The organisers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have strongly denied allegations from the U.S. Department of Justice that bribes were paid to secure votes for the hosting rights to the tournament. Suspicion and rumours have long surrounded both the 2010 vote by Fifa’s executive to hand the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar. “They are part of a long-standing case, the subject of which is not the 2018/2022 Fifa World Cup bidding process. Alexei Sorokin, CEO of the local organising committee for Russia’s 2018 World Cup, told the Interfax news agency: “This is only the opinion of lawyers. And Russia hosted the best soccer World Cup in history, which we are proud of.”The Qatar World Cup organisers have been fending off allegations of corruption ever since the tiny Gulf state was awarded the 2022 tournament.

Source: The Star April 14, 2020 21:00 UTC