The question was almost immediate. When Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties and imposed a trade embargo on Qatar on 5 June people around the world were quick to ask whether Qatar is still able to host football’s Fifa World Cup in 2022.

The fact the question was asked so quickly highlights the fact that there has always been nagging concerns that Qatar would be stripped of the event.

These concerns have been present ever since Qatar secured the rights to host the event in late 2010, and have grown in magnitude as Fifa became increasingly embroiled in corruption scandals over the past six or seven years.

The concerns will spike again with news agencies reporting on an unconfirmed news story by a Swiss website that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt together with Mauritania and Yemen have together written to Fifa asking them to strip Qatar of the rights to host the event.

Although Fifa has denied receiving any such letter, it is unlikely to prevent future speculation that Qatar will not be able to host football’s flagship event in 2022.

This persistent uncertainty will amplify the very real difficulties that are already confronting companies working on projects that need to be completed ahead of the World Cup.