Qatar on Tuesday called allegations that it bribed FIFA officials for the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup “baseless” and said that they “will be fiercely contested.”
US Department of Justice documents released on Monday showed that FIFA officials received bribes to vote in favor of awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
Qatar said that it “strongly denies the allegations contained within the court papers.”
Photo: Reuters
The timing of the global soccer spectacle, scheduled to be held in November and December 2022, remains unchanged by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced the postponement of the UEFA Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics. Both are now to take place next year.
The allegations are linked to a wide-ranging 2015 corruption scandal that left world soccer’s governing body in turmoil and led to the downfall of then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
In the ensuing years, the US government has accused 45 people and various sports companies of more than 90 crimes, and of paying or accepting more than US$200 million in bribes.
“They are part of a long-standing case, the subject of which is not the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process,” Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which is responsible for stadiums and other infrastructure for the competition, said in a statement.
“Despite years of false claims, evidence has never been produced to demonstrate that Qatar won the rights to host the FIFA World Cup 2022 unethically or by means that contravened FIFA’s strict bidding rules,” it added.
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