French Football magazine France Football published a 15-page article today titled 'Qatargate' in which it claims that FIFA executive committee officials accepted bribes to vote for the Qatari bid for the 2022 World Cup. Australia, Japan, USA and South Korea were the other contenders to be hosts.
They allege that President of the African Confederation Issa Hayatou of Cameroon along with Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast both accepted $1.5m to vote for Qatar. It is also claimed that Qatar patronised the 2010 African Confederation Congress to the amount of $1.25m in order to gain access to it's members.
The article also details a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarozy, UEFA President Michele Platini and Qatari crown prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in 2010. It was thought at the time that Platini would vote for the USA bid but later opted for Qatar. According to the article Nicolas Sarkozy asked Platini to vote for Qatar due to geopolitical reasons.
The Qatari crown prince bought French club Paris St. Germain in 2011 and has since made massive investments in the club buying players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Thiago Silva. He also established a new French sports televisions network named beIN Sports. France Football say that both of these investments were influenced by the talks he had with Sarkozy and Platini in 2010.
France Football will be submitting their evidence to FIFA for further review.
[RT.com]
