Council of Europe calls for revote on 'flawed' 2022 World Cup bid

A picture taken on Dec 2, 2010 shows FIFA President Sepp Blatter holding up the name of Qatar during the official announcement of the 2022 World Cup host country at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich. (AFP/Philippe Desmazes)

STRASBOURG, France: A report by the Council of Europe, adopted on Tuesday (Jan 27), has called on FIFA to revote on the "radically flawed" decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Damaging revelations concerning the bidding process mean that "FIFA cannot evade the obligation to hold a new vote," according to the draft resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

British Labour Party Member of Parliament Michael Connarty, who prepared the draft resolution, slammed a "farce" and "a clear whitewash" by world football's governing body.

Connarty said he had consulted documents obtained by The Times newspaper, proving that Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam, who was president of the Asian Football Confederation, paid important sums of money to win the backing of African federations in the vote for the 2022 World Cup.

The report regretted that FIFA's Ethics Committee enquiry which uncovered "extremely dubious practices," was not entirely published, and were "amazed at the ease with which the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee confirmed the decision to assign the 2022 World Cup to Qatar."

"The claim that Qatar does not have direct responsibility for Mr bin Hammam's dealings should not be allowed to validate a procedure so fundamentally undermined by illegality," the report said. "FIFA does not yet seem capable of putting an end to corruption scandals."

The report also called on Qatar, who have been severely criticised for the conditions of foreign workers to take "all necessary measures to secure respect for the fundamental rights of all foreign migrant workers employed in this country."

The text of the resolution will be submitted to the Council of Europe's plenary session in April which brings together more than 300 Parliamentarians from 47 member states. A resolution from the Council of Europe, which is an advisory international organisation, is not binding but would increase political pressure on FIFA.

Since the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in 2010, both the country and FIFA have been dogged by controversy. FIFA president Sepp Blatter, however, insisted last month "it would really need an earthquake," to go back on the decision.