Corruption probe puts Qatar’s influence under the spotlight
DOHA — Thursday’s bombshell announcement that the Swiss are investigating Qatar’s Nasser Al-Khelaifi and a disgraced former senior FIFA executive on corruption charges places the emirate and world soccer back under scrutiny.
Investigators are examining allegations of bribery surrounding Al-Khelaifi, head of Doha-based beIN Media Group, and ex-FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke over the sale of World Cup media rights for soccer’s flagship tournament.
“It is suspected that Jerome Valcke accepted undue advantages from a businessman in the sports rights sector in connection with the award of media rights for certain countries at the FIFA World Cups in 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030 and from Nasser al-Khelaifi in connection with the award of media rights for certain countries at the FIFA World Cups in 2026 and 2030,” read a statement from the Swiss attorney general’s office.
The Qatar broadcaster strongly denied the claims.
“BeIN Media Group refutes all accusations made by the OAG (Switzerland’s attorney general’s office),” it said in a statement.
Although the investigation is bad news for high-profile PSG chairman Al-Khelaifi, thought currently to be in Qatar, it is highly unlikely the fallout will be contained him and Valcke.
Scrutiny of FIFA and Qatar will intensify as a result, say experts.
“In isolation, it would be easy to explain today’s developments as being yet another example of an allegedly dubious practice in a sport characterized by an endless flow of misdemeanors,” said Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at Britain’s Salford University.
“However, this is not an isolated incident, and forms part of an ongoing narrative that has built up around both FIFA and Qatar.”
World soccer is still dealing with the fallout from the events of 2015 when FIFA officials were arrested en masse at the governing body’s annual conference.
And Qatar also remains at the center of the storm engulfing the sport.
The news from Geneva to caps a tumultuous few days, weeks and months for Qatar.
Political intrigue
Long used to denying graft allegations over its successful bid for the 2022 tournament — which Qatar has done numerous times — the Gulf state has been presented with a far different set of challenges since June 5, since the regional diplomatic crisis began.
The diplomatic isolation of Doha following the blockade announced by neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has impacted in almost unimaginable ways.
And considering Al-Khelaifi is a tennis-playing friend of the country’s Emir (head of state), Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Thursday’s news places its policy of diplomatic soft power under the spotlight.
Qatar has been enormously ambitious and successful in using soft power through sport and the media — beIN also owns Hollywood’s Miramax company, for example — to promote itself on the world stage.
That strategy is increasingly under attack.
Earlier this week, Doha’s government communications office took the unprecedented step of stating the 2022 World Cup “was not up for negotiation” after claims it could be taken from Qatar because of the political crisis.
BeIN has also found itself targeted during the crisis across the Gulf where it is a major sports broadcaster, with TV programs blocked.
“This development is set against a backdrop of an intense, and an increasingly fractious feud,” Chadwick told AFP.
“Hence, the timing and nature of allegations being made against Al-Khelaifi is suspicious.
“One suspects it could be part of an ongoing information war being waged by Gulf rivals.”
Probably the greatest example of soft power was the world-record transfer of Brazilian superstar Neymar to PSG, successfully overseen by Khelaifi earlier this year.
Now though, Qatar may have overreached with that policy.