New research has shown how much Qatar spent on deals -- "including legitimate trade deals" -- in the course of lobbying in the run-up to the '10 vote for the 2022 World Cup, according to Nick Harris of the London DAILY MAIL. Analysis suggests that Qatar spent £17.2B "directly and indirectly on the way to victory." Much of this outlay "was on goods and services for Qatar -- including aerospace orders, a football club, sponsorship agreements, land and general exposure." There "were also millions of pounds of cash payments made to a huge range of football officials from secret slush funds" controlled by Qatar exec committee member Mohammed bin Hammam. These payments and swathes of new detail about how Bin Hammam won the right for Qatar to host the event "are detailed in a book published last week, The Ugly Game, by investigative journalists Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert." Former FIFA Head of Security Chris Eaton has called for any new evidence to be considered by FIFA -- "even though he now works for Qatar." And a high-level group of European politicians -- the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe -- "has approved a resolution calling on FIFA to re-run the ‘illegal’ bidding process" (DAILY MAIL, 4/25).
