Menu
International Football

Sunday Times Releases Fresh Details Of Alleged Qatar World Cup Corruption

The secrets of how Qatar’s top football chief "exploited his nation’s vast sovereign wealth to help win crucial votes for its World Cup bid are revealed in explosive documents leaked to The Sunday Times," according to Blake & Calvert of the SUNDAY TIMES. The latest disclosures from the FIFA files show how "disgraced" former FIFA VP Mohamed bin Hammam "pulled strings at the top of government and with the country’s royal family to arrange meetings and favours for key voters in the months leading up to the World Cup ballot." The Qatar 2022 committee "has maintained it has no links to Bin Hammam." But fresh disclosures from the documents "threaten to blow a hole in its claims" that he was an “entirely separate” individual with “no official or unofficial role in the bid.” The leaked documents revealed:

■ Brokered government-level talks for the Thai member of FIFA’s exec committee "to push a gas deal that was potentially worth tens of millions of dollars to Thailand."

■ Was invited to visit Vladimir Putin to discuss “bilateral relations” in sport between Qatar and Russia a month before their "landslide victories" in the '18 and '22 votes.

■ Invited the former exco member Franz Beckenbauer to Doha with bosses from an oil and gas shipping firm, which was employing him as a consultant, "to discuss Qatari investments in the maritime sector."

■ Fixed "discreet meetings with the Qatari royal family "for at least seven key exco members, including FIFA President, Sepp Blatter.

■ Shored up his own seat on exco "by using secret slush funds to make payments" totalling $1.7M to football officials across Asia.

The new revelations from the files "threaten to throw Fifa’s annual congress into disarray before the first match in the 2014 World Cup on Thursday." Leaked emails show that Bin Hammam "brokered two secret meetings with Qatari royals to discuss a major gas deal" with a senior aide to Worawi Makudi, the serving Thai exco member, "in the critical final months before the ballot" (SUNDAY TIMES, 6/8). The AP reported Qatar's bid committee said on Sunday that it is "confident it will retain the rights to host" the World Cup "following new allegations that an official from the country used his high-level contacts to help win support" for its bid (AP, 6/8).

CONFIDENCE BOOST: In London, Sanya Burgess reported British Foreign Secretary William Hague "has emphasised the need for 'international confidence in sporting bodies.'" Hague said “there have been some very serious allegations, it’s important that they are looked into in a very transparent way and in a way that commands everybody’s confidence.” Both former Sports Minister David Mellor and ex-England captain Sol Campbell "adopted a sterner stance." Mellor argued that “what is quite clear is that this World Cup should never have been awarded to Qatar and can never be played in Qatar and the only issue is how soon will the whole thing be pulled” (SUNDAY TIMES, 6/8). The BBC's David Bond noted the emails appear to demonstrate that Bin Hammam -- banned from football for life in '12 for his part in another corruption scandal -- "was indeed working to secure support for the Qatar bid." But while "that might be uncomfortable" for Qatar and FIA, it "is not clear that he or the bid broke any of the governing body's bidding rules." FIFA execo members "were not subject to the same restrictions placed on bid officials and all the bidding nations used their heads of state and senior government figures to try and win influence and votes." FIFA VP Jim Boyce said that while the last week has been tough, FIFA "is changing." Boyce: "Since I joined FIFA's executive committee in 2011 half of the committee has gone" (BBC, 6/8).

LEGAL ACTION: In London, Mihir Bose reported Qatar "will not be able to mount a legal challenge" to FIFA if stripped of the World Cup. Qatar "agreed to sign away its right to take any form of legal action" against FIFA when it made its original tender for the tournament in '10. A mechanism "is available" to FIFA to order a new vote whereby infringements of its code of ethics are cited. A legal officer of one of the bidding nations said, "All the bidding countries had to sign a registration document in which they agreed to be bound by FIFA's code of ethics. In a normal contract with an organization based in Zurich, you would expect the agreement to be subject to Swiss law" (INDEPENDENT, 6/8).

BLATTER'S ROLE: In London, Calvert & Blake reported Bin Hammam "reached out to Blatter with an enigmatic email in the month before Qatar formally registered its audacious" World Cup bid. As the campaign to host the 2022 World Cup got under way, Bin Hammam "invited Blatter to Doha to meet the emir and stay with the royal family." Blatter "was apparently moved." Leaving Doha he said, "The Arabic world deserves a World Cup. They have 22 countries and have not had any opportunity to organize the tournament" (SUNDAY TIMES, 6/7).

SCOTLAND PRESSURE
: In Glasgow, Aitken & McPherson reported the Scottish FA "came under mounting pressure" to end their silence over the Qatar World Cup scandal. Labour MP Jim Murphy called on Scottish football’s controlling body "to stand up and be counted amid further damaging revelations over bribes." But SFA CEO Stewart Regan "refused to say anything when approached at his home in Glasgow’s West End." Regan said, “I’m just on my way out. Thanks very much” (DAILY RECORD, 6/8).

A SORE SUBJECT: In London, the TIMES reported Argentina's team "inflamed its rivalry with England" by unfurling a banner "claming sovereignty" of the disputed Falkland Islands before its friendly with Slovenia. The banner is regularly brought out before Argentina games, but the team "raised eyebrows by showing off the politically-charged banner" so close to the start of the World Cup (LONDON TIMES, 6/8).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2014/06/09/International-Football/Qatar-World-Cup.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2014/06/09/International-Football/Qatar-World-Cup.aspx

CLOSE