Qatar’s World Cup ‘black operations’ revealed

London: Qatar’s World Cup team used a secret “black operations” propaganda campaign to undermine rival bids in violation of Fifa rules, a British Sunday broadsheet has reported.

The Sunday Times claims whistle-blower emails show the bid team paid a PR firm as well as former CIA agents to disseminate “fake propaganda” concerning main rivals Australia and the US during their campaign to host the 2022 competition.

The newspaper called it a black OP in which Qatar relied on false news and leaks, and paid PR companies and mercenaries. The Sunday Times states there are documents that link the acts of corruption with Qatar’s bid team, which were not covered by the [official] investigations led by [US attorney] Michael Garcia ...”

 - Dr Anwar Gargash | UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash tweeted: “The [Sunday Times] newspaper called it a black OP in which Qatar relied on false news and leaks, and paid PR companies and mercenaries. The Sunday Times states there are documents that link the acts of corruption with Qatar’s bid team, which were not uncovered by the [official] investigations led by [US attorney] Michael Garcia. Unfortunately, we are not surprised by these Qatari methods, we witness it on a daily basis in the way Qatar manages its affairs and politics.”

Qatar’s strategy was to recruit influential individuals in order to attack bids in their native countries, creating the impression there was “zero support” to host the World Cup among the population, the paper said.

One of the core criteria considered by Fifa, world football’s governing body, is said to be that the bids should have a strong backing from domestic populations. The Qatar bid team is alleged to have employed the New York office of communications company Brown Lloyd Jones, which is now BLJ Worldwide, along with a team of former intelligence officers to run a campaign aimed at undermining one of Fifa’s key criteria in the bidding process.

Fifa must look at the evidence thoroughly and Qatar should not be allowed to hold on to the World Cup if they were shown to have broken rules ... I think it would not be wrong for Fifa to reconsider England ...”

 - Lord Triesman | Former FFA and England bid chairman

Bidders are also prohibited from making “any written or oral statement of any kind, whether adverse or otherwise, about the bids or candidatures of any other member association” under Fifa guidelines.

But one of the leaked emails the Times claims to have obtained was sent to Qatar’s deputy bid leader Ali Al Thawadi, and allegedly shows the state was aware of plots to spread “poison” against other bidders in the running before Qatar won the right to host the cup in December 2010.

Such actions went as far as planning a resolution for US congress on the “harmful” effects of the American World Cup proposition during the week of the vote.

The alleged smear campaign is reported to have included paying a professor $9,000 (£6,900, Dh33,030) to write a damning report on the economic cost of a US World Cup, recruiting journalists and bloggers to promote negative stories in the US, Australian and international media, and organising grass roots protests at rugby matches in Australia.

There has been a big loss of confidence in Fifa as a result of corruption allegations. The latest claims represent an opportunity to demonstrate that Fifa takes these issues much more seriously than it has done.”

 - Damian Collins | Senior British Member of Parliament

Intelligence reports were compiled on individuals involved in rival bids. The leaked documents also revealed that a group of US PE teachers had been recruited to ask congressmen to oppose a US World Cup on the grounds the money would be better spent on high school sports, the Sunday Times claimed.

The newspaper claimed the documents were leaked to it by a whistle-blower who worked with the Qatar bid on the World Cup campaign.

Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy has rejected all of the paper’s claims.

Lord Triesman, England’s bid chairman and former chairman of the Football Association, urged Fifa to “look at the evidence thoroughly”, and said Qatar should not be allowed to “hold on to the World Cup” if they were shown to have broken Fifa rules.

He told the paper: “I think it would not be wrong for Fifa to reconsider England in those circumstances … We have the capabilities.”

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The BBC reported that “there was bound to be speculation that if this is found to be a breach of the rules, linked directly to the bid team, and that Garcia was not aware of this new information, then it could increase the risk of Qatar being sensationally stripped of the event”.

With the tournament now just four years away and tens of billions of dollars already spent on preparations, that remains unlikely. Fifa would be worried about the threat of being sued if it took such action. However, its new leadership has vowed to regain trust after the years of scandal, so perhaps it will feel it has no choice but to launch a fresh investigation, the BBC said.