Qatar World Cup Debacle Undermines FIFA Leadership

Timothy Spangler
Wed, 04 Jun 2014 08:27:53 -0700
Opinion

The plot revealed this week involving Qatar's use of bribes and vote rigging to "buy" the 2022 World Cup has left the global soccer community dismayed and disappointed. The sporting world was stunned in December 2010 when, against the expert recommendations, the tournament was awarded to the tiny desert nation, which had been written off by many observers. The scandal brings the world's favorite game into disrepute and highlights how multilateral organizations can be captured by corruption when transparency and accountability are not a priority.

The Sunday Times has reported receiving millions of documents — including emails, bank statements, phone records, flight logs and various communications — that methodically lay out how Mohamed bin Hammam, a Qatari and a senior member of FIFA, football's global governing board, paid handsomely to garner enough votes for his country's long-shot bid to be successful. African members of the selection committee were a particular focus for bin Hammam's generosity, and he used the Asian Football Confederation and the bank account of his own daughter, Aisha, as a way of distributing cash.

Importantly, evidence implies that FIFA insiders had a clear idea of the bin Hammam plot. As head of the Asian region, he would have been expected to maintain some semblance of neutrality as a number of his members — including Australia, Japan and South Korea — bid alongside his native Qatar. Despite claims otherwise, emails have surfaced showing that bin Hammam was closely coordinating his work with Hassan al-Thawadi, leader of the Qatar bid group.
Updated: Thu Jun 05, 2014

The plot revealed this week involving Qatar's use of bribes and vote rigging to "buy" the 2022 World Cup has left the global soccer community dismayed and disappointed. The sporting world was stunned in December 2010 when, against the expert recommendations, the tournament was awarded to the tiny desert nation, which had been written off by many observers. The scandal brings the world's favorite game into disrepute and highlights how multilateral organizations can be captured by corruption when transparency and accountability are not a priority.

The Sunday Times has reported receiving millions of documents — including emails, bank statements, phone records, flight logs and various communications — that methodically lay out how Mohamed bin Hammam, a Qatari and a senior member of FIFA, football's global governing board, paid handsomely to garner enough votes for his country's long-shot bid to be successful. African members of the selection committee were a particular focus for bin Hammam's generosity, and he used the Asian Football Confederation and the bank account of his own daughter, Aisha, as a way of distributing cash.

Importantly, evidence implies that FIFA insiders had a clear idea of the bin Hammam plot. As head of the Asian region, he would have been expected to maintain some semblance of neutrality as a number of his members — including Australia, Japan and South Korea — bid alongside his native Qatar. Despite claims otherwise, emails have surfaced showing that bin Hammam was closely coordinating his work with Hassan al-Thawadi, leader of the Qatar bid group.

Qatar is a small country where summer temperatures routinely reach 120 F. It lacks both football infrastructure and any well-entrenched tradition of following the sport. The country's national team currently ranks 95th in the world. Regardless, the Qatari bid managed to sway enough voters on the crucial 24-member selection committee. To dedicated football fans, the decision seemed irrational, heartless and, at best, motivated by pure pecuniary considerations. The audience was stunned when Qatar was selected, and the passage of years has done little to reconcile many doubters and critics to the highly unusual choice.

Reports of slush funds and cash payments have circulated in recent days, including details of money funneled to key committee members in pivotal voting regions. Although the Qatari bid group has always maintained that it had no connection with bin Hammam and that any of his activities were unknown to it, pressure is building not only to widen current investigations into the bid process but also to push re-tendering for the 2022 World Cup.

In addition to hurting bin Hammam, the revelations most severely undermine Sepp Blatter, current FIFA president. Despite finally admitting that the awarding of the tournament to Qatar was a mistake and even acknowledging that there could be health risks for players who compete in sweltering temperatures, Blatter has disregarded calls to rerun the selection process — primarily, it would seem, to protect his own position as global football supremo.

Putting the Qatar bid into perspective reveals just how anomalous its selection was. The country has strict decency laws that prohibit immodest clothing and obscene language and gestures. When combined with the furious heat, it seems that many would-be soccer fans are in for a surprise! Eight stadiums must be built, which will cost almost $4 billion. Notably, 964 construction workers, primarily from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, died in 2012 and 2013. Organizers have promised air conditioning to make temperatures bearable for players on the pitch, which means that this will not be a particularly "green" tournament.

What happens now? FIFA investigators are looking for answers from the Qatari bid group. Allegations of corruption will be examined, and a decision will be reached on whether violations occurred and, if so, to what extent. Leading these efforts is American Michael Garcia, a former prosecutor. The results could be explosive, with the potential to seriously embarrass football's governing body.

In addition to individual acts of impropriety that will need to be addressed, the question on many minds this week has been whether the Qatari selection will be revoked and put out to tender again. If so, then a number of countries disappointed by their failure to win the 2018 World Cup, which went to Russia, as well as the 2022 tournament, might submit new bids. A messy business indeed!

There are those among us who romanticize multilateral decision-making. They believe that decentralization and inclusiveness is the best path toward peace and security. Unfortunately, FIFA's experience with the relatively straightforward process of picking a host for a sports tournament reveals how seedy and unseemly such processes can be. Let the Qatari 2022 bid be a painful example of how badly international organizations can get things wrong when accountability and transparency are absent.