The Ugly Game: The Qatari Plot to Buy the World Cup

by Heidi Blake

  The following morning, Bin Hammam strode into the AFC congress resplendent in a gold-trimmed bisht cape over his ordinary dishdasha. This was a statement. Bishts are the preserve of the loftiest dignitaries in Qatari society, and it was rare to see Bin Hammam in anything grander than his traditional white robe and keffiyeh. Things had changed now he was the man who had achieved the Emir’s dearest wish. He was a national hero in Qatar, and he wanted his friends in world football to know it. When the delegates settled into their chairs, Bin Hammam took the podium to open the congress, addressing the assembly. Speaking slowly and deliberately, he issued a cri de coeur to his supporters across the continent. ‘While Asia has not yet taken over the world, the rumblings of Asia can now be felt,’ he declared. ‘We strongly believe that the future is Asia and we are working very hard towards the future. We must push our limits and challenge the status quo.’

  Then it was Blatter’s turn. The 74-year-old bounded up to the lectern to dismiss any suggestion that his beloved FIFA was in need of change, and swat away the scandal which had claimed two members of its executive committee before the World Cup vote. The enemies of world football would be crushed and the leaders of the glorious game would be restored to the respect they deserved, he promised. ‘In 2010 we had some milestones in the history of football, starting with the first World Cup on the African continent, and what a success,’ the president stated. ‘And then the decision of FIFA’s executive committee to go to new destinations in 2018 and 2022.’ His eyes narrowed, and he lowered his tone confidentially. ‘All these successes have created a lot of envy and jealousy in our world because you cannot satisfy everybody,’ he said.

  Then Blatter loosened his shoulders and adopted a more avuncular manner. He wanted to quell any fears that such malicious slurs on the reputation of the global game would stick. FIFA’s children needn’t worry: the family was invincible. ‘The success story of FIFA can continue because we are in a comfortable situation, despite the criticism given to FIFA,’ the president assured the delegates. He was resolute. ‘We have the power and the instruments to go against any attacks that are made.’

  When it was time for the election, the Asian delegates filed up to the ballot box and slotted in their voting slips while the room hummed with idle chatter. No one was surprised when the announcement came that the man who had just won the right to host the World Cup in Asia had been re-elected unopposed as president. More good news followed quickly when Bin Hammam’s friend and fixer Manilal Fernando rolled to victory, winning a seat at FIFA’s top table for the first time.

  But then came a bitter shock. Dr Chung Mong-joon was defeated. The South Korean had been toppled from his treasured perch as Asia’s FIFA vice-president, despite Fernando’s enthusiastic efforts to turn the ballot in his favour. Chung had been slain by Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, an avowed Blatterite whose campaign had benefited from the firm backing of the FIFA president. He became the youngest member of the Exco at just 35. The news sparked celebrations among the Arab delegations at the congress, while Chung stood stiffly and stalked out of the hall, his face set in a blank stare.

  Bin Hammam rose to shake Prince Ali’s hand and congratulated him, concealing his disappointment beneath a cool smile. He had worked hard to assist Chung’s AFC re-election campaign after securing his pledge to back Qatar’s World Cup bid when South Korea fell out of the ballot. As a point of personal honour, he hated to have let his new ally down. He would have to find a way of making it up to Chung, he thought, as he watched the back of his friend’s silvered head retreating through the crowds amid the Arab celebrations.

  Chung’s defeat was a major boost for Blatter: instantly extinguishing the threat of the South Korean’s challenge to the FIFA presidency. Now Chung had been unseated from world football’s ruling committee, he no longer had a hope of making a successful run for the top job. What’s more, Prince Ali’s backers immediately repaid Blatter for his support, pledging their loyalty in the presidential election that June. ‘I can confirm that the twenty-five people who voted for Prince Ali today will vote for President Blatter at the FIFA congress because Blatter deserves to continue as FIFA president,’ said Sheikh Ahmad Ali Fahad Al Sabah, the head of the Kuwaiti FA. Bin Hammam scowled.

