GULF CRISIS ESCALATES
ESCALATING a sports television rights dispute, a Qatarowned broadcaster accused Asian soccer leadership of breaking contracts and deciding to stream games for free in Saudi Arabia. BeIN Sports said it intends to seek arbitration against the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) under the terms of its contract. The networks claims a breach of a multimillion dollar agreement to broadcast games exclusively across the Middle East, including the continent’s Champions League.
The AFC said it will use its Facebook and YouTube channels to broadcast Saudi-hosted soccer games in AFC competitions, an effort to protect broadcast partners and “tackle attempts to illegally exploit those rights wherever it occurs.”
Bootlegged feeds from BeIN of top international soccer games have been pirated by Saudi Arabia-based BeoutQ since 2017. Saudi authorities declared BeIN illegal in the kingdom, a proxy battle in the nation’s wider economic and diplomatic boycott that was launched nearly two years ago.
BeIN will likely file for arbitration in Singapore. The network claimed the confederation’s actions threaten the business model that sports rights holders rely on worldwide.
“The AFC’s decision to livestream directly into Saudi Arabia on the AFC’s own digital platforms is a material breach of our multmillion dollar regional broadcast agreement and we will immediately be launching a major international dispute to recover damages and protect our position,” BeIN Chief Executive Officer Yousef Al-Obaidly said. “The AFC’s decision is not only a selfharming commercial decision and a clear political play with Saudi Arabia, but most damagingly it will impact rights holders across sports and entertainment around the world.”
Saudi Arabia’s soccer federation said the decision amounts to canceling “the BeIN sport monopoly over all Asian Football Confederation competitions.”
The AFC announcement came less than four weeks before the confederation’s presidential election. Incumbent Sheikh Salman of Bahrain faces candidates from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which is supported by Saudi Arabia.
The format of the 2022 World Cup also is up for discussion this week. Fifa is exploring expanding the tournament from 32 to 48 teams and adding one or more countries to Qatar, selected as host in 2010.
A Fifa feasibility study said Qatar would not be forced to share games with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates unless those countries restore diplomatic and travel ties with Doha. That leaves Kuwait and Oman as options for an expanded tournament.
Persian Gulf countries would have to lift boycotts of Qatar before being eligible to join hosting of the World Cup, Fifa determined in a feasibility study recommending its ruling council endorse expansion of the 2022 tournament to 48 teams despite the logistical and political complexities.
The 81-page study seen by The Associated Press says Qatar would not be forced to share games with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates unless those countries restore diplomatic and travel ties with Doha. Because of their neutrality in the situation, Kuwait and Oman are the most viable options identified by Fifa to host games in 2022. Venues in at least one more country would be required to cope with the additional 16 teams and 16 games under the expansion proposal.
The feasibility report was prepared for Fifa’s ruling council to consider ahead of a meeting in Miami on Friday, when the leadership will seek approval to press ahead with finalizing plans for adding another 16 teams.
Making the 2022 tournament the first 48-country World Cup, at this late stage, would require Qatar to accept giving up exclusivity on hosting the event more than eight years after its winning bid. But to protect itself legally, Fifa says that any alteration to the tournament plans “shall be agreed together with Qatar as the appointed host nation, and any new proposals must be prepared jointly between Fifa and Qatar.”
With logistics already challenged by the existing plan to play 64 games in eight stadiums within a 30-mile radius in Qatar, Fifa said two to four additional venues are required in the region in “one or more” nation.
The Fifa study identified stadiums in five countries, of which Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are currently unviable because they severed travel ties with Qatar in 2017 over accusations Doha supports extremism. Qatar denies the claims.
“Due to the geopolitical situation in the region and the recent blockade that Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE have imposed on Qatar, the involvement of such countries in organizing a cohosted tournament with Qatar would require the lifting of such blockade, in particular the lifting of all restrictions relating to the movement of people and goods between these countries,” the Fifa feasibility study said. “Ideally, this should be evidenced as a precondition to the appointment of such cohosts and should cover all aspects related to the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022.”
Two other potential cohosts—Kuwait and Oman—are more feasible because they are not part of the boycott.
Qatar’s national football team used the countries as stopovers to get its team to the Asian Cup in the UAE in January because direct travel is prohibited. AP