June 10, 2014

CORRUPTION CLAIMS CAST CLOUD ON QATAR’S WORLD CUP BID

[Once again the British are crying foul, however, complaining that FIFA’s ethics prosecutor, Michael Garcia, conveniently completed his investigation in time to avoid weighing new evidence published this week by The Sunday Times of London, including what the paper said were millions of emails and travel and financial records showing that Mohamed bin Hammam, a Qatari billionaire, essentially bought the 2022 bid for Qatar, colluding with Russian officials in their 2018 World Cup bid as well.]


By Rod Norland

A London newspaper said Mohamed bin Hammam,
a Qatari billionaire, essentially bought
the 2022 Cup for his nation.
 Credit Fabrice Coffrini/
Agence France-Presse
 — Getty Images
DOHA, Qatar — As far as the soccer-mad rulers of this wealthy emirate are concerned, the British are just being sore losers and bad sports with all their complaints about corruption, slave labor, an epidemic of worker deaths and, let’s not forget, the extreme heat associated with Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid.
And Brazil 2014 thought it had image problems?
On Monday, FIFA was expected to complete a review of whether the Qatar bid was awarded honestly, and recommend action to the soccer federation’s judicial body.
Once again the British are crying foul, however, complaining that FIFA’s ethics prosecutor, Michael Garcia, conveniently completed his investigation in time to avoid weighing new evidence published this week by The Sunday Times of London, including what the paper said were millions of emails and travel and financial records showing that Mohamed bin Hammam, a Qatari billionaire, essentially bought the 2022 bid for Qatar, colluding with Russian officials in their 2018 World Cup bid as well.

Qatar’s response has been to say virtually nothing in public, rattle its libel lawyers’ swords in their scabbards — and call on a little-heard-from organization, the Arab States Broadcasting Union, to defend Qatar “against the smear campaigns questioning the eligibility of the country to host the event.”
It is just the latest in what many soccer enthusiasts say was the most questionable award of a World Cup, the world’s most lucrative and widely watched event. Qatar had never previously qualified to play in a World Cup and in June has temperatures reaching to 120 Fahrenheit (49 Celsius), far too hot to play soccer safely.
In addition, another British newspaper, The Guardian, reported recently on abuse of workers from Nepal and India, including multiple deaths that occurred amid inhuman conditions at the dozen stadiums planned for the games. At the same time, a ruling by the International Labour Organization last March gave Qatar until November to change its kafala system, in which foreign workers cannot change jobs or even leave the country without permission from their Qatari sponsors — making them powerless to resist abusive treatment.
One international trade union called it a “system of modern slavery.”
Qatar’s supporters say the British are simply upset that their own 2018 bid was lost to Russia, at a time when Russia and Qatar were allied to help one another’s bids.
The dispute has left a bad taste on all sides, even for an international sport that has been persistently plagued with corruption charges. Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, last month called the decision to give Qatar the World Cup a mistake.
“Yes, it was a mistake of course, but one makes lots of mistakes in life,” Mr. Blatter told the Swiss broadcasting network RTS. Others have accused Mr. Blatter of having tried to torpedo the Qatari bid all along, out of anger at Mr. Hammam’s abortive efforts to challenge him for the world soccer body’s presidency, allegedly by buying votes.
Mr. Hammam has since been given a lifetime ban from soccer activity by FIFA, the organization that oversees international soccer and the World Cup.
“We say again that Mohamed bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in Qatar’s 2022 Bid Committee,” Qatar’s World Cup organizing committee saidin a post on its website Sunday. “Any objective enquiry will conclude we won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cub fairly. Following today’s newspaper articles, we vehemently deny all allegations of wrongdoing,” the committee’s statement said.
“None of this drama is about football writ large, or even about corruption,” said Mike Holtzman, head of BLJ Worldwide, a consulting firm that gives strategic advice to the emirate. Mr. Holtzman said he was not speaking officially on behalf of Qatar, but giving his own views.
While Qatar’s rulers may love soccer, that sentiment has not seemed to trickle down. The kingdom’s biggest stadium, the 40,000-capacity Khalifa International Stadium, is rarely even half-full — despite generous offers of door prizes and match-day raffles of luxury automobiles, airline tickets, televisions and iPhones. The raffle is included in the typical ticket price — 10 rials, or less than $3. Those who opt out can attend matches for free.
Those who go to the matches as members of official fan clubs are actually paid to do so: 100 rials, about $27, according to Qatari sports journalists who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. Some even switch their flags and T-shirts during halftime, so they can collect the fan fee from both sides. One Qatari journalist recalled buying one ticket to attend a match, and being given five free ones on the condition he bring some fans to sit on the other side, where there were no fans.
“I said, ‘But there are no fans on this side either,’ ” he said.
One of Qatar’s new stadiums, al Sadd, is modeled after Manchester United’s stadium, and is nicknamed Old Trafford al Sahara, but unlike its namesake it has a roof and air-conditioning. It is the home of Qatar’s national soccer team, which plays there during the winter — and even then they turn on the air-conditioning, for fans as well as players.
Especially worrisome for the World Cup and FIFA is the position of major World Cup sponsors, which include Visa, Sony, Coca-Cola and Adidas, all of which have expressed concern over the controversy surrounding how Qatar won its 2022 bid.
“We understand FIFA is taking this matter seriously and we will continue to monitor its internal investigation,” said Melissa Cassar, a spokeswoman for Visa, on Monday. “We expect FIFA will take the appropriate actions to respond to the report and its recommendations.”
More than just sponsors’ money is at stake. Qatar has been lobbying to move the World Cup to the winter months, which in turn has caused concern for the broadcaster Fox, which won the rights to the soccer tournament in 2022, but would not want it to conflict with the National Football League season in the United States.
Britain’s big-money Premier League, where tickets typically cost more than $100, plays its matches over the winter, and would not want to take up to two months off for a World Cup. And the International Olympic Committee does not want a conflict with the 2022 Winter Olympics in the beginning of the year.
Last January, when Jerome Valcke, the secretary general of FIFA and its second in command, said a switch of the 2022 World Cup to winter was likely,criticism was immediate, and the organization has yet to formally announce a final decision.
The New York Times