London: The head of Qatar’s World Cup organising committee has categorically denied the country bought the 2022 tournament.
Hassan Al Thawadi broke his silence following a Daily Telegraph investigation that uncovered the first hard evidence that the Qatar’s most senior football official gave a fellow Fifa vice-president millions of dollars shortly after his nation was awarded football’s showpiece event.
Mohammad Bin Hammam was not directly linked to Qatar’s bid but was banned for life from football over allegations he paid bribes while running for the Fifa presidency in 2011. It has yet to be determined whether this included £1.2 million that documents show he gave Jack Warner and his family that same year, or whether any of the money was linked to the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Those directly involved in Qatar’s bid for the tournament have always denied any wrongdoing, something reiterated by Al Thawadi, who led their delegation and is now secretary general for the 2022 World Cup’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.
He told talkSPORT: “We did not buy the World Cup. It’s as simple as that.
“I go back to a lot of people that look at us and say it’s shocking that we won and I go back to the simple thing — why we won. It’s because we worked hard, harder than a lot of people.
“We put heart and soul into this and that’s what frustrates me. When we first started, people thought it was a no-go. A lot of people sat down and said, ‘You’re daft, you’re not going to win it’.
“When we first started we said, ‘Okay, we want to host the World Cup. What’s stopping us?’.
“Number one, country size, because we’re a small nation. Okay, fair enough. But we looked back and said, ‘Is that such a bad thing’? “When you look at South Africa, which was a huge success, when you look at Brazil and Russia, you’re looking at nations where travel is an issue.
“It takes a lot of effort and puts stress on people, whether it’s football players who, after a very stressful season, are expected to play at the highest level, but at the same time looking at fans.
“Can they move from one place to another, looking for accommodation, looking for flights? What we’re saying is, ‘it’s a compact World Cup’. You’re based in one place, in one accommodation, you get to explore, you get to watch more than one game a day.
“The location of Qatar being in the centre [of the world] means it’s easy access. You’ve got a lot of airlines that congregate in this point of the world. It makes it a lot easier for a lot of people to arrive here.”
