Special Report: Qatar 2022

[Zane]

Os outros concorrentes não eram Portugal/Espanha e a Rússia? :confuso:

[Lebohang]

Os outros concorrentes não eram Portugal/Espanha e a Rússia? :confuso:

 

Não. Para o Mundial 2022 era o Qatar (que venceu), os EUA, a Austrália, o Japão e a Coreia do Sul

 

Escolha do Organizador Mundial 2022

[45roma]

E não ganhou os EUA nem a Austrália? Ok, bom suborno.

[Lebohang]

E não ganhou os EUA nem a Austrália? Ok, bom suborno.

 

OS EUA já tinham organizado um mundial (na altura) há menos de 20 anos. A Coreia do Sul e o Japão a mesma coisa.

 

Sobravam tecnicamente dois: Qatar e Austrália. A Austrália é um país onde o futebol está em franco crescimento (no jogo contra o Uruguai que garantiu o apuramento deles para o CM de 2006 haviam 80.000 pessoas no estádio, o que é muito se tivermos em conta que lá é futebol australiano e rugby) e ia organizar a Taça Asiática de 2015. Deram ao Qatar, que desde o inicio estava a ser apoiado pelo Blatter e por algumas figuras importantes do futebol mundial.

 

Foi uma decisão polémica desde o inicio.

[Pat Riley]

É os clubes recusarem-se a deixar os jogadores irem para a selecção se isto acontecer.

 

No Qatar está a ser feito um trabalho intensivo para melhorar a qualidade dos jovens jogadores com fim a estarem pronto para o Mundial, as academias foram construídas com um nível máximo de qualidade existente e contrataram vários técnicos internacionais, e a Aspire (se não me engano acho que é a academia topo do país) tem duas equipas com vários escalões de formação, uma das equipas recrutou os melhores jovens do país para os evoluir, e a outro é a Aspire International que tem vários jovens africanos com o fim de evoluírem e naturalizarem-se para participarem no Mundial.

Isto é apenas em resposta quanto a questão da qualidade do futebol no Qatar, e já agora dois jovens do Qatar já foram transferidos à experiencia (acho) para o Sevilha.

 

Sim é a Aspire, dava o anúncio na Eurosport e tudo.

[Kimi Raikkonen]

Para quase mês e meio.

E como é óbvio o Beckenbauer foi logo o primeiro a defender o Mundial em Janeiro. O que também não admira ou não fosse o futebol alemão o maior beneficiado caso isso aconteça. É que nem tinha de mexer no seu calendário...

 

Este Mundial no Qatar é um absurdo que só existe porque muita gente meteu ou vai meter muito dinheiro ao bolso. Apenas e só isso.

 

Se ganhasse outro pais ia acontecer a mesma coisa :lol:

[Poeira]

Se ganhasse outro pais ia acontecer a mesma coisa :lol:

Se ganhasse outro país muito provavelmente não se andava agora a tentar adaptar o calendário mundial dos clubes para encaixar um Mundial. O Blatter já devia era ter dado a vaga. Mal por mal, até prefiro o Platini lá.

 

Chamem-lhe discriminação, chamem-lhe o que quiserem, mas eu acho que há países que nunca terão capacidade para organizar uma competição destas, e o Qatar é um desses países.

[Kimi Raikkonen]

Se ganhasse outro país muito provavelmente não se andava agora a tentar adaptar o calendário mundial dos clubes para encaixar um Mundial. O Blatter já devia era ter dado a vaga. Mal por mal, até prefiro o Platini lá.

 

Estamos a falar de ganhar dinheiro a custa desta escolha e estou a dizer que qualquer outra escolhia ia ter os seus beneficios para quem investiu neles, directamente ou indirectamente.

 

Se voltamos a falar do calor, isso para mim consegue-se atenuar a situaçao e acho que nao é necessario andar a alterar calendarios com as ligas nacionais.

O Qatar esta longe de ser um pais incapaz de organizar uma competiçao da grandeza do Campeonato do Mundo.

Editado 5 Setembro 2013 por Kimi Raikkonen

[Lebohang]

The human cost of a Qatar World Cup

 

France Football's Philippe Auclair is bringing us a three-part special report into Qatar's controversial hosting of the 2022 World Cup. In the final part, he focuses on concerns over the conditions imposed on the migrant workers who will help build the stadia and infrastructure required for the FIFA tournament.

