. They’ll buy the hook and have it removed. So there
Right, well, seems it’s unanimous, silly me, let’s cancel everything, I’ll start packing
Your beef is with Qatar and the underhanded way they “allegedly” won the bid, not any other country who did it on the up and up.
What? I have no beef, you go sort your own beef out
Where’s the beef!?
It crossed the road with the chicken, but I don’t know why. Maybe just for the fun of it.
If the allegations are proven it should go for a rebid, open to any country that wants to bid. There is still 8 years and many countries could hold it tomorrow.
Maybe England should be awarded it without a rebid as their newspapers have done the most to expose the corruption….. ; p
UK drop the bid for 2022 to make space for USA to win it.
What will you call that???????????
UK was up for 2018 not 2022. US was up for 2022 not 2018.
Go back to the bidding time you will know.
What are you talking about?
IF YOU HAVE A GLASS HOUSE DON’T THROUGH OTHERS WITH STONES.
What? You makin’ no sense.
I don’t understand the comparsion. If three Arab countries bid then it will split the Arab vote, so it makes sense for them to come to an agreement and say you bid this time, we will bid next time. This is similar to what happense elsewhere. For 2006 the Europeans decided that Germany would bid as their representative.
Paying millions of dollars in bribes, providing luxury vacations and gifts direct to FIFA officals and their families is something completely different.
So if it was arranged bid between western countries, there is no harm.
If there was such a conspiracy at the highest level of washington and white hall they didn’t perform it very well.
There is a huge difference between countries agreeing not to bid against each other and paying bribes to FIFA officals and their families to secure votes.
If all countries at 2022 said lets not bid against Qatar, they deserve to hold the WC then no problem but they didn’t and it wasn’t a level playing field. The other countries were wasting millions of dollars on a bid they had no chance of winning.
Yes maybe UK agreed to bid for ’18 and US for ’22. That’s different.
I know many countries could take over, I’m not looking at it from the perspective of other countries, but the perspective of Qatar and more specifically the companies and people that have money and careers tied in with 2022. So much time has passed that making a change now will obviously cause a lot of disruption vs if it had been done at the early stages. At what point do you have to take that into consideration? Or do you just change regardless of any consequences? And I suspect none of the evidence is new, probably someone didn’t get a promised pay-off so decided it’s time to blow the whistle.
England wasn’t actually bidding. They bid for 2018 and lost to Russia. Want to re-run that one too? If there is corruption at the route of the awards, I cant believe that the big money in Russia wasn’t involved……
The current FIFA vice president has already said he has no issue running the vote again if the allegations are true. I hope it doesn’t happen because if the world spotlight fades then so too might the reforms and progress to a more open society.
You think he cares? He’s just saying that to speed up his overdue payments
Too late?? Bidding for major tournaments usually start 7yrs prior and let’s be honest, most of the projects haven’t started. Companies have known about these allegations and would have already inserted specific get out clauses.
Uh, no. It’s not “too late”! Columbia withdrew from the 86 World Cup only two years prior to the games.
And Please don’t complain about money. The World Cup is going to cost Qatar $220 billion, if not more. The money that’s been spend on preparation so far is a small fraction of the total cost, which again is going to be $220 Billion! This money could be spent on more important issues that could benefit the country and its citizens, than some trivial game that will only take place for 4 weeks in the history of Qatar.
This whole World Cup situation has done nothing but cause a great deal of embarrassment to the country. Qatar should just withdrawal on its own while still maintaining some dignity.
I do not think it is to late: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/02/sport/football/football-qatar-world-cup-sunday-times/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
This is getting tedious, if Qatar have been found guilty of any form of bribery, then they should have the World Cup withdrawn, do the crime, do the time, bribery is illegal, if on the other hand the accusations are found to be false, then let Qatar get on with the preparation work, and let it be.
Well, Mr. Garcia is doing just that, I’m sure that his office will very publicly announce it if they get to the point of laying charges.
The talk has been going on for so long. If the evident is so real, why aren’t anyone start making chargers? Or why is Qatar not suing these parties who make false claim? i started to feel annoyed with these accusation but no action.
People have been and continue to make charges. Qatar is not suing in hopes it will all go away. You don’t make trouble while hiding skeletons in your closet.
The allegations are being pursued by a US public prosecutor, what more do you want? If they are found to be baseless the investigation will be dropped, if they are found to have merit, it will be pursued.
