Will Russia and Qatar Be Stripped Of The World Cup?
By Sean Maslin
Football supporters might not want to order those tickets for the tomb of Lenin for 2018 just yet. Same goes for the ride on that giant electric cloud that is supposed to hover over football stadiums in Qatar in 2022.
As news has trickled out in the ever-growing FIFA corruption scandal, it appears that the governing body of world football might be willing to look at the controversial bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. In an interview with SonntagsZeitung magazine, FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee chairman Domenico Scala announced that both of these bids could be “invalidated” if these bids are implicated in court.
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“If evidence should emerge that the awards to Qatar and Russia only came about thanks to bought votes, then the awards could be invalidated,” said Scala. “This evidence has not yet been brought forth.”
There are currently two investigations being conducted that may warrant the change in venue. The first is the one being conducted by the United States Department of Justice, which is more tied towards the activities of CONCACAF, the Confederation of North and Central America. As of right now that particular investigation seems to limited to the scope of FIFA’s activities within the United States although that may change.
The second investigation that may end up being Russia and Qatar’s undoing is the investigation being undertaken by the Swiss government. That investigation is much more all encompassing into the actions of FIFA. There is a very good reason for this: FIFA for decades has used Switzerland as the main hub from which they conduct business transactions. The European country is a major power in the world market and also has generous tax policies for major companies and non-profits. It should be noted that FIFA is classified as a non-profit organization.
Although the Swiss government for years looked the other way at FIFA’s activities that no longer seems to be the case. The fact that the United States were able to gain extradition from Switzerland two weeks ago to arrest nine CONCACAF officials speaks loudly to the trouble that FIFA is in.
The question is if either of these investigations reveals wrongdoing on the part of Russia or Qatar just how would FIFA strip them of their bids? It sounds simple in nature but the political and economic implications of such a decision are huge. Russia and Qatar are not minnows in the international economic market. These are countries with billions of dollars invested all throughout the world and could use any action taken against them as an excuse for retribution.
That being said if wrongdoing is found in either bid FIFA has to consider stripping them of their bids. Even if the organization is somehow able to make it through both investigations unscathed it is no longer free to conduct business without scrutiny. There may be blow-back should they choose to strip Russia and Qatar of their bids. But if they want to be seen in a different light then they will need to start backing up their own rhetoric.
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