 

 

This is one of the most intriguing aspects of the debate around Qatar 2022. Whilst the circumstances surrounding FIFA’s choice to award the World Cup to the emirate have been the subject of countless reports, and whilst the switch to winter has rightly become, pardon the expression, the hottest topic in world football politics and will remain so for the foreseeable future, very little attention has been granted to another dimension of this issue: the human rights situation in the fabulously wealthy micro-state.

 

You’d have thought the world would have paid a little bit more attention to this when, in April of this year, the largest trade union confederation on the planet, ITUC, representing 175 million workers in 155 countries, formally asked FIFA to re-run the December 2, 2010 vote – asking, in fact, for Qatar to be stripped of the privilege of hosting the tournament if it didn’t engage in a process of complete reform of its labour laws, and made sure those were fully enacted on the ground.

 

The trade union confederation expressed its demands in the strongest possible terms. The situation of migrant workers in Qatar, who represent well over 90% of its workforce, was akin to "modern-day slavery" – their choice of words.

 

And it is those workers - mostly shipped in from the Indian sub-continent and Asia, whose number is set to increase by at least a million in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup - who have already started to build the colossal infrastructure needed to stage the tournament. Every day, according to a spokesman of the New York-based charity Human Rights Watch (HRW), four Qatar Airways jumbo jets are chartered to transport Nepalese workers from Kathmandu to Doha. Every day.

 

Attending UEFA’s congress in London on May 24 of this year, ITUC’s general secretary Sharan Burrow repeated what has become the rallying slogan of that movement: "More workers will die building World Cup infrastructure than players will take to the football pitch unless steps are taken to reform working conditions in Qatar."

 

One week later, according to the organisation, eight of its activists were arrested and charged by Mauritian police when they staged a demonstration outside the building where FIFA was holding its own Congress.

 

Why ITUC’s call and actions have yet to stir interest in public opinion may be partly explained by the caution exercised by the media; it is not unknown for political, para-political bodies and pressure groups to stage publicity coups at the expense of truth. And there are, indeed, other organisations which do not approve of the confederation’s radical stance; this does not mean that they do not share its concerns, or that these concerns are unfounded.

 

 

Qatar can boast of the highest GDP per capita in the world - $106,000 (£68,000) in 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund. But this figure doesn’t reflect the huge disparity between the incomes of Qatari nationals and the non-national transients who make the overwhelming majority of the population, and whose lot is a sorry one.

 

The recruitment process itself is highly suspect, relying on a system of sponsorship via placement agencies which is widely abused; passports may be confiscated on arrival; and, once in situ, those immigrants are routinely denied basic rights granted to workers in most parts of the world. They are de facto non-citizens. Football has, so far, chosen to ignore this.

 

According to all independent reports, those migrant workers toil six days a week (no summer break for them), 10 hours a day, for less than $10 (£6.40) a shift. They are crammed in rudimentary camps mostly devoid of decent sanitation and – not a luxury in Qatar – air conditioning.

 

Though official statistics are not available, credible evidence has emerged to suggest a staggering death rate among the young, fit men who come to work there; Nepalese sources mention 100 plus victims per year. Those young men go to bed and never wake up; their hearts, weakened by overwork, heat exposure and dehydration, simply give up with no warning. They call it 'sleeping death'.

 

This is not to say that the Qataris themselves deny the existence of serious problems. In fact, just as the Russians claim that organising the 2018 World Cup will enable them to right a number of wrongs in their country (addressing football-related hooliganism and racism, for example), the Qatari 2022 Supreme Committee has been at pains to stress that hosting the competition would represent a unique opportunity for progress and the betterment of working conditions for migrants in the emirate.

 

For its part, FIFA says: "[The] World Cup in the Middle East offers a great opportunity for the region to discover football's power as a platform for positive social change. FIFA upholds the respect for human rights and the application of international norms of behavior as a principle and part of all our activities. FIFA expects the dialogue that started with both the Qatari authorities and organisations like HRW to continue in the build-up of the 2022 FIFA World Cup."

 

A charter of workers’ rights has been drafted and passed on to FIFA, HRW, ITUC and other bodies which, taken literally, represents a huge step forward. How the noble principles which are enshrined in this document will be put into practice is another matter altogether. And the reason why ITUC and others have become so vocal is because there is still no sign of implementation – two years and nine months after FIFA chose Qatar.

 

 

That is not to doubt the sincerity of the people who wrote and promoted this charter, including the Supreme Commitee’s most prominent figure, Hassan al Thawadi. But a common mistake is to think that Qatar, because of its minuscule size and the nature of its regime, often described as an 'enlightened dictatorship', is a homogeneous block. In Qatar as elsewhere, some are pushing for reform, others resisting it.

