Qatar 2022: again FIFA ‘in the eye of the storm’

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There is a new controversy over documents about the arrangement that FIFA had with the emirs of Qatar to choose that country as the venue for this event on 2022

According to the AS Magazine, quoting The Sun Times, this entire corruption plot began in 2010, when the decision was made to decide FIFA's headquarters for 2022. There was a first television agreement: in 2010, the chain Al Jazeera bought "the television rights of the World Cup rights of 2018 and 2022 (about 133.4 million euros each)". But, this is not all, at the end of the agreement there was a hidden clause.

Leer en español: Qatar 2022: de nuevo la FIFA en el 'Ojo del Huracán'

According to Pasión Futbol, this clause referred to a first payment, of 89 million dollars, to choose Qatar as the site of the 2022 World Cup, with the commitment of new payments in later years. For example, the Russian chain RT News cited the clause of the contract "In the event that the 2022 competition is awarded to the State of Qatar, Al Jazeera […] must pay FIFA 100 million dollars".

However, this clause was disguised with alleged "production costs", which are always paid by FIFA, but, this time, strangely, they were taken over by the Al Jazeera network, as stated by the Spanish newspaper AS. Finally, as mentioned in this same newspaper, by 2013, more than 400 million dollars had already been negotiated. However, this has not been the only FIFA scandal in recent years.

FIFA, Switzerland, Blatter, Concacaf …

By the end of 2014, the scandals for active launches at FIFA began to be revealed. According to El Mundo, for 2014, FIFA itself instituted a lawsuit against "unknown", fearing unfair movements in relation to the Qatar World Cup 2022; all this when the president of this organization was Joseph Blatter.

By May 27, 2015, according to the aforementioned Spanish media, there were double captures in both Zurich and Miami, for some cases of corruption by some Conmebol leaders, Concacaf; Likewise, senior FIFA officials in Europe were caught for fraudulent processes in the election of the headquarters of 2022.

Finally, on May 29, 2015, after all the scandals revealed, Blatter decides to dismiss the FIFA presidency, which is why UEFA President Michelle Platini is running. At the end of 2015, several American leaders were captured, including Jack Warner, Eugenio Figueredo, and José María Marín, according to the information provided by El Mundo.

Read also: Soccer shameful moments: disobedience on the field

A corruption that has cost lives?

The scandals have not cost only money, but also lives. For several years, since the construction of the stadiums in Qatar began, different media such as the BCC, Le Monde, the newspaper As, and RT Noticias, have spread the death of several "Nepalese slaves" in the construction of these buildings.

For example, as reported by the Minuto Uno newspaper, organizations such as the Foundation for International Democracy have denounced the death of more than 2000 Nepalese citizens, who were transferred to Qatar to finish the works of the stadiums before 2022. Due to the above, Ask yourself: Would lives have been saved if FIFA had not received the aforementioned bribes to choose a venue in 2022?

LatinAmerican Post | Miguel Diaz

Translated from "Qatar 2022: de nuevo la FIFA en el 'Ojo del Huracán'"