Still Sepp Blatter leads the organisation, yet there is an injustice far greater than the farce that was last week’s Presidential election.
That is that Qatar will be hosting the 2022 World Cup, and that this privilege is under little threat at this moment in time.
That England missed out to Russia for 2018 was a reasonable, if controversial, decision. The Russians actually like football. They demonstrably care about the game, and have at least some passion for the sport.
Qatar? Not a chance. They’re not even the most passionate football nation in the Middle East, few and far between those are. FIFA’s desire to take the World Cup to new places was a perfectly reasonable goal. Russia fits in with that. But Qatar, a nation with no history or record in football, over the demonstrably passionate Australians? Or even the US?
But more crucially still, Qatar is implicated in a scandal over the 2022 World Cup bidding process. According to Sunday Times evidence, bribes were handed over by a middle man to two FIFA Executive Committee members, Jacques Anouma and Issa Hayatou, who both are believed to have voted for Qatar.
No proof of these allegations has yet been presented to FIFA, but the question mark still looms. Mohamed Bin Hammam, the head of the campaign, has been suspended for attempting to bribe FIFA members in the vote for the Presidency last week. As Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s vice-president, indicated in a leaked e-mail, bin Hammam seemed to believe he could buy the World Cup.
Bin Hammam’s role in Blatter’s initial election in 1998 is well documented and provides plenty of material for speculation; again, the meticulous Qatari left no solid evidence behind, but witnesses saw money being handed over to officials, and bin Hammam lent Blatter his private jet to help his cause.
The least there should be is an inquiry with access to all the evidence. Certainly there are question marks that need to be answered about Qatar. It is possible that they have managed to win the World Cup without breaking the rules. It is also possible that Swansea could win the Premier League next season, though unlikely.
This is not to say that Qatar is guilty. Just that it has a case to answer. What happened in Qatar’s bid campaign needs to be made public. There is evidence of everything that happened, and it all needs to be made available. If it shows they are clean, great, what have they got to hide? But there is clearly a need for an investigation, with all the facts to hand.