 

A country in which economic ultra-liberalism coexists with religious conservatism is bound to be rife with contradictions. Nor should Qatar be singled out for criticism in that regard: from a Western point of view, it’s hard to think of a paragon of democracy and tolerance in that part of the world. By bidding for the 2022 World Cup, Qatar has at least showed some willingness to measure its own values against those of others, and risked antagonising many of its neighbours in the process.

 

It is too early to gauge whether the recent abdication of emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in favour of his 33-year-old son Sheikh Tamim will swing the balance one way or the other. A recognition by FIFA, usually not the slowest to claim the moral high ground, that it has every right to apply pressure on the country it selected to host its grand jamboree, and that it could indeed be a force for good, could be a game-changer.

 

But we shouldn’t hold our breath. So far, nothing but bland statements of principle have emanated from Zurich. Those planes still land in Doha. Those camps are still heaving with men hungry for work, any work.

 

And what of FIFPro, the professional players’ union? Couldn’t it find the energy to think of the fate of fellow workers? Couldn’t they ask themselves that simple question: what is a World Cup worth when it is measured in human suffering?

 

[Lebohang]

 

Exclusive with Sepp Blatter: Everyone complains about winter 2022, but what about discrimination

 

September 9 - The recent heated debate about potentially playing the FIFA World Cup 2022 in what would be the European winter (note European) has generated some agreement and considerable dissent among football pundits, administrators and politicians alike. Insideworldfootballfootball's Paul Nicholson spoke exclusively to FIFA's President, Joseph S. Blatter, and asked him what repercussions he is expecting – if any - to his proposal to shift dates.

 

 

President Blatter, when you took the initiative and unilaterally announced that the FIFA World Cup cannot be played in Qatar's summer months, many people agreed. But when you offered to take the matter to your Executive Committee (FIFA's Board) and urge it to postpone the World Cup to winter, initially all hell broke loose. Did you expect such a violent reaction?

 

JSB: Well, to be honest, I was not completely surprised because Qatar, like all other bidding nations, had bid for staging the World Cup in summer. After many discussions, deliberations and critical review of the entire matter, I came to the conclusion that playing the World Cup in the heat of Qatar's summer was simply not a responsible thing to do - despite the fact that I know full well that Qatar has the means to develop the best cooling technology. That is why I went public and suggested that the FIFA ExCo should review the period when the event shall be staged and see what consequences it would have to play in winter.

 

There was instant opposition to your proposal, not only from European Leagues, some of which have been very vociferous, but possibly also from other quarters...?

 

JSB: Of course. Some people immediately jumped to conclusions, demanded that the entire awarding process be reviewed if not re-voted upon, others were harshly critical and demanded to know why it had taken me two and a half years to notice that a summer tournament was not possible in Qatar. The same people forget a few facts though...

 

...and which facts are those?

 

JSB: Well, to start with, the loudest critics, the ones who should know better because they signed the exact same bidding documents as Qatar did (the Bid Registration Agreement) must know that point 1.2.1. stipulates that the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup is "scheduled to take place" in June and/or July of 2022 "in principle". It does not say that it 'must' take place in those months, nor is it a "conditio sine qua non" to host the World Cup in June and July. What the document does, is express FIFA's wish to host the World Cup in June or July....

 

... but is that not semantics? After all the World Cup has always been held in summer...

 

JSB: You see, that is the crucial point. It was always held in the EUROPEAN (his emphasis) summer. It always succumbed to the European audience and it satisfied the European prerogatives. But the world has become a much smaller place. Distances have become much shorter as well. And above all, the world has become more inclusive and in many ways more just – although the conflicts that are being fought often let us forget that. My point is this: as a staunch proponent of football being a global unifying force for the good, a force that offers to be inclusive in every which way and a force that has written anti-discrimination on its banner under my presidency, if all of that shall be true, then we simply must learn and walk the walk, not only talk the talk.

 

What do you mean by that?

 

JSB: If we maintain, rigidly, the status quo, then a FIFA World Cup can never be played in countries that are south of the equator or indeed near the equator. We automatically discriminate against countries that have different seasons than we do in Europe, and we make it impossible for all those who would love to host the World's Biggest Game in a global tournament to ever get the chance to do so.

