Last weekend, the Sunday Times reported that it had obtained a million emails related to the circumstances behind the vote by Fifa (Federation Internationale de Football Association) to award the 2022 World Cup football competition to Qatar. The newspaper says that the emails amount to a smoking gun that suggests Mohammad Bin Hammam used his position on Fifa’s executive committee to buy influence with voting members over the awarding of the World Cup to his home nation.
At present, the published reports fall short of providing a smoking gun. But the accusations are a poor reflection on the members of Fifa and the whole bidding process. Under Juan Antonio Samaranch, the Olympic movement faced similar accusations and used the crisis as an opportunity to reform. If there is a weakness in the World Cup bidding process, then Fifa should use this opportunity to reform in a similar vein. At present, Martin Garcia, Fifa’s investigator, is working on a report into the accusations. Let that report, due to be published after the Brazil World Cup, be released and fully digested before there is an imprudent rush to judgement. However, if there is any proven malfeasance, then the 2022 World Cup bid needs to be rerun — openly and with transparency.
