Spotlight On UEFA's Platini As Qatar World Cup Scandal Develops

UEFA President Michel Platini last night was "under pressure to explain a secret meeting with the man at the centre of the Qatar World Cup scandal." Platini reportedly "had a private discussion with Mohamed Bin Hammam, the controversial Qatari who paid millions of pounds to football officials around the world." The emergence of the meeting means that France "has become the first European nation to be drawn into the World Cup bribery scandal" (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 6/2).

This comes as pressure is growing on FIFA to strip Qatar of hosting the '22 World Cup "if new allegations of corruption are proved." However, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said that FIFA "should be allowed to conclude its investigation" (THETIMES.co.uk, 6/2). For more on these stories, see the latest issue of SBD Global.