 

I believe that the World Cup should be awarded to a nation that really, really wants to host it, a nation that has the financial means to do it without neglecting other societal obligations, and a nation where the national football federation can determine when it is the best time to play the game. Frankly, if we automatically exclude potential hosts because of the weather, then the next step can easily be exclusion for other arbitrary and discriminatory reasons. I am not going to be party to any such thing....

 

... but Mr Blatter, your ExCo knew full well, already on December 10, 2010, that a summer World Cup would be impossible to be hosted in Qatar's scorching summer...

 

JSB:... that may well be so, and it may well be that we made a mistake at the time. On the other hand, you must also consider political and geo-political realities. The World Cup is FIFA's biggest if not only global event. Who are we, the Europeans, to demand that this event has to cater to the needs of 800 million Europeans above all, when there are over 7 billion people who populate this planet and of who 6.2 billion are not European, but who must at all times succumb to our diktat?

 

I think it is high time that Europe starts to understand that we do not rule the world anymore, and that some former European imperial powers can no longer impress their will on to others in far away places, and we must accept that football has moved away from being a European and South American sport: it has become the World Sport that billions of fans are excitedly following every week, everywhere in the world.

 

...nonetheless, and your points of anti-discrimination well taken, are there not legal considerations to be taken into account...

 

JSB: ...wait! What legal considerations? In the Hosting Agreement that we signed on December 20, 2010, we say that the FIFA World Cup is, in principle, "expected to be held in June and July of the year of such Competition".

 

Furthermore, clauses 7.2.3. and 7.3.3. of the same Hosting Agreement state that the final decision on the dates of the Competition and the match schedule is vested with the FIFA Organising Committee "which may hear the recommendations from the LOC". Last but not least, it is also stated in all clarity that the final authority over any matters relating to the staging and hosting of the World Cup lie with FIFA. Need I point out that the LOC (Local Organising Committee) is obliged to "comply with any instructions given and decisions made by FIFA"? Don't you agree with me that this is pretty clear?

 

Yes, it is but surely FIFA will have to seek to engage in a democratic process that is accepted by all stakeholders when it makes such a fundamental change?

 

JSB: Absolutely right. But first, we need to see whether the owner of the FIFA World Cup – FIFA – actually agrees with my recommendation, one that I shall table at the October 3/4 ExCo meeting, and whether it follows my advice to change the dates from summer to winter. Once the Executive Committee of FIFA has agreed to that, we can take the next step...

 

... which is what?

 

JSB: The next steps will include a close look at the international calendar and establish what consequences the change would have. And we would naturally need to speak to and consult with all interested parties and stakeholders.

 

This sounds all very harmonious, if not easy. Do you really think that FIFA can actually make such a dramatic change without major conflict resulting from it?

 

JSB: Of course I am. And of course it must be harmonious. Where there is a will there is always a way. I know that we can get it done. And the initial exploratory meetings we have already had with some of the most affected leagues show us the way. The Qatar World Cup promises to help unite an unstable region of the world by bringing hope and joy to millions who have suffered for decades. It will show, once again, that football is a force for good – as we have most recently demonstrated by encouraging the Palestinians and Israelis to come to Zurich and start meaningful dialogue towards reaching an historic agreement.

 

We have no political ambitions, which is why we are not suspect of having a political agenda. All we want is to bring the World Cup to regions where it has never been before, and where football can help make a difference – even for a few weeks. I am a firm believer in the good of the game and what it can generate.

 

I don't want to burst the beautiful bubble but don't you run the risk that others who lost the bid will see an opportunity to question the Host, question the process and demand a re-vote?

 

JSB: It is FIFA who can and has the legal right to determine where it wants the World Cup to be played. It is our right and we exercise that right with caution and with a view to be inclusive. FIFA is a great international institution, vested in fair play and respect, not only on the field of play but also beyond. Morally, I am very comfortable because we are also taking the 2018 World Cup to a fantastic country, Russia, that has long deserved to stage a World Cup, and in 2022, we are determined to bring it to the Middle East and help create joy and happiness among the peoples there. I firmly believe that not only can Qatar stage a memorable World Cup, but that the entire region will be totally supportive and happy in its celebration.

 

Thank you Mr Blatter, we wish you the best of success at your October 3 Board Meeting.

 

Entrevista aqui

 

[Lebohang]

Membros da UEFA contra Mundial 2022 no verão

 

As 54 associações que são membros da UEFA estão reunidas na Croácia e um dos assuntos discutidos foi o período da realização do Campeonato do Mundo de 2022, que será organizado pelo Catar.

