Qatar may face boot for 2022 Cup

FIFA PRESIDENT Sepp Blatter’s resignation is being viewed as great news for the world of soccer, but Greg Dyke, chairman of the Football Association, English football’s governing body, thinks it could be bad news for the country set to host the 2022 World Cup. “If I were Qatar right now, I wouldn’t be feeling very comfortable,” Dyke told the Mirror regarding the Arab country.

The FIFA Executive Committee, which last week saw several members named in a 47-count indictment for racketeering and money laundering, among other charges — some involving the Qatar bid — voted in 2010 to give Qatar the World Cup over the United States. When the members of the committee were arrested last week, FIFA immediately announced there would not be a re-vote for the 2018 (Russia) and 2022 bids, but with Blatter resigning on Tuesday, Dyke said anything is possible. “He’s gone. At long last we can sort out FIFA,” Dyke said. “We can go back to looking at those two World Cups.”

In addition to the bidding process, Qatar has been bashed for its inhumane living conditions for migrant workers preparing the country for the event. A recent documentary details “filthy kitchen and bathroom areas, where feces and excrement are overflowing from a hole in the floor that serves as a toilet. Meat cooks in a frying pan on a decrepit stove, the walls around it rank with filth.”

According to reports, approximately 1,200 workers have already been killed during construction, with that number predicted to reach about 4,000 before the games are even played.

Dyke said the world should “celebrate” Blatter’s resignation.

“I think it’s great news for football. It’s long overdue,” he said. “We can now get someone in to run FIFA and find out where all the money has gone from over the years. He’s stood down, he’s gone. Let’s celebrate! This is nothing to do with Mr. Blatter being honorable, he hasn’t been honorable in years.”

FIFA last switched a World Cup host in 1986, when Colombia withdrew in 1982 due to financial problems and Mexico beat out the U.S. as the substitute host nation. − Bill Price