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Soccer Rumors: Qatar to be stripped of 2022 World Cup, says whistleblower

By Stanford Crissey

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Ex-member of Qatar’s 2022 bid team now says country will be stripped of World Cup.

The FIFA scandal just gets bigger and bigger, as a prominent member of the Qatar bid claims that the country is likely to be stripped of the 2022 World Cup.

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Phaedra Almajid, a former member of the bid team for Qatar who has now become a whistelblower in order to expose corruption, says the evidence of such corruption is so overwhelming that FIFA will have no choice but to remove the World Cup.

An FBI investigation recently led to the arrest of seven top FIFA officials on charges of bribery and racketeering, with more likely to come once all the evidence comes out.

Qatar, a tiny Middle Eastern country, shocked the world by earning the rights to the World Cup. Many have whispered that money changed hands in the transaction, and now that FIFA’s bribery and corruption have been exposed there appears ample proof of it.

In fact, Almajid says that disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter may take the Cup away from Qatar in a last-ditch effort to “save his skin.”

"“I just don’t think Blatter actually intends to quit. Everything he does is very calculated. He’ll try very hard to save himself, I’m sure of it.”"

Almajid is now under protective custody with the FBI, as her whistleblowing has led her to fear for safety. She initially expected to be anonymous when helping authorities, but instead her name and identity have been publicized. She is worried that stripping the World Cup from Qatar will lead some extremists to blame and cause her harm.

Nonetheless, she is cooperating fully with the FBI’s investigation in hopes that justice will be served.

The decision to give the World Cup to Qatar was dubious from the start, but it soon turned tragic. The tiny country of 2 million has needed to build each stadium in preparation for the World Cup, and has used migrant workers to do so – many of whom have been victims of human rights abuses and forced labor. Working in blazing heat and horrible conditions, it is estimated that somewhere between 1,200 and 1,800 workers have died while constructing these structures–although the actual number is unknown, since no journalists have been allowed to fully investigate. A BBC team was arrested there in May while attempting to do so.

The situation has reached the point that even the disgraced Blatter was referring to the decision to award the World Cup to Qatar as a “mistake,” though he also insisted he had no plans to take it away. However, with everything surrounding FIFA, the sport’s governing body may have no choice.

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