The British newspaper The Sunday Times recently published scandalous documents according to which the former member of the FIFA executive committee Mohamed bin Hamam gave bribes worth 5 million dollars to secure votes for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup.
Bin Hammam, who was president of the Qatar Football Federation and the Asian Football Confederation, was taken out of football for life over a corruption scandal. But that was only the beginning of the end.
He was accused of trying to bribe representatives of Caribbean federations with $ 1 million each during his presidential campaign. In 2012, the Sports Arbitration Court in Sarajevo overturned the life sentence, recalls Betindex.bet.
According to the “Sunday Times”, the Qatari transferred $ 1.6 million to the account of former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner, 450,000 of which before the vote. Warner was re-elected head of football in North and Central America in early 2011. Half a year later, he resigned from all his posts after the FIFA Ethics Commission launched an investigation against him.
Another $ 415,000 has been credited to another former FIFA executive committee member, Reynald Temary. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has also been criticized for concerns about the health of participants and spectators, which is threatened by the great heat in the country.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has already acknowledged that Qatar’s choice was a big mistake. He revealed that he voted for the United States, but there was a lot of pressure from leading European countries, especially France and Germany.
Recently, however, Blatter said accusations of corruption over Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup were motivated by racism. African footballers have accused the British media of “deliberately defamatory and humiliating attacks aimed at harming the integrity of the African Football Federation”.
Against this background, however, a number of sponsors are one by one starting to demand an investigation into Qatar’s bid for the 2022 World Cup.
Hyundai, Adidas and Visa are just some of the companies that insist on checking the information of the “Sunday Times”. An official letter has arrived in Zurich from Sony, which sponsors major tournaments under the auspices of FIFA, including world championships. The sponsor said such scandals could negatively affect the image of all those involved in the World Cup and asked FIFA to investigate.
Oil company BP and beer maker Budweiser also want world football leaders to continue to investigate how Qatar was chosen as the host.
The results of the investigation into the corruption scandal will be announced in September this year. If it is found that mistakes were made in choosing Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, a new vote will be held.
In addition, human rights groups warn that many citizens of Nepal, India and Bangladesh in Qatar are victims of slavery today. Statistics show that about 4,000 workers are expected to die before the World Cup in Qatar, making the championship the deadliest sporting event in history.
