Did Qatar buy the organization of the 2022 World Cup?

Among the many many controversial topics referring to the 2022 World Cup, the principle one surrounds the situations for awarding the event to Qatar in 2010. This query has been the topic of a number of media and authorized inquiries.

The Qatargate earthquake

On December 2, 2010 in Zurich, the FIFA Govt Committee entrusted the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar to the detriment of the USA by 14 votes to eight within the fourth spherical of voting. The selection of the small Emirate, a demographic and footballing dwarf, got here as an enormous shock, particularly since, as ex-FIFA President Sepp Blatterlikes to recollect it in every interview on the topic, Qatar possessed “the worst technical software file“, with particularly virtually non-existent infrastructures. How the hell then did he inherit the competitors?

In January 2013, the journal France Soccerrecognized and revered all through the world because the originator of the Ballon d’Or, publishes a stunning investigation displaying not proof of corruption, however “a bundle of clues that means that Qatar was capable of be beneficiant with the suitable folksto curry favor with the FIFA Govt Committee.

The well-known Elysée dinner

On the coronary heart of the suspicions is the well-known lunch held on the Elysée Palace on November 23, 2010, simply 9 days earlier than the vote. Current are Nicolas Sarkozy, then President of the Republic in France, Michel Platini, on the time all-powerful President of UEFA and member of the Govt Committee of FIFA, but additionally the Qatari Crown Prince of the time Tamim Hamad al-Thani and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Ben Jassem.

Did France assist Qatar to acquire the soccer world cup in change for compensation? The whole lot would have been performed throughout a dinner on the Elysée in 2010 with Nicolas Sarkozy. A joint investigation by the Investigation Unit and Complément d’Enquête on France 2. pic.twitter.com/ftJbehsewO

– France Inter (@franceinter) October 13, 2022

Many suspect Sarkozy of getting performed matchmaker between the Qataris and Platini, who was one of many voters for the award and who’s believed to have some affect over three different European voters (Cypriot Marios Lefkaritis, Spaniard Angel Maria Villar and the Turkish Senes Erzik). At first reluctant to the candidacy of Qatar, “Platoche” would have modified his thoughts following this dinner. “Historical past has proven that the intervention of the French presidency on a member of the FIFA government committee modified the vote“, launched Blatter within the present Additional Investigation final October 13. “I believed I understood that France can be completely satisfied if I voted for Qatar, however nobody ever requested me something“Admitted in 2014 Platini, earlier than tempering. “There was no risk of influencing me on something. (…) Many individuals knew that I used to be going to vote for Qatar.»

In reality, every of the contributors on this dinner can have discovered their account. First, Qatar, after all, with the awarding of the World Cup, probably following the intervention of Platini. Then again, Sarkozy, supporter of Paris Saint-Germain and pal of Sébastien Bazin, then consultant of Colony Capital, which owned and sought to promote the capital membership. Everybody is aware of the remainder of the story, Qatar will purchase PSG in 2011, for a worth of 64 million euros that a number of consultants, like businessman Luc Dayan, contemplate disproportionate. Sarkozy wouldn’t be overseas to it and he would have been amply rewarded for this “service” rendered to his pal.

“The Sarkozy father and son have been later paid by Accor, when Sébastien Bazin turned the boss of the lodge group in 2014“, added just lately Mediapart. “It wasn’t me who informed Tamim to purchase PSG or Sébastien Bazin to promote PSG“, denied for his half the ex-head of state in 2018 for The Night Staff. One other suspected consideration: Qatar’s buy from France of 24 Rafale fighter jets for an XXL contract of 6 billion euros, which might have adopted this dinner, even when Sarkozy will be unable to finalize the deal, which can in the end be concluded by his successor François Hollande in 2015. Lastly, on the Platini aspect, following a word discovered throughout a search of the premises of Colony Capital, some are questioning concerning the concomitance between this dinner and the appointment, in April 2011, of his son, Laurent Platini, as director of the Qatari tools producer Burrda Sport, a subsidiary of the Qatar Sport Funding fund, which owns PSG…

The position of Mohamed Bin Hammam

Almighty president of the Asian Soccer Confederation between 2002 and 2011, the Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam was expelled for all times by FIFA in 2012 for acts of corruption in the course of the presidential election of the physique in 2011. However the chief would have beforehand performed a key position within the awarding of the World Cup. Introduced by The world as “the good architect of victory on the Emirate’s poll bins» but additionally a «nice corrupter“, he would have spent greater than 5 million {dollars} for the leaders of world soccer to vote for Qatar, accused the Sunday Instances. Bin Hammam would notably have rallied the votes of the members of Concacaf (Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean).

Past the Elysée dinner and Bin Hammam, the German media Image revealed in 2017 {that a} “former government member of FIFA congratulated members of the Qatari Federation and thanked them by e mail for a switch of a number of hundred thousand eurosa couple of days after the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar. In line with the identical supply,three FIFA government members with voting rights (Brazilian Ricardo Teixeira, Argentinian Julio Grondona and Paraguayan Nicolas Leoz) went to a celebration in Rio on a non-public Qatar Soccer Federation jet forward of the vote for the awarding of the competitors”.

Judicial inquiries

Inevitably, after such revelations, judicial inquiries have been opened in a number of nations. In France, after three years of preliminary investigation, the Nationwide Monetary Prosecutor’s Workplace launched a judicial investigation in 2019 into the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, however no indictment has been pronounced up to now. Ditto for the surveys carried out in Switzerland and the USA.

For its half, FIFA carried out an inner investigation by way of the president of the investigative chamber of its ethics committee, Michael J. Garcia, who in 2014 submitted a 400-page report on the situations of attribution. of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Whereas the doc highlighted “issues, severe and far-reaching, within the software and choice course ofof those two competitions, Garcia resigned a couple of months later, accusing the chief committee of getting opted for a biased studying of his work.

Furthermore, FIFA had chosen to maintain this report secret, till being compelled to publish it in 2017 after a component leaked within the columns of the German newspaper Image. Regardless of “suspicious conduct“, the governing physique of the spherical ball had estimated, that on studying this report, there was nothing to query the attribution of the 2018 and 2022 editions…