That’s the story i heard from many2 months back. Tell me something new~
The investigation is ongoing, what more do you want? It will end when the prosecutors come to a determination, not before.
Why no charges? Well FIFA is not a government body or state and cannot lay any charges against Qatar.
As for bribery then Qatar would have to indict its own people and we know that is very unlikely, plus the other people invovled are mainly from African FAs who are well connected to the political elite in those countries and very unlikley to face charges themeslves.
No, but one can easily imagine a situation where there are well-connected folks who will need to be very careful about their future travel plans or face arrest.
That will be a concern only for a small number, the majority will hold diplomatic passports and most governments around the world would not cause a huge diplomatic incident over a football tournament.
Diplomatic passports only apply to the countries you are accredited to. It could certainly limit the job opportunities for a number of people.
The straw that breaks the camel’s back?
Getting a bit bored of the tacky “journalism” as if what will fix the system is revoting or excluding Qatar and then there won’t be any more corruption anywhere. Investigate and report on the cause, not the symptoms, aka do your job and dig deep. Easy to write, hard to prove with a million different agendas from a million different sources
FIFA just announced that they will be launching a new investigation to find the person who is surprised by this new evidence.
Please remeber this
“Shocking that Australia, considered to be one of the top-three, was first to go. With the U.S. only garnering three votes, and Qatar just one away from the majority in the first round, Qatar controlled the vote from beginning to end. What is interesting is the shift in voting, with Qatar sitting at 11 votes in the first round, losing one in the second, jumping back to 11 in the third and finally gathering the necessary 14 votes in the end.
In the 2018 World Cup bidding, England wasn’t so lucky. Thought to have a good shot at hosting the 2018 edition of the World Cup, England didn’t even make it out of the first round, garnering only two votes. Russia picked up nine in the first round, following closely by Spain/Portugal’s seven. In the end, it was Russia winning out, earning the right to host the 2018 World Cup.”
That shows how fare the vote went, so please let it go and accept your defeat.
So if there is evidence of bribery and breaching of FIFA’s own code of conduct for bidding nations it should just be ignored?
If there was such a thing Qatar would won it from first round.
Qatar was winning in the first round but all other bidders have to be eliminated round by round. So what exactly is your point?
He keeps going round and round. I’m dizzy following.
I suppose that Qatar could put the minds of FIFA bosses and World media at ease by setting up their own independent committee to investigate these accusations and bring anyone found responsible to account. There should be a committee coming free shortly after investigating and reporting on the Kafala system and their experience in getting to the root cause of the problem should stand it in good steed. The court system will also carry out a thorough job and ensure those guilty are brought to trial, assuming that they are in the country. There is more than enough time to have this matter settled in time for the World Cup…..in 2030 !!!
FIFA are one of the most corrupt entities on the planet and with having a double 2018/2022 bid it compromised the whole intergrity of the due bidding process.
Now if allegations are found truthful then 2022 will be stripped and rightly so , there’s no if’s or buts it will be stripped and a re run announced . The problem arises with how deep this problem is , i believe it’s very very deep and there’s too much at stake . FIFA could implode and certain nations could breakaway . We shouldn’t have got this far as the bid should have been reversed if not played in the summer as the original bid states . FIFA had their chance to withdrw the bid but im of the opinion that it is so entwined and complicated that we’re looking at a very difficult and drawn out proccess. People also must remember that the infrastructure that is being built now was going to be built with or without 2022 . There’s very very little been done yet and would not be an issue .
I’m sure the Qatari’s will put on a decent tournament but you feel that this is slippin away now, they will be a major scalp over this and hopefully it’s Mr Sepp Blatter
Isn’t the use of steroids in all ethical sports called “CHEATING”
and banned, being punishable by the removal of all corresponding medals and a
BAN. Isn’t the use of “BRIBERY” to gain a win also “CHEATING”…..ergo
the precedent and Punishment is already defined 🙂
In my opinion, there may well have been financial coercion- for four of the voters- what about the other 18? Is the Sunday Times saying that all of the voters were bought? Or they were swayed by the votes of 4 African Officials? Personally, I cant stand football, but the decision to hold the tournament in Qatar seemed to me to be a clear win. I watched the bidding, Qatar poured it’s heart and soul into it, and the bid seemed to me to grasp that it is about making a difference to people, not just playing football.
