Qatar Football Association Refutes Report Of 'Dream Football League'

The Qatar FA has "denied a report" that the Gulf state is planning to launch a summer football league paying Europe’s leading clubs £175M ($264M) each to compete, according to Paul Kelso of the London TELEGRAPH. A Qatar FA statement read, "With regard to the story published in today’s edition of The Times newspaper concerning a 'Dreams Football League’, the Qatar Football Association and other Qatari football entities can categorically confirm that we have no involvement in any such initiative and has heard nothing to suggest such a concept is genuine.” Sources close to the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid were "dismissive of the story." They pointed out that it would be "impossible for Doha to stage the tournament" at the reported start date of '15 as it has only one air-cooled stadium with a capacity of 12,000. They did acknowledge, however, that the story "could damage Doha’s relationship" with FIFA and UEFA, both of which said they had not been approached about the scheme (TELEGRAPH, 3/13).