Last week, Michel Platini was arrested for awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar as per reports in the French Media.
Mediapart had reported: “The former UEFA president and ex-captain of the French football team Michel Platini was taken into custody on Tuesday, June 18, as part of the investigation into corruption over the attribution of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“The former Secretary General of the Elysee under President Sarkozy, Claude Gueant, is meanwhile auditioned under the status of “free suspect”.”
And this is very rapidly becoming one of the biggest cases of corruption in the world of football.
Ever since Qatar was awarded the chance to host the 2022 World Cup, many people have raised doubts over the country’s selection especially after every possible leverage was being given to the Middle Eastern Country to make the tournament a success(like shifting the tournament to November so as to avoid the harsh summers).
Conservative Party MP Damian Collins had raised questions about Qatar’s selection for the 2022 World Cup and he also went on to claim that their selection should be investigated.
“It’s absolutely the case that the decision to award the World Cup to Qatar has to be reviewed,” he explained.
“It is clear that the decision not to publish the full report was an attempt to cover up the full extent of corruption at FIFA.
“FIFA was aware of serious allegations and deliberately attempted to stop them emerging. It looks like inappropriate payments to get votes. If that is the case, Qatar should lose the right to host the World Cup.”
The footballing world is now up in arms claiming that Qatar should be banned from hosting the 2022 World Cup which will surely be a blessing in disguise for England.
If Qatar is prevented from hosting the World Cup then surely it will be England who are likely to be picked the next hosts given that they are perhaps the only country who have the necessary infrastructure to pull off such a big tournament in such short notice.
And bookmakers have already slashing odds for England hosting the 2022 World Cup.
“Since it was awarded the 2022 World Cup, there has been nothing but controversy around why Qatar were selected as hosts and following this latest development, the betting suggests there is a strong chance they could now be stripped of the tournament,” Coral spokesperson John Hill told the Daily Star(via Sport Bible).
“If a new host is required, England are likely to be one of the favourites as they are one of the few countries who could hold the tournament at short notice with their infrastructure and transport.”
Having said all though, it will take a lot of effort to pull out the 2022 World Cup from Qatar since the country has already invested billions of dollars in the preparation of the tournament.
