Qatar to lose 2022 World cup hosting rights to UK or US: report

CAIRO – 24 February 2018: Qatar will most likely lose the 2022 World Cup hosting rights; the World’s most prestigious tournament would be relocated to either England or the United States of America, according to German Focus.

The Focus report, issued on Friday, contended that FIFA will make its final decision on the venue of the World Cup at the end of the month, citing that “the organization of the World Cup to Qatar lacks integrity.”



FIFA president Sepp Blatter hands over the World Cup trophy to then emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and his wife Chair in Zurich.

Due to the overwhelming humidity and heat and the continuing negligence by Qatari authorities, thousands of Qatar-based migrant workers’ lives are at risk, according to a statement made in late September by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The statement also cites Humidex’s report last summer on the intolerable weather conditions faced by the migrant workers at the 2022 World Cup venues and the construction sites, and who primarily come from Asian and African countries.

Of 520 labor deaths, 385 were from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and those deaths were "neither explained nor investigated,” according to HRW, who urged FIFA to pressure the authorities to protect up to a million migrant workers.

Nicholas McGeehan, researcher at HRW, said that FIFA’s 2022 World Cup organizing committee and Qatari authorities deliberately “obscure the underlying cause of deaths and make it impossible to determine whether [the workers’ deaths] may be related to working conditions, such as heat stress,” accusing them of “willful abdication of responsibility,” the Guardian reported Wednesday.

The extreme climate in the Gulf, measured against the Wet Bulb Global Temperature and the Humidex system, makes working at almost any time of day or night in July, August and the first half of September dangerous, McGeehan said.

A few weeks before the holding of the German Federal elections, German chancellor and current presidential candidate, said during the final debate with her rival Martin Schulz that she does not approve of Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup.

The German chancellor has denounced Qatar's hosting rights of the 2022 World Cup after it was internationally recognized as a state that harbors and sponsors terrorism.

Also, amid allegations of FIFA being involved in bribery scandals to pave the way for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, the Guardian reported in November that a senior FIFA official took at least $1m in bribes to vote for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, a witness testified in court on Tuesday.

Julio Grondona, a senior vice-president at FIFA and former head of the Argentinean football association, allegedly told the witness, Alejandro Burzaco, an Argentinean sports marketing executive, that he was owed the money in exchange for his vote, which helped Qatar secure the tournament.



FILE: Mounting risk of World Cup built on abuse as Qatar fails to deliver reforms - Amnesty International Website

Since June 2017, The tiny emirate has been facing a complete boycott by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain for reconciliation over siding with Iran and sponsoring terrorist figures and groups that are proven to be responsible for carrying out terrorist attacks in the region.

Since then, Qatar has resisted conciliation attempts and has not shown any effort in disassociating itself from the terrorist groups that the quartet claims are harbored and financially supported by Doha.