  Blatter was in ebullient spirits when the Asian Cup began the next day, bouncing into Khalifa International Stadium in his gold buttoned blazer ready to cause more mischief before the first match had even kicked off. The FIFA president took it upon himself to announce, apropos of nothing, that the Qatar World Cup would have to be held in the winter in order to protect players from the summer heat. ‘I expect it will be held in the winter,’ he opined at a press conference before the match. ‘When you play football, you have to protect the main people: the players.’ Then he dropped in an ominous reminder that FIFA maintained the right to move the goalposts at any moment before 2022. ‘Do not forget there is still eleven years to go, and although we have the basic conditions of their bid for a June and July World Cup, the FIFA executive committee is entitled to change anything that was in the bid,’ he said. Perhaps the renewed promise of uncontested power was making Blatter giddy. Or did he have a more sinister endgame in in mind?

  The suggestion that the tournament might be moved caused pandemonium. Shifting the World Cup to winter threatened chaos for European football, which some said would be disrupted for at least three seasons, bringing sponsorship and broadcast deals into jeopardy. Qatar’s bid had sworn it could air-condition its 12 proposed stadiums, five fan parks and 32 training centres with solar-power, to make the tournament playable in the summer, but now the FIFA president was showing the world he had no faith in this promise. Bin Hammam was outraged by the suggestion, on Qatari soil, that his country had won the World Cup race on false pretences. Coming on the heels of the random announcement of a prying anti-corruption committee, this was too much to bear. Why wouldn’t Blatter just keep his mouth shut for five minutes and let Qatar enjoy its big moment?

  The Asian Cup was supposed to be an auspicious event. This was Doha’s big chance to show the world just how wonderful a tournament it was capable of hosting, and the local organising committee had worked energetically for four years to get everything into stellar shape. Issa Hayatou had flown in with his wife along with Hany Abo Rida, Worawi Makudi and many of Bin Hammam’s friends in world football, and Amadou Diallo was there to greet the guests.

  Mohammed Meshadi had been dispatched to pick up an advance of $100,550 from the AFC debtors’ account34 so there would be no shortage of cash during the happy occasion. Jack Warner had sent apologies for being unable to come, but he included the bank details of his Dr João Havelange Centre of Excellence ‘as requested’. Two days later, he wrote again: ‘President and Brother, I hate to bother you, especially at this time re your Congress, but after two days, I am yet to hear from our friend. I know this is not normal.’ The reminder had the desired effect: within days Najeeb Chirakal had arranged for Kemco to wire Warner $12,500.

  Now the first match between Qatar and Uzbekistan was about to kick off and the Khalifa International Stadium was packed to capacity with local men in white robes and women in black abayas. Sadly, the home team did not stand up under the pressure. The Uzbeks were already 1-0 up when Qatar’s Khalfan Ibrahim made a disastrous pass into his own penalty area which allowed the away team to slot in a second goal. The stadium drained of home support before the match had reached its conclusion as the local crowd headed miserably for the exits, with Uzbek drums thundering triumphantly from the away section. The demoralising 2-0 defeat in the opening match was an embarrassing start to a tournament intended to celebrate Qatar’s growing status in world football. ‘The players wanted to give their best but they forgot everything. Today was a very, very bad day,’ the team’s distinguished French coach Bruno Metsu told journalists after the final whistle. ‘The pressure is huge, but sometimes it is very difficult to play the opening game.’

  Bin Hammam was stung by Qatar’s defeat, but
more than anything he was still spitting feathers about Blatter’s suggestion before the match that his proud country was not capable of delivering on its promise to host the World Cup in the summer. He fired off another volley at the FIFA president live on television. Asked if there was any intention to move the tournament to the winter, as Blatter had suggested, Bin Hammam said: ‘Not at all . . . Our business is to organise a comfortable World Cup in June and July. That’s what we have promised the world. And we are sticking to our promise and we are keeping our promise and that is our final word.’ He went on: ‘I’m really not very impressed by these opinions to . . . change the time from July to January. It’s premature, it’s people’s opinions and they’re just discussing it on no basis or no ground.’

