Qatar will keep 2022 World Cup

13 November 2014

Report did not find enough evidence of corruption to justify revote

The Fifa investigation into corruption in the selection of bids for the 2018 and 2022 football World Cups has not found enough evidence of major misconduct by Qatar to strip it of the tournament.

The investigation cited “indications of potentially problematic conduct of specific individuals”, but found that these did not “compromise the integrity of the… bidding process as a whole”.

The report, summarised by German judge Hans Joachim Eckert, criticised the conduct of most of the bidding countries. However, there is no evidence that the Qatari bid team paid bribes to secure the 2022 World Cup. The Fifa executive committee, which will make the decision, therefore has no reason to strip Qatar of the tournament.

The investigation was hampered, however, by obstacles in the way of independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia, who could not subpoena witnesses or records. A number of countries also did not fully cooperate with his investigation.

Allegations were raised, most vocally by the English FA, about corruption in the bidding process after it received only two votes for its 2018 World Cup bid.

Separate proceedings may be brought against several members of Fifa’s executive committee, who have since left the world of football, including former Qatari member Mohammed bin Hammam, accused of paying bribes. He refused to cooperate with the investigation, but the report found he was not directly involved with the Qatar 2022 bid.

Construction work is under way on two of the eight stadiums Qatar is building to meet Fifa World Cup standards. Bids for the main construction contracts on another two are due before the end of 2014.

Most recently, work on the revamp of Khalifa International stadium was begun by a joint venture of the local Midmac Contracting and Belgium’s Six Construct. Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah and the local Projacs are the design consultant and project manager respectively, with the designs set to be revealed at the Gulf Cup in Riyadh on 24 November. The project is expected to be completed in 2016.

Qatar originally planned to spend $4bn on nine new stadiums and three upgrades, as well as $50bn on infrastructure and hotels. However, Doha scaled back its original plans in mid-2014 to better reflect “the size of the country”.

Qatar has also been strongly criticised over the poor treatment and high fatality rate of migrant workers on World Cup projects.

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