Relations between FIFA and Qatari authorities have broken down after football’s governing body reportedly began bombarding the World Cup hosts with legal letters.
The World Cup has reached the quarter-final stage and there are now just eight matches left in the tournament. While the action on the pitch has brought plenty of entertainment, the competition has been far from smooth away from it.
The most contentious World Cup of all time has been dogged by criticism, ranging from Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and members of the LGBTQ+ community, to the disputed environmental impact and issues with crowds at stadiums. FIFA’s vote to send the tournament to Qatar has been mired in corruption allegations – and the organisation is now locked in various legal battles with the hosts.
The Daily Mail reports that FIFA have sent ‘several legal letters’ to Qatar's Supreme Committee since the tournament kicked off on November 20. The disputes are said to concern contractual issues and generally relate to who is financially responsible for the blowback.
One of the most obvious examples is Qatar’s decision on the eve of the World Cup to ban the sale of alcohol at stadiums and fan parks. Qatar is a Muslim country and the royal family were reportedly behind the push to prevent the sale of beer.
The decision is a clear breach of FIFA’s hugely lucrative multi-million pound sponsorship with Budweiser, who have only been able to sell their alcohol-free beer in Doha. Budweiser are due a huge amount of compensation and FIFA have sent legal letters in an effort to make sure Qatar pays.
There have been further negative headlines regarding the hosts’ treatment of migrant workers and the reporting of deaths on construction sites. Qatar World Cup chief executive Nasser Al-Khater this week drew fierce criticism for his response to the death of a Filipino construction worker.
"It has been a successful World Cup and this is something you want to talk about,” he told the BBC. “Death is a natural part of life, whether it’s at work or in your sleep. A worker died, our condolences go to his family. However, it is strange that this is something you want to focus on as your first question."
Al-Khater’s response came in stark contrast to FIFA, who said they were “deeply saddened by this tragedy” and offered “sympathies and thoughts to the workers family”.
Qatar had always previously maintained that only 37 migrant workers had died while building stadiums and infrastructure for the tournament. But Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy Hassan al-Thawadi then admitted the real number was “between 400 and 500”.
