Our aim through hosting the FIFA World Cup is to utilise the positive power of sport to unify people, says Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy
AFP
Doha
Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers said yesterday their bid was conducted “with integrity and to the highest ethical standards” following allegations of widescale corruption within FIFA, world football’s governing body.
A statement from Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, which oversees the planning of the World Cup in the state, read: “We wish to reiterate that we have fully complied with every investigation that has been initiated concerning the 2018/2022 bidding process and we will continue to do so, should this be requested.
“We conducted our bid with integrity and to the highest ethical standards.”
It added: “Our aim through hosting the FIFA World Cup is to utilise the positive power of sport to unify people and demonstrate the passion for football in our region to a global audience.
“We share FIFA’s vision that football has a unique power to unite.
“We believe that an event of this magnitude can and should serve as a platform for accelerating positive change and our belief in these principles remains steadfast.”
It is the first official statement made by Qatar since the dawn arrests some 48 hours earlier of seven FIFA officials in their Zurich hotel, prompting the most serious crisis faced by football’s governing body.
Those arrested officials now face extradition to the US where they are accused of allegedly accepting bribes worth tens of millions of dollars.
Following the arrests, Swiss investigators separately announced they are looking into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
Qatar’s successful bid was originally to host the tournament in the months of June and July but a FIFA decision earlier this year decided on an unprecedented switch to play the tournament in the months of November and December 2022 because of the summer temperatures in the Gulf.
Speaking at a press briefing for foreign reporters in Doha earlier this month, Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary general for the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, had said that work had been carried out so far on beginning to build or revamp five stadiums in preparation for the World Cup.
“We have had about 4.8mn working hours. We’ve got about just over 2,500 workers and about five stadiums - we are at the early stages of construction,” said al-Thawadi.
Up to 12 stadiums will be used for the tournament.
Qatar is also working to improve labour practices and several measures have already been taken in that direction with more to follow.
Valcke confirms Russia and Qatar will host World Cups
FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke yesterday confirmed Russia and Qatar will host the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 respectively, despite the on-going scandal affecting football’s governing body. “Yes, when you ask me the question today, the 2018 World Cup will be played in Russia, then in Qatar four years later, from all the information we currently have,” said Valcke.
FIFA has already ruled out a revote, insisting the hosts would not change and “welcomed” the new investigations, which Valcke confirmed they had instigated. “It was FIFA who gave the file to the prosecutors in Switzerland, it was a move we made to make sure if anything wrong has happened during the processes then we will know about it,” said the Frenchman.
