World Cup 2022: Bribery scandal erupts again in Qatar’s face

Indiana Khaled

At a time when all sporting activities around the world have been halted due to the corona virus pandemic, the file of Qatar obtaining the right to organize the 2022 FIFA World Cup has been opened again. On Monday, April 6, US prosecutors in Brooklyn accused FIFA executives of receiving bribes in order to support Doha’s bid, specifically Brazil’s Ricardo Teixeira and Paraguay’s Nicolas Leoz.

Former FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter previously revealed to AFP details regarding the intervention of “politicians” to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He confirmed that it had been agreed by the FIFA Executive Committee that the 2018 World Cup would go to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to the United States, but a high-level political intervention occurred to allow Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup.

In March 2019, the British Sunday Times newspaper revealed leaked documents confirming that Qatar won the right to organize the tournament after paying millions of dollars in secret bribes to FIFA, which was headed at the time by Blatter.

The newspaper confirmed that it has documents proving Qatar was involved in paying nearly $880 million to FIFA in order to win the bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Untold files

Dr. Ziyad Aqel, an expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told the Reference that more facts will soon be revealed about FIFA awarding the tournament to Qatar, as it is clear that there are still untold files about the full corruption that occurred.

However, the bribery issue will not lead to FIFA withdrawing the tournament from Qatar for several reasons, according to Aqel. The first is the repercussions of the corona virus, which has affected the sporting world in general. Secondly, many countries do not have the infrastructure required for the World Cup. Therefore, trying to find a country that can organize the tournament in a short time period will be difficult.

Aqel also made it clear that all the sanctions that have been issued were against FIFA members, while no sanctions have been imposed on the Qatar Football Association, since Doha still carries out its policy of relying on money and bribes to solve any crisis it faces.

School league

Aqel pointed out that if Qatar was found to be involved in the FIFA bribery with firm evidence, then penalties would be imposed that would lead to converting football leagues into an internationally unrecognized school league, expecting that the penalties could see FIFA cancel the tournament, or it could permanently exclude Qatar from the federation or deny it the ability to organize any tournaments for a period of no less than 25-30 years.

It is also possible to impose sanctions or more standards for monitoring sports activity in Qatar or not to recognize local activity from the ground, Aqel said, meaning that Qatar would be prohibited from entering Arab and continental championships. He stressed that if conclusive evidence proves Qatar’s political interference, then it would be possible to issue sanctions against the Qatar Football Association worth millions of dollars.