Qatar’s 2022 World Cup just can’t seem to stay away from controversy. First it was the allegations of bribery, then it was the deaths of workers building the stadiums (still an ongoing issue), and more recently it was the decision to host the 2022 World Cup during November and December.
However, over the weekend, more shocking news emerged about Qatar’s World Cup bid. The Sunday Times, a newspaper in England, published an article about the Middle East nation sabotaging the 2022 World Cup bids from the U.S. and Australia.
Tomorrow's front page: Exposed: Qatar sabotaged World Cup rivals with ‘black ops’ pic.twitter.com/NHlvIZ3M52
— The Sunday Times (@thesundaytimes) July 28, 2018
The leaked documents were provided by a whistleblower who had assisted with the Qatar World Cup bid.
The article alleges that Qatar used former CIA operatives as well as a PR agency as a way of spreading fake propaganda in other nations. Don’t worry, it gets even weirder.
Qatar 2022, Black file of World Cup
The #Qatari regime paid $80,000 a month to BLJ in New York, a secret campaign to undermine competitors for 2022 World Cup #Qatarieaks pic.twitter.com/blml8vN0Ah— قطريليكس QatariLeaks (@qatarileaks) July 30, 2018
A professor in the U.S. was paid $9,000 to write a report about the significant financial burden of hosting the World Cup in America, bloggers were paid to write negative stories about hosting the World Cup in the U.S. and, wait for it, they helped to orchestrate protests at rugby matches in Australia.
The best of the leaked documents is still to come: A number of American PE teachers were tasked with asking U.S. congressmen to oppose a World Cup based on the belief that money should be allocated to high school sports instead of hosting the World Cup. Yep, climbing a rope and running around a field is more important than hosting a World Cup. Because that's what totally matters, and hosting the best tournament in sports is completely irrelevant.
In the least shocking aspect of it all, Qatar has come out and flatly denied all of these accusations.
Obviously the U.S. isn’t complaining now, considering it'll be hosting the 2026 World Cup. But for Australia, it only represents more frustration after only securing one vote in the first round of the voting process despite having what many perceived to be a relatively strong bid.
But alas, Qatar is hosting in four years’ time, and despite all of the warning signs surrounding the tournament, it doesn’t seem like things will change.
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