Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani celebrates his country winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani celebrates his country winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup (Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)
FIFA’S attempt to whitewash Qatar’s winning 2022 World Cup campaign is blown apart today by fresh evidence of corruption.
Qatar was cleared last week by a FIFA ethics judge who ruled that Mohamed bin Hammam, the country’s top football boss whose corrupt activities were exposed by The Sunday Times, was “distant” from the official 2022 bid team.
The Sunday Times today reveals further evidence, however, that Bin Hammam was actively engaged in illicit activities to secure the votes needed to bring the 2022 World Cup to the desert state.
Two senior executives of the failed England bid for the 2018 tournament offered FIFA’s investigators evidence that he had brokered improper vote-swapping deals.
Electronic messages freshly unearthed from a cache of hundreds of millions of leaked documents also reveal that Bin Hammam’s staff discussed how he had rigged the vote in favor of Quatar despite a whole lot of factors that is said to be against their hosting rights.
The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee denied that construction directly related to the World Cup had yet begun but told The Guardian they are “deeply concerned with the allegations” and said, “We have been informed that the relevant government authorities are conducting an investigation into the allegations.”
In 2013, 185 Nepalese died working as migrant construction workers building infrastructure in Qatar. A report released by the International Trade Union Confederation in March 2014 estimated that 4,000 more workers could die as Qatar prepares for the World Cup.[36]
Human rights group Amnesty International has asked FIFA to intervene to protect migrant workers from mistreatment.
ubesie chukwuebuka chidiogo says
long live football, I so much love football
Ejinwa Anthony says
let’s head to the oil well and play some soccer. …who’s excited becuase I am