  The public shootout between Blatter and Bin Hammam was beginning to overshadow the Asian Cup and some were already calling the tournament a damp squib. No one could claim it wasn’t progressing smoothly: the organisation was flawless, the marketing was slick and every edifice from the gleaming stadiums to the state-of-the-art team facilities seemed to drip with Gulf gold. But the football press were complaining that the stands were half empty and the games lacked atmosphere. After the dispiriting defeat which had sent the home fans packing in the opening game, the locals no longer seemed interested. Qatar’s fortunes had briefly recovered with a win over China, but even the resurgent home team wasn’t able to fill the stadium for the quarter-final match in which it was finally knocked out by Japan.

  Bin Hammam was determined to capitalise on his country’s efforts as the tournament drew to a close. ‘It’s been an extremely well organised event by Qatar,’ he insisted. ‘Although it is twelve years [sic] between now and 2022, it was a very good rehearsal for that competition.’ But he couldn’t resist using the publicity ahead of the semi-finals to take aim and fire at Blatter. This time, his comments sent shockwaves through world football. ‘Everybody is going to accuse us today as corrupted people because maybe people see Mr Blatter has stayed a long time in FIFA,’ he told the Associated Press. ‘Thirty-five years in one organisation is quite a long time. No matter how clean you are, honest or how correct you are, still people will attack you. You are going to be defenceless. That is why I believe change is the best thing for the organisation.’

  If the world was in any doubt, it was now clear that the once golden friendship between Blatter and his one-time Qatari conspirator was well and truly at an end. Bin Hammam refused to comment on whether he would stand against Blatter in the election that June, now that Chung was no longer a contender, saying stubbornly: ‘I did not make up my mind yet. I would rather wait and see.’ Days later, he used a press conference ahead of the final match between Australia and Japan on 29 January to declare once more that he wanted to see FIFA presidents ejected after two terms. ‘I believe that’s the right way for FIFA to restructure itself,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to answer any questions about the FIFA elections. But I think, and correct me if I’m wrong, that people today are complaining a lot about how FIFA runs itself as a business. It is not just term limits that need to change, but a lot of changes are needed to FIFA practices, its office business. A term limit will facilitate the rotation of power within the organisation.’ There was no backing away from it now. This was all-out war.

  No sooner was the FIFA president back in his comfort zone in Zurich than he was preparing to take the biggest pot shot he could at his one-time supporters in Qatar. In an interview with Brian Alexander, a sympathetic BBC journalist whom Blatter would later hire as a FIFA spin doctor, he sensationally revealed that he knew Qatar and Spain had colluded in the World Cup ballot after all. ‘I’ll be honest, there was a bundle of votes between Spain and Qatar,’ he said insouciantly.

  This was an astonishing admission from world football’s most powerful official, after FIFA’s own ethics committee had closed the case on collusion between the two countries, citing a lack of evidence. Blatter had just blown the whole thing wide open again. He denied that the deal had decided the outcome of either ballot, insisting: ‘It was a nonsense. It was there but it didn’t work, not for one and not for the other side.’ That wasn’t going to cut much ice, given that the votes from Spain and the three South Americans had clearly sealed Qatar’s victory. There was no going back from this admission. FIFA’s president had just claimed, on camera, that the country which had won the rights to host the World Cup had cheated.35

  This could not be borne. The very next day, Chung Mong-joon swung into action. The South Korean had maintained a dignified silence since his shock defeat at the AFC election, but now he took to Twitter to declare a threat to Blatter. He wrote: ‘I had lunch with Bin Hammam’ and ‘it seems he will challenge the FIFA presidential election in June.’ The Qatari refused to comment on Chung’s declaration, but the gauntlet had been thrown down.

  Bin Hammam had not forgotten the debt he owed Chung, and he had flown to Seoul soon after the end of the Asian Cup to see what he could do to soothe the pain of defeat for this old foe who had become his friend. When the pair lunched together, Bin Hammam had made Chung a promise. He was sorry that he had been unable to protect the South Korean’s seat on the FIFA Exco, but he wanted to offer the next best thing he could. He would see to it that Chung became an honorary vice-president of world football’s governing body, granting him unassailable status as a FIFA grandee and most of the perks that came with a seat on the ruling committee. Chung was grateful, and accepted the Qatari’s kind offer to make the proposal at the next meeting of the FIFA Exco in Zurich.

