Russia and Qatar might be about find out the hard way that sometimes there are consequences to your actions, although I doubt either of them will take these latest threats lying down.
FIFA compliance chief Domenico Scala has said in an interview that if it comes to light that there were some dodgy dealings in the bidding process of the two countries the decisions could be voided. Anyone with even a vague interest in football would have heard the alarm bells ringing in the wake of Qatar especially, and with the sport’s name being dragged through the mud the allegations are only gaining speed. Here’s CNN:
The CEO of Russia World Cup 2018…Alexesy Sorokin, said that Russia’s bid was transparent.
“It was clean,” he said. “It didn’t transgress any FIFA practices, any practices applicable to the bidding process. What else can we say?”
And Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy released a statement last week, saying, “The recent events at FIFA will not impact on our preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.”
There really is nothing you can say gents. When the World Cup is handed to a country with temperatures in the high 40’s, little to no footballing infrastructure and an appalling legacy of basic human rights violations it is rather easy to smell a rat. I suppose now we wait and see whether FIFA has the balls to follow through on their threats of holding countries accountable for bribing their officials.
[source:cnn]
