Russia and Qatar could lose the 2018 and 2022 World Cups if irregularities are proven in them being awarded the hosting rights, a FIFA official told a Swiss newspaper published on Sunday.
“If evidence exists that Qatar and Russia received the (World Cup) awards only thanks to bribes, then the awards could be annulled,” head of FIFA’s Auditing and Compliance Committee Domenico Scala told the Sonntagszeitung weekly. He further stressed though that “this evidence has not been provided” so far.
His comments are the first by a senior FIFA official to even open up the possibility of either Russia or Qatar not hosting the football showpiece in the wake of the recent scandals that have engulfed football’s world governing body and similar revelation by former senior FIFA official-turned-whistleblower Phaedra Almajid.
Almajid, an Arab-American based in the US who worked for Qatar’s 2022 bid team till early 2010, has said the abundance of evidence of wrongdoings of Qatar’s bid would force world football’s Governing body FIFA to strip the Gulf country of the responsibility.
Talking to the media on Sunday, Almajid also shared that she fears some “extremists” who may identify her responsible if Qatar is stripped. She is currently under protective custody of America’s FBI.
“There are people who are p***** off with me (for speaking out), and what really p***** them off is that I’m a female, Muslim whistleblower,” Almajid was quoted as saying by dailymail.co.uk on Saturday.
She also said outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter might take away the 2022 tournament as part of his reform agenda to win him praise “and 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 said.
The FBI arrested seven top FIFA officials and indicted 14 people for financial misdemeanour. Almajid said efforts to force her into retracting her comments have taken place earlier, which forced her to take protective custody for the fear of her family’s safety that includes two children, one of them severely disabled.
“The FBI have everything,” she claimed. Almajid also co-operated with a FIFA-funded probe led by Michael Garcia, a former US attorney for New York. The scandal centres around 14 current or former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives who have been accused by US prosecutors of taking part in a sweeping kickbacks scheme going back 20 years involving a total of $150 million in bribes.
A Swiss probe has also been launched into the scam to check the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, which has led to the resignation of long-serving FIFA president Sepp Blatter last week, just four days after his re-election for a fifth successive term.