Gulf crisis could hit Qatar World Cup
The diplomatic crisis sweeping the Gulf could invigorate a campaign by critics of Qatar to strip Doha of the 2022 World Cup, experts said Monday. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen were among those to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on the grounds that Doha supported extremist groups “that aim to destabilise the region”.
One of the areas that could feel the impact is Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup, football’s biggest tournament, in five years’ time. “This is a massive escalation in pressure on Qatar,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf analyst with the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston. “I think it will really have an impact if it lasts any time.”
Already the first sporting victim of the crisis has been claimed. Saudi football club Al-Ahli said just hours after the cut in diplomatic ties that it would end its financial association with Qatar Airways, taking to Twitter to announce “the termination of the sponsorship contract between the club and Qatar Airways”.
Uruguayan international striker Edinson Cavani could miss Wednesday’s friendly against Italy after picking up an injury playing against Ireland, coach Oscar Tabarez said Monday. The Paris Saint-Germain striker went off with an unspecified muscle injury just 12 minutes into the friendly at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
“He has to undergo tests to find out exactly what the problem is but for me it seems difficult for him to play against Italy,” said Tabarez after Uruguay’s 3-1 defeat to Ireland.
Chelsea’s Belgium international star Eden Hazard has fractured his ankle, the Belgian football federation confirmed late Sunday. The 26-yearold playmaker sustained the injury training with the national side and the friendly against the Czech Republic and a 2018 World Cup qualifier in Estonia on Friday.
A tweet from his national team read: “Medical imaging showed that @hazardeden10 has a fracture in his right ankle #belcze #estbel #roadtorussia.”