As for the corruption- I think it was probably no different to any other vote, and the whole of International Football is built on excess money, obscene payouts, greed and celebrity. I think the Times and the rest should just get over it. The W.C. in Qatar is a transformational event- witness the spotlight on Labour Laws, Kafala, Energy consumption, the list is endless. It is bringing the Middle East into the game, and giving it some airtime beyond carbombs and war, the usual only time the west hears about ME.
it is enough…it is time that some one come in the front and speak the truth
What?
If they do withdraw it from Qatar, the real damage will be to those left behind as the international spotlight fades. Forget any reform, political or otherwise; the conclusion Doha’s elites will draw is that cooperation with those who might demand a liberalization of the country wins them nothing. After FIFA, only the United States has more leverage over Qatar, and frankly the U.S. doesn’t care about what Qatar does or does not do with those who are here so long as they keep that airbase open.
What’s makes you think the US has leverage over Qatar? If so they would have silenced aljazeera and their coverage of Iraq in recent years
The U.S. very much has leverage over Qatar as the sole guarantor of Qatari borders. It’s hardly lost on the government that if any neighbor saved perhaps Bahrain moved against them, they would lose. Such a basic security deal means the U.S. gets a seat at any table it wants.
Given that Aljazeera viewing in the US is at just about zero I suspect they don’t give a toss about it.
I have less and less respect for British journalism as I get older. All the owners have their own political agendas and are willing to do anything , right or wrong, to achieve the selling of a few papers and advertising. Let us not forget that these are all ‘for profit’ organisations. Witness the Murdoch fiasco, with more revelations of spying on innocent people every day. How do we suppose the Times got all these ‘millions’ of emails? I don’t suppose any of the other bidders would have spent any money at all on influence peddling, would they? No fancy dinners, free trips to their countries, etc. for the delegates? BS. As said before, get over it! Qatar will do a fine job at the end of the day.
Whilst I somewhat understand your sentiment about the British media, if corruption has indeed occurred then it can no more be ignored than it can be condoned. And if the practice if as widespread as your post appears to suggest then it must be tackled at an institutional level and eradicated.
If not for them, who would raise such cases? The Times seems to have a lot of damning documents, do they not deserve considerations or are you happy to bow to your leaders when they tell you everything is ok and nothing to see here?
It’s not just the Times the Guardian has reported on this and other issues in Qatar and they are largely at the opposite end of the political spectrum. This is not some media conspiracy, this is quality investigative journalism
And probably a bit of hacking if we’re talking “millions” of documents.
I just can sense some last minute opportunities for Qatar to reform their worldwide image
To begin with allowing FIFA officials to the workplaces,assuring the health and salary of the immigrant workers,
besides the FIFA officials if they really have a hand in it it makes sense that FIFA itself
is not that clear and transparant as they do people believe.
I just can sense some last minute opportunities for Qatar to reform their worldwide image
To begin with allowing FIFA officials to the workplaces,assuring the health and salary of the immigrant workers,
besides the FIFA officials if they really have a hand in it it makes sense that FIFA itself
is not that clear and transparant as they do people believe.
At the other hand the Worldcup 2022 should be given to the Asian continent
it would only increase the pressure more and give other parts a chance for
winning the revote like the United Arab Emirates or Japan.
It would be very unappropriote and a bit hypocrite to not give it to Qatar
besides it would certainly have political consequences for the region but also for the world
Yeah the temp in UAE is a lot different.
if this is all true what the media is saying…then some one should come forward and either proof that the media is wrong or qatar is wrong…enough of news about 2022
We’re building up towards that, don’t you think? Eventually, the proof is going to fall on one side or the other. I’ve little interest in the FIFA investigator’s report, but that American prosecutor’s should make interesting reading I would think.
Media is re-shuffling from time to time its articles, to fill in empty pages
To make money. The more The Times can drag it out the more papers (print & online) and advertising they sell.
Indeed. I think they have some sort of high-profile subject list and from time to time they select one and write an article, or re-shape an old one, hoping to draw attention….
Ha ha as if FIFA officals care about immigrant workers…. look at Brazil where they are only concerned there is enough security to protect their revenue, I mean, the world cup matches in face of mass protests. As they have said before they will not interfere in the politics of a country, they are just about the football. (Really the money, but they say football, but we know its the money)
I’m sick and tired of this. In 2010 I did not want Qatar to win as the WC would be a huge drain on
the nation’s resources. Today I want us to host the games and do a great job at it, out of spite.