 

Joseph Blatter, presidente da FIFA, afirmou há dias que é preciso haver alguma flexibilidade nas datas da prova, uma vez que o calor que se faz sentir durante o Catar no verão não é propício à prática do futebol. Agora as associações que fazem parte da UEFA chegaram ao consenso de que realmente é impossível a prova realizar-se no verão.

 

«O que ficou decidido nesta reunião é que não se pode jogar no Catar durante o verão. Toda a gente concordou com isso», afirmou, esta quinta-feira, Jim Boyce, vice-presidente da FIFA que também é presidente da federação de futebol da República da Irlanda.

 

«Ainda temos nove anos pela frente e as pessoas que estiveram presentes nesta reunião entendem que a FIFA deve sentar-se com as partes interessadas e chegar a uma solução que causa uma interrupção mínima das competições. Na minha opinião há tempo de sobra e espero que no final seja o futebol a sair vencedor», acrescentou.

 

O mês de janeiro é para os membros da UEFA a melhor altura para o Campeonato do Mundo de 2022 se realizar, uma vez que o organismo que rege o futebol europeu entende que fevereiro não é o mês ideal porque é quando começa a fase a eliminar da Liga dos Campeões e também da Liga Europa.

[Lebohang]

Revealed: The full extent of FIFA’s Qatar 2022 shambles

 

Following his Special Report into Qatar 2022, Philippe Auclair sinks his teeth into FIFA's failed attempts to put the controversy to bed...

 

Sepp Blatter at the FIFA ExCo in Zurich

 

“Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Voilà.”

 

Sepp Blatter’s statement at the conclusion of last week ExCo in Zurich seemed unequivocal enough. This irritating matter would be laid to rest. The football world could now concern itself with more pressing matters, such as the forthcoming 2014 World Cup tournament, the build-up to which hasn’t exactly been trouble-free so far. Once the circus has left Brazil, there’ll be time, plenty of it, to assess the consequences of what the FIFA president presented as a fait accompli. Well, perhaps; and perhaps not.

 

It is hard to remember another meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee that had been preceded by such relentless attention by the world media. For months now, the snowball had been gathering pace down an increasingly steep hill, gaining yet more impetus when, shortly before the Zurich meeting, the Guardian newspaper published a report on the appalling conditions which the migrant workers who live – and die – in Qatar had to face when they arrived in the emirate. Item 25.2 on the ExCo agenda (‘2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™: period of the competition’), which should have been broached at the end of the meeting, shot up the agenda, to the extent that it seemed that nothing else would be discussed, because nothing else was worth discussing in the present circumstances.

 

There wasn’t much that was new in that Guardian report, as readers of this column will know. ITUC, the world’s largest trade union confederation, had been campaigning for well over a year to highlight the plight of the largely Nepalese and Indian workforce without whom the 2022 World Cup infrastructure could not be built. Numerous official representations had already been made to FIFA and to the Qatari authorities.

ITUC even called for the 2 December 2010 vote to be re-run if drastic measures were not taken – and immediately put to effect – to put an end to what it called “modern-day slavery” in Qatar, where a sponsorship system, the kafala, effectively binds employees to employers in such a way that the former enjoy close to no labour rights, and the latter can exploit them without fear of censure or punishment.

 

Protesters outside FIFA headquarters (Reuters)

 

No, none of this was new, or could have escaped FIFA’s attention. Or UEFA’s. In May of this year, activists had tried to pass on a petition to the European Confederation and its president Michel Platini, then gathered for their Congress in London; the same Michel Platini who suddenly woke up in Zurich last week to stress that discussing the switch to winter of the 2022 World Cup should be pushed aside for the time being, given the gravity of the human rights situation in Qatar. It may be that Qatar’s most vocal advocate had been badly briefed or had been given poor advice. It may be that the lack of public concern made this an issue that could be laid aside without incurring criticism. This has certainly changed.

 

The response of a “deeply concerned” FIFA to the furore – proposing a “courtesy visit” to the Emir of Qatar – has received a scathing reply from ITUC. It is “totally inadequate” and “fails to put in place any plan to stop more workers dying” (ITUC estimates that, at the current rate, 4,000 mostly young men will have lost their lives by 2022). The organisation’s general secretary Sharan Burrow added: “The settlement of this global dispute is dependent on actions by FIFA and the political will of the Qatari authorities, which are still absent. FIFA’s offer is an insult to the bereaved families.” Still, as Blatter put it: ‘Voilà’.

