In 2010, it was made official that the Middle Eastern country would host the World Cup. A decision that continues to make noise to this day, while there are still days before the start of the tournament.
With less than two days to go until the opening game, all the teams have already announced the players who will represent them and thousands of fans are in the Middle East to start the experience of a lifetime. And despite the fact that all these details suggest the World Cup is only a breath away, many questions remain as to why it will be held in Qatar. A decision that was made 12 years ago, but which continues to make noise on the football planet. The death of workers in the construction of venues, the ban on drinking alcohol in stadiums and threats against journalists are just some of the reasons that continue to generate resistance in the Arab country.
The latest to join this list was Sepp Blatter, former FIFA president and one of the big people responsible for Qatar’s victory in the 2010 elections. The Swiss admits that what he celebrated more than a decade ago is now a mistake. But for this “error” to materialize, a lot of things had to happen.
Designating Qatar as the venue for the World Cup was not a quick decision, let alone a secret one. The Middle Eastern country complied with all the processes stipulated by FIFA and managed to win the venue despite reports from the judging committee, headed by Harold Mayne-Nicholls, suggesting otherwise. That’s why we talked a lot about this fact.
The role of stars and the money of an oil country
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Qatar won the World Cup largely because of its economic power. Although by rotation he played a world cup in Asia and that FIFA had already taken the event to countries where football was not their forte (USA 1994, Korea-Japan 2002 and South Africa 2010), the Middle East portfolio was the great weapon for achieve their victory.
With a GDP of $125 billion in 2010, Qatar was able to offer a comprehensive plan that was unbeatable compared to other competing countries. Futuristic stadiums, facilities to accommodate thousands of people, a high-speed train system and the ability to build all venues within 50 kilometers were some of the promises that captivated the FIFA Executive Committee. The budget for that? $42.9 billion
Another determining factor was the media support for the project. Lacking a strong footballing heritage, Qatar has sought out the biggest faces in world football to promote its ambitious plan. One of them was Pep Guardiola, who, while still Barcelona manager, appeared in press conferences representing the bid. “I’m here to report that I’ve made a deal as an ambassador for Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup. The support basically comes from living there. These are things that are difficult for me, but they insisted a lot and, since they treated me and my family very well, I decided to accept the proposal “, he commented at the time, referring to his time at Al-Ahli in the last period of his playing career.
Another sports legend who also served as an ambassador was Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman charged similar reasons to Guardiola’s making it clear that he wanted to help them with a “charity project for the future of sport and football ”, after when he was playing the last stage as a footballer, they offered him a blank check to play there. In any case, this earned him a lot of criticism in his country, even going so far as to have to show himself to the rumors that spoke of payments of 10 million dollars for his efforts . The Madrid legend has confirmed that the sum paid to him was much less and that all proceeds will go to his foundation.
Rivals who could not convince
For the final selection, held in December 2010, five countries were in the running: the United States, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Qatar. Of these nations, three had already played in World Cups in the last 20 years, so they immediately went to a disadvantage in the vote taken by the FIFA Executive Committee (this body no longer exists, but it was made up of the different federations and important positions). of the organization based in Switzerland).
In fact, many thought Australia and its island-wide plan of 16 venues might be the only ones to give the Arabs any clout, but they were left behind in the first round. This first vote gave the following results: Qatar eleven votes, South Korea four, the United States three, Japan three and the ocean only one.
This caused a second and a third round between the most voted candidates, where the countries which hosted the 2002 World Cup were eliminated. Thus, the place was defined in a fourth round of voting, in which only Qatar and the United States, the country that convinced Harold Mayne-Nicholls the most.
The former president of the ANFP and head of the selection committee at the time, recalled this dispute a few days ago: “In the United States, about five million people were going to attend the games, due to the capacity of the stadiums. In Qatar, there will be no more than three million viewers. I said there was a huge social benefit, because there were two million more people who could enjoy the World Cup, with the economic consequences that entails. In this sense, the American candidacy was superior to that of Qatar.” . The Arabs won the last ballot by 14 votes to 8.
the secret meeting
After the designation of the home of the World Cup, Qatar and FIFA were under the magnifying glass of the planet. Many voices were quickly raised to talk about corruption and vote buying. Rumors that grew strongly when in 2013 the magazine “France Football” launched the famous report “Qatargate”.
The investigation of more than 15 pages spoke of a secret meeting held on November 23, 2010 at the Élysée Palace in which Nicolas Sarkozy (President of France at the time), Michel Platini (President of UEFA), Tamim bin Hamad al Thani (Emir of Qatar), Hamad bin Jassem (Prime Minister of Qatar) and Sébastien Bazin (representing owners of PSG at the time). The French weekly stressed that there would have been an agreement on the takeover of the Parisian club by Qatar Sports Investments (which took place months later), the creation of a sports channel which would compete with Canal Plus and the increase in the shareholding of various economic players in French groups. Everything for Platini to change his vote and support Qatar (which he finally did).
This report caused one of the biggest controversies in FIFA memory, even leading the footballing entity to open an investigation to clarify the facts. This was led by Michael J. García who in 2014, he delivered a report of more than 400 pages where irregularities were pointed out in both the designation of Qatar and Russia for the 2018 World Cup.
On this occasion, and after two years of investigation, Hans-Joachim Eckert, Chairman of the FIFA Ethics Committee, determined that the evidence was not sufficient to accuse those involved of corruption and decided not to not do the Michael J. Garcia report. The files only emerged in full in 2017, after it was learned that German newspaper Bild was to leak them.
Finally in 2019 this episode made noise again, after the French police detain and interrogate Michel Platini for more than 12 hours for alleged corruption in the awarding of the World Cup . Despite the fact that the three-time Ballon d’Or winner was released, doubts over the legality of the Qatari victory were still left hanging in the balance.
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Source: Latercera
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