For god’s sake, if these allegations are true then bring them forward. If FIFA is not willing to take action based on hard evidence, then it’s FIFA you need to challenge and aim your criticism towards not Qatar.
And honestly why Qatar?
Human rights abuse? Russia check… Corruption charges? Russia check… sh!t infrastructure? Russia check… though at a smaller scale, Qatar has hosted every large world event with little issues. The 2006 Asian games was
a perfect example, and that was 8 years ago, plus attracted more media and athletes than the winter Olympics which Russia tanked!
As much as I would love to see the WC hosted elsewhere .. enough already with these charges… either FIFA allows Doha to host or withdraws it…
You need to check your facts better Doha News … The final vote was 14 Qatar 8 USA and that means 4 votes were decisive … It would have been 12 10 to the USA
You are right – my apologies, will fix right now.
You have still not got it right and I’m not being pedantic it’s actually a crucial point 14 out of 22 voted for Qatar and the four votes alledgedly ‘bought’ by Qatar would have made a huge difference to the outcome. Your article suggests otherwise, unusually sloppy reporting from you especially on such a high profile issue where certain facts have been clearly established.
You’re correct that there were 22 votes in each round and in the final round 14 went to Qatar and 8 went to the USA but they may not have been the “compromised” votes. By that point they could have come from the 5 that voted for South Korea in the previous round. Unlikely I know but it is possible.
It seems to me that rightly or wrongly Qatar won the vote for 2022. My take is if Fifa executives did receive money for votes then surely they are at blame? It is a well known fact in this part of the world people are courted with gifts etc to win business, should FIFA as the whiter than white governing body politely refuse the *Gifts* and explain how the process should work? Simply taking the WC off Qatar now helps no one, should allegations be proven to be true then FIFA should be replaced by a new governing body who will award events and manage the game in a fair and ethical way so a situation like this will never arise again.
Someone should come along and have their own tournament. Atferall, before FIFA realized they could make money with the women’s game, there were non-FIFA women’s touraments that drew big crowds. Then FIFA came along in the late 70s/80s and that stopped. Well why not bring back non-FIFA tournaments? UEFA & CONMEBOL hold so much power they could boycott the World Cup and there would be no World Cup. And if they had their own tournament countries like the USA, Australia & Japan would follow them. Of course this probably won’t happen, but imagine how much it would scare FIFA.
Qatar should withdraw the bid themselves. They would at least earn more credibility than FIFA. Let’s not forget that Qatar promised 12 stadiums, artificial clouds, a summer tournament etc etc……..and what do we have over 3yrs later? A proposal for 8 stadiums, no artificial cloud technology, a winter proposal and suggestions to co-host in neighbouring countries. Qatar is simply out of it’s depth. Do people need to be reminded about “ticket holders” for the AFC final in 2011, international friendlies and the Emir Cup every year? The image Qatar projects internationally does not always reflect reality and sadly this “bid” has further damaged Qatar’s reputation.
Well actually co-hosting is not such a bad idea….but in october-march only
Unless you own the tv rights to the NFL
Actually, Co-hosting with neighbours is a great idea, as it really does make the benefits inclusive to the wider region. If England had won the bid, I doubt anyone would kick up a fuss if some games were held in Cardiff,Wales or Edinburgh, Scotland. UK, UAE – not much difference.
Agree, good idea……can you please point where in Qatar’s bid proposal this was mentioned?
“millions” of documents? I find that number far fetched. Hundreds, maybe a few thousand, but millions???
The NSA sucks up a lot of data, don’t you know!
……perhaps the great old man Sepp Blatter and his learned and highly experienced colleagues should come to visit during this time of the year and they might even get to like the weather during this time of the year
Someone send some more money to septic bladder’s account…Please…
Even if this accusations turned out to be true, what is the credibility of FIFA then, I wonder……
Well we all know FIFA has no credibility, it’s possibly the most corrupt sports organisation in the world. But for anything to actually change will require reform from within FIFA, ie they take note of Mr Garcias internal investigation into the bidding process. Will his recommendations just go into the top drawer and hidden away or will those involved face the rap, starting with Blatter? Hard to trust anyone right now, and you can’t really blame Qatar, they were just following normal procedures….
Australia has possibly committed similar offences, as this is the way FIFA has allowed the business of bidding to happen. Hopefully the integrity officer can have an impact and actually affect change.
FIFA has the opportunity to face the facts here and reform once and for all. But do they have the will within?
And now the sponsors are not looking too happy…
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000282565