 

But it is not just one fire that FIFA and its president had to try and control. The human rights question may have taken precedence in public opinion, but flames were also flickering elsewhere, if less spectacularly, starting with the question of the ‘winter switch’ which, as widely anticipated, has been kicked into touch for the time being, with Blatter set to appoint a task force which will consult all manners of stakeholders before presenting a report on the feasibility of such a move.

 

When? All we know is that it’ll be before 2015 and the next FIFA presidential election. Many drew the lazy conclusion that it amounted to little but a manufactured process at the end of which FIFA will be able to rubber-stamp what amounts to an unprecedented upheaval of the domestic and international football calendar, at every level, in every country in the world. In a word: chaos.

 

Firstly, the opposition to the switch is not the English Premier League’s quixotic preserve. The opinions of its chief executive Richard Scudamore (who, contrary to some reports, has yet to be invited to join this task force) are – privately - shared by almost all of his colleagues within the association of European Professional Football Leagues; as they are, too, by numerous other non-European leagues and FAs, in North, Central and South America, Africa (especially Maghreb countries) and Asia. It is not old Europe versus the rest of the world, as partisans of the switch would have it to claim a kind of moral high ground, which, looked at more closely, resembles a mire.

 

Media gather outside FIFA (Reuters)

 

It should also have been noticed that the man who will head this task force, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, is no friend of the Qataris. The Bahraini defeated Qatar’s preferred candidate, Yousuf al-Serkal, to gain the Asian Confederation’s presidency in May of this year, and prevented Hasan al-Thawadi, the leader of the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, from being elected to the Executive Committee of FIFA. Pre-judging the conclusions of his commission, when no one knows yet who will be asked to join it, is, to say the least, premature.

 

Nor will the issues regarding the legality of the switch to winter be swept away so easily, despite Blatter’s repeated claim that the World Cup was only ‘expected’ to take place in June and July. Not quite: it is ‘scheduled’ to take place in June and July. All bidding countries had to submit accommodation details – for June and July. FIFA’s technical report, which it is true a majority of ExCo members chose to ignore or didn’t bother to read, specifically refers to June and July. At the very least someone, somewhere, will have to pay a huge amount of money in compensation.

 

Be it to broadcasters (who’ve already purchased the rights of the 2018 and 2022 competitions), for whom a winter World Cup is of lesser value than a summer tournament, to the bidders who wasted millions promoting their case on a false pretence and, not least – should they be stripped of the World Cup - to the Qataris, who have reiterated their desire to welcome the competition in the summer, and find themselves pushed into a tighter and tighter corner by Blatter’s insistence that June and July is no longer a viable option. They know that, should they make a formal request to have the competition’s dates moved to October and November (the most realistic option, even though the idea of a World Cup being played in late spring is gaining ground in some quarters), they risk opening a legal Pandora’s Box.

 

And there’s of course a subject that wasn’t discussed at the ExCo, but which will have been in the minds of all those who attended it: Michael Garcia’s investigation into the bidding and award processes for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which is entering a new phase, now that the ISL dossier has been dealt with. Garcia, the Chief Investigator of FIFA’s Ethics Committee, landed in London on 9 October; London, the first stage of a kind of ‘road show’ which will take him to all the bidding countries bar Russia, where he is deemed persona non grata following his role in the successful prosecution of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was convicted of terrorism-related charges in November 2011 and is now serving a 25-year jail term in the USA.

 

 

To some, naturally, this initiative will seem meaningless, an empty gesture which aims at creating a few headlines before coming up with... nothing. To those doubters, his mission is less concerned with investigation than exoneration. If he has lit that particular fire, it is so that FIFA can extinguish it more easily, turn round and say: “See? We did what we had to do, we looked, but we found nothing.”

 

Here again, the cynics might be in for a shock. There was no need for Garcia to attract attention in such a way. When I’d met him for the first time, back in February of this year, he’d told me: “I’ll go to the end.” I saw no reason to doubt him then, and see even less reasons to doubt him now. Sources close to the investigation all agree that significant leads have been identified; to say what they are now could jeopardise the process, hence Garcia’s reluctance to go into specifics, though it is those specifics that he’ll discussing face-to-face with football officials well into 2014. Perhaps it is worth remembering what Sepp Blatter said in November 2011: “I can tell you that Qatar hasn’t finished being a subject of preoccupation in the football world.” A year on, those words have acquired even more weight. The preoccupation lingers, even more questions are being asked, whilst the answers are as evasive as ever.

 

- - -

 

Philippe Auclair