  The conversation turned next to a dilemma now close to both their hearts: how to stamp out the scourge of Sepp Blatter. Bin Hammam knew how dearly Chung had cherished his own presidential ambitions, so he tiptoed around the subject gingerly. He hadn’t decided for certain yet what he should do in the election that June, but Blatter’s pronouncements on Qatar’s World Cup were increasingly erratic and Bin Hammam felt in his bones that there was only one way to head off the danger. If he did choose to run for the top job in world football, he knew it would be a matter of death or glory, and he would need all the supporters he could get. Bin Hammam was delighted when the South Korean signed up. Chung’s own hopes were dashed, but it would be delicious to see Blatter felled. He would do what he could to help his friend in Qatar.

  Bin Hammam wrote to him after the meeting in February to thank him for the ‘fabulous hospitality’ he had received on the visit. ‘I will do my best in Zurich and hope it will be successful,’ he promised. Chung’s assistant, ES Kim, followed up with a letter to Chirakal later that month. ‘During his visit to Korea, President Hammam mentioned . . . that he would propose Dr Chung as honorary FIFA vice-president at the upcoming FIFA Exco meeting and Dr Chung is deeply appreciative of this kind gesture from the AFC president,’ he wrote. ‘In relation to this matter, Dr Chung would like to send a letter to some of the FIFA Exco members, who, in his opinion, would support President Hammam’s proposal. Before sending out such a request letter, Dr Chung would like to sound out the opinion of the AFC president about his plan.’

  Kim had already written to Issa Hayatou asking him to back Bin Hammam’s nomination of Chung, and he wanted the Qatari’s permission to send similar letters to Jack Warner, Ángel María Villar Llona, Michel Platini, Michel D’Hooghe, Worawi Makudi, Nicolas Leoz, Marios Lefkaritis, Franz Beckenbauer, Rafael Salguero and Vitaliy Mutko. Bin Hammam agreed and, sure enough, Chung got his wish. He was named FIFA’s only honorary vice-president later that year, a position he still holds today. The debt had been repaid.

  Bin Hammam, meanwhile, had a few favours to return to those who had helped Qatar win the World Cup ballot. Since the month of the big vote, the Qatari had been working with his powerful ally Issa Hayatou to arrange private talks between the leaders of their two countries. Paul Biya, the president of Cameroon, was granted a rare private audience with the Emir in early 2011. In February, an email marked ‘Confidential – for President Bin Hammam’ dropped into the Qatari’s inbox
from a senior official at CAF. Attached was a private letter addressed to Hayatou from a Cameroonian government minister, dated 24 December 2010 and headed: ‘Visit of the Head of State to Qatar’. It read: ‘I have the honour to ask you to kindly relay to his Excellency the Emir of Qatar, the approval of the President of the Republic regarding this visit, which modalities will be fixed between both parties by diplomatic means.’

  Hayatou had clearly played a pivotal role in securing the audience through his relationship with Bin Hammam, and the letter invited him to ‘provide us any useful information on this matter’.36 Biya’s visit to Qatar was arranged secretly and there is no public trace of his meeting with the Emir ever having taken place – or of what the two heads of states discussed if they did come together. But the ability to call in such favours with the ruler of the world’s richest country was clearly a big feather in Hayatou’s cap back in Cameroon – and it was all thanks to his good friend Bin Hammam.

  There was another big state visit in the offing for a second key FIFA voter, too, in the months after the World Cup ballot. Michel D’Hooghe, the Belgian Exco member, had emailed Bin Hammam at the end of January to ask him to meet the president of Flanders, Kris Peeters, who was planning a visit to Qatar the following month. ‘Dear Friend,’ D’Hooghe had written. ‘The Minister-President of Flanders [northern part of Belgium] is planning an official visit to Qatar . . . Having knowledge of our friendship and our collegial relationship within the Executive Committee of FIFA, he asked me to examine the possibility of a meeting with you . . . I would really appreciate it if this could be possible. Looking forward to your answer and with kindest regards, Michel.’ Bin Hammam had been eager to help. ‘It’ll be my pleasure to meet the Minister and invite him for a dinner or lunch on 10th of February,’ he responded. ‘Please let me have his itinerary at your earliest.’ Jenny Be had then forwarded the email to Najeeb Chirakal in Bin Hammam’s private office in Doha with a note to remind the president about the engagement.