Qatar World Cup: rigging, bribery, corruption

In 2015 bribery scandal and corruption at FIFA made the headlines. Since 2010 operations at FIFA and world cup bidding were already under scrutiny FIFA became synonymous with vote rigging, bribery, corruption when Qatar bagged 2022 world cup hosting rights Qatar won the bid against USA, Australia, Japan, South Korea ...

a small nation ill-equipped without proper infrastructure bagged the rights Where temperature does not favor playing ... Qatar had to be rebuilt.

how did Qatar win the bid?

In this story a look at politics and corruption behind one of the world's biggest sporting events.

First a brief history of Qatar: In 1971 Qatar adopted hereditary monarchy after gaining independence from the Brits. Qatar quickly emerged among richest building on top of its natural gas reserves To get an idea how rich avg Qatari is.

while world per capita GDP is $11,000 a Qatari makes $50,000 Population of Qatar is only 30 lakh of which local Qataris make 15% and mostly 85% are migrants Then why Qatar was so desperate to host the FIFA world cup? Qatar wanted to make a mark on world level,

world was moving away from oil and gas so an alternate identity was to be carved. There is no better platform than a world cup Dictators turn to sporting events to sugarcoat and hide faults What did Qatar do to win the bid?

Uncle Ben forgot to tell that with great money comes great power and with great power comes great corruption Qatar used influence and money to win hosting rights ...

it is called biggest corruption scandal. But how does FIFA select the host? FIFA has 6 confederations with their own executive members. FIFA has 24 total executive members including the president of FIFA.

They have voting rights and they choose the host nation For 2022 host selection in 2010, 22 executive members voted (2 members were disqualified after caught compromising their vote in sting operation) Before we go on,

introducing Hassan Al Thawadi, bid campaign leader of Qatar and now managing 2022 world cup Second is Mohammad Bin Hammam, prez of Asian football confederation Third Phaedra Al Majid (aid to Qatari bid team and whistleblower)

Nobody thought Qatar was a serious bidder in 2010 (America and Australia met all the requirements of a host nation) Al Thawadi thought of a way to change this Enter bin Hammam, the then prez of AFC, who knew all the 24 executive voters personally Hammam guided Thawadi in the bid process.

Thawadi approaches Confederation of African Football executives CAF members decline the proposal ... but accept to vote for Qatar when the offer is $1.5 million That is how simple it was, as revealed by Phaedra Later on dealings were made directly with governments.

.. trade deals with eligible voter countries for instance oil deal with Thailand Qatar agreed to sell oil for cheap (days before voting) no wonder Thailand voted for Qatar On the other hand, Emir of Qatar visit Brazil and meets president Lula News emerges that Qatar airways agreed to operate 3 daily flights in Brazil and of Qatar investments in Brazil Confederation votes for Qatar.

the biggest confederation is UEFA with most executive members. Michel Platini of France was the prez of UEFA Then news of Platini, French prez Nicolas Sarkozy and son of Qatar Emir meeting is out (no big deal right?)

Platini and UEFA members voted for Qatar and road to deals for France cleared Deals with Airbus and Rafale Qatari ownership and investment in Paris Saint-Germain bein,

Qatari media group bagged French football TV rights at that time France was undergoing financial crisis Another news that a voting member sold land to Qatar for 32 million euros (way above asking price) Qatar gets 14 of 22 votes using these methods After all these revelations,

2 were disqualified and 16 executive members are either suspended, arrested or banned now FIFA president manages to stay away while strongly condemning the turn of events In 2011,

Hammam challenged Blatter's president post but was caught buying votes for FIFA presidency Emir of Qatar intervenes and deals with Blatter that if he quietly supports Qatar's bid then Hammam will withdraw from race Blatter, grand old man of FIFA, is now banned for 8 yrs in a different scandal Qatar,

with one stadium, wins hosting rights to FIFA 2022 world cup but how will it be ready in 12 years to organize the event? Qatar spent $229 billion dollars making this the most expensive world cup ever (more than combined cost of last 8 world cups)

Expenditure by Qatar is more than combined net worth of Ambani and Adani Qatar spent money on stadiums and infrastructure Now Qatar has fully air conditioned stadiums, new airport, roads and metro lines, and hotels Grass seeds for the field were imported from USA .

Qatar needed 30,000 laborers to finish the mega project in 12 yrs ... foreign laborers hired from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and the Philippines As we have seen during the pandemic that migrant workers were ignored by system .

Qatar did not even allow basic human rights to migrant laborers, it is said they were treated as slaves Qatar's Kafala system was responsible in which locals and companies sponsor foreign laborers.

(workers need permission from sponsors to transfer, terminate job contract or to leave/enter country) Workers were exploited, like illegal recruitment fees, no timely wages, many injured and died while working ... they lived at mercy of employer When this was exposed.

Qatar abolished the Kafala system after criticism. But workers say this was done only on paper, their passports are still with employers and they cannot leave without permission According to a report by the Guardian, 6500 migrant workers lost lives in Qatar.

Qatar said this was misleading report and workers died by natural causes ILO denied Qatar's comment saying that Qatar does not count respiratory or heart failure in work related problem and autopsy of bodies not done As per ILO, 50 workers died and 500 severely injured in 2020,

Question is, football is a sport that unites everyone. Qatar is a conservative country where homosexuality is illegal. How can open, multi-cultural event be held in Qatar comfortably?

Qatar said it will welcome all and nobody will be discriminated against, but laws on homosexuality won't change and visitors should respect the culture, Qatar added Human rights watch report has alleged abuse of LGBTQ Qataris (Qatar denied the allegation)

Many footballers are of LGBTQ and expressed concerns; 8 teams will wear OneLove arm band Another issue in Qatar is related to women's rights; according to human rights watch,

male guardianship curtail women rights in Qatar Women need permission from men to marry, study, work, travel, access reproductive healthcare How will then Qatar handle euphoric, candid woman fans at the world cup Third thing is, Qatar banned beer from world cup stadiums (consuming beer at world cup is common and the move disappointed fans)

Budweiser - FIFA deal was impacted by this change Anyway, world cup is ongoing. At the start another allegation was made that Qatar bribed Ecuador players to lose opener (might as well buy the trophy)

The bigger challenge for Qatar would be how to use its stadiums and other infrastructure after the sporting event is over Brazil stadiums are used bus depot after the 2014 world cup Qatar wants to be known for sports and to bid for Olympics.

But seems difficult of now after so many allegations The world cup exposed human rights conditions But still, money can bend anyone (it can't be ruled out)