We have published a number of comments about Qatar of late. This was sent to me, with the aim of correcting certain misunderstandings.
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I was originally commenting on your latest FIFA article. I got caught up on the keyboard writing a much longer comment than I had set my mind too, I could write a lot more. Thought it best to send it as a mail. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just an FYI Walter. Sepp Blatter voted against Qatar for the 2022 WC. Not defending him, he is dubious at the very least. It was Platini who voted for Qatar. If you haven’t seen/heard about it, I suggest you look into the Sarkozy/Qatar link.
Sarkozy and Platini were Qatar’s sponsors for the 2022 WC. My source is Josimar, a well respected website(foreign).When Sarkozy became president, France was in economical turmoil. Qatar’s Emir was the first government leader to visit the newly appointed president. He bought military equipment for €250 million and ordered 60 new airbus planes.When Ligue1 was in turmoil in 2010 only Canal+ were interested in buying the TV rights, at a reduced price from the previous deal. Ligue 1 teams were €153 million away from breaking even. Sarkozy and Platini then had a meet with Qatar’s crown prince and PSG’s american owners. After the meet, Qatar Sports Investment bought PSG and Al Jazeera(owned by the royal family) bought the tv-rights, saving french football. One week later Platini voted for Qatar.
Qatar’s Emir also signed trade agreements with Brazil and Argentina. He later signed a real-estate deal with Cyprus before signing two new trade agreements with Paraguay. All believed to have voted for Qatar. Also in 2010.
During the year of the vote. Qatar Airlines opened ten new and heavy subsidized routes. Seven of those were to countries with a representative on the executive committee. Same year Qatar sponsored $1,25 million towards CAF’s(African football federation) congress in Luandai. As a thanks, CAF allowed Qatar to have private meetings with their four representatives on the executive committee.
Philippe Auclair has spent most of his time the last two years in Qatar. He is very much against the WC 2022 in Qatar after seeing how the workers/slaves are treated.
Regards,
Frederick
Very interesting. Most of the deals are done in a similar fashion.
Interesting. Quatar getting everywhere. A lot of theories about to do with Quatar wanting a LNG pipeline to Europe….which would unfortunately need to go through turkey….and..Syria, threatening the near monopoly of Assads closest ally, Russia. France…and others supposedly working very closely with Quatar on this for what I am sure they regard as good reasons, shame the Syrian people suffer so much. Sorry….maybe non football conspiracy theories there, also read many reports suggesting Spain and their Spanish speaking allies played a huge part in getting Quatar the WC, not sure why but guess money would have something to do with it if true, and Quataris also sponsor Barca.
Back On the subject of corruption in football, sky reporting six people arrested on matchfixing in English league….no links yet
Forgot to mention, platinis son, Laurent is now working for Quatar Sports Investments, owners of PSG. There goes FFP then,
This is all absolutely disgusting. How can a country the size of the West Midlands conceivably host a World Cup? Never mind the climactic conditions, human rights issues etc.
Couldn’t happen here….could it?
http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/9045592/arrests-made-in-match-fixing-claims
@Mandy: Yep saw that. Hopefully it’ll all start unravelling now. And obviously the Qatar deal was a result of something else.
All of the above is true, as confirmed by my extensive dig for information when the 2022 WC was awarded to Qatar.
And what about this match-fixing thing. Also involving match officials!
It reminds me of Busacca sending off RvP(for time-wasting) against Barcelona when they were having serious problems breaking down the defence. The first yellow card was dodgy too. You have to wonder. And he is now the head of FIFA referees! Is that pay-back for following instructions?
Why be surprised over Qatar. Professional football and its governing bodies are now big business with all the corruption and sharp practice that implies.
We will never return to the original concept of the game. We are too far down on the slippery slope.
The other day I burst out laughing when my asked me if our country would ever host the World Cup .
After reading Fredrick’s article , I think its a distinctive possibility !
Call me when you get over here !
@ Pete – money. buys. everything.
Not surprised by the Qatar Tango. What galls me is the term ‘honesty’ used by Cottee. There are divers in the EPL and they are cheats. Nothing has been done by the FA to address the issue. The referees get away with their cheating and smoke screens appear in the press to ‘display’ ‘honesty’.
I know as an Arsenal supporter that everything Arsenal has to win has to be done in spite of all the bias. The Aston Villa game still gets me angry. There were some ‘Arsenal fans’ screaming for Wengers head and wallet. They are suddenly pacified by Ozil, when in reality the team has performed in a similar vein as it did prior to his signing.
It is a similar story regarding the educational requirements and skills required in the job market for foreigners. In spite of the bias they succeed. Most Indians run their own businesses to evade the bias in the job markets.
The game has an element of corruption that rides the waves of honesty.