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International Football

Qatar 2022 Bid Team Says People Are 'Tired' Of World Cup Bid Allegations

The public is “growing tired of hearing about allegations of wrongdoing” against Qatar's winning 2022 World Cup bid, according to organizers, with the Gulf state “more interested in improving worker's rights than publishing Michael Garcia's report,” according to Patrick Johnston of REUTERS. Qatar and Russia, both of whom have “long pleaded their innocence,” were cleared of wrongdoing but the ethics committee did open a number of formal cases against unidentified individuals and FIFA confirmed it had lodged a criminal complaint in Switzerland. That, Qatar says, is “not their issue.” Qatar 2022 Communications Chief Nasser Al Khater said, "Our opinion is this report isn't in relation to Qatar, as a lot of people make it sound. The report, I understand, they are looking at certain individuals. … I'm pretty sure people are feeling tired of this story already, I think there is reader fatigue in terms of this story.” Meanwhile, Qatar has its own report coming next week into welfare rights of migrant workers building infrastructure for the tournament, “amid heavy criticism” of the labor conditions. Al Khater: "We recognize there are some problems but we recognize there has been tremendous progress on this issue as well” (REUTERS, 12/1).

GET IT TOGETHER: The AFP reported German FA (DFB) President Wolfgang Niersbach said that Qatar should be given “an ultimatum by FIFA to improve their human rights record or lose” the 2022 World Cup's hosting rights. Qatar has “come under the media microscope” since winning the right to host the 2022 tournament, with “doubts thrown up over corruption, its human rights record and treatment of its massive foreign workforce.” Niersbach said, “From the DFB's perspective, it would be in Qatar's interests to define a period at the end of which an independent body such as Amnesty International or the International Trade Union Confederation checks and rates the working conditions at the World Cup stadiums” (AFP, 11/30).

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