Qatar May Be Stripped Of 2022 World Cup
Local Editor
Saudi Arabia is demanding that FIFA strip Qatar of the 2022 World Cup in light of accusations of vote buying during the nomination process in 2010.
According to German magazine Focus, Saudi sports minister Turki Al Sheikh is insisting that vote-buying in the lead-up to the 2010 vote should nullify FIFA's decision - and that football's governing body will make a final call on the matter next summer.
England and the United States are reportedly being lined up as alternative venues for the tournament.
The vote-buying scandal has come to the fore again following the publication of Whatever It Takes: The Inside Story of the FIFA Way, a book by former Football Federation of Australia's head of corporate and public affairs, Bonita Mersiades. In it, she paints a less than flattering picture of FIFA's internal processes.
The most damning revelation is the fact that, as FIFA executives worried about a revenue shortfall from a Qatar success, broadcaster Al Jazeera stepped in to promise $100m.
Last summer, FIFA released its own report of the bidding battles for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments after another German publication, Bild, announced it was going to print leaks from it.
Among its findings, it revealed that a secret payment of $2.6 million was made to the ten-year-old daughter of Brazilian FIFA bigwig Ricardo Teixeira, while three senior figures were flown to a meeting in Rio in a Qatari-owned jet.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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