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The Qatar 2022 World Cup bid team broke Fifa rules by running a secret campaign to sabotage their rivals for the tournament, The Sunday Times has claimed.<\/p>\nThe Qatar 2022 World Cup bid team broke Fifa rules by running a secret campaign to sabotage their rivals for the tournament, The Sunday Times has claimed.<\/p>\n
The newspaper says it has been passed documents by a whistle blower who worked with the Qatar bid.<\/p>\n
It says the bid team used a PR agency and former CIA operatives to disseminate fake propaganda about its main competitors, the United States and Australia.<\/p>\n
This allegedly involved recruiting prominent figures to criticize the bids in their own countries, thus giving the impression they lacked support at home.<\/p>\n
Fifa rules say that bidders must \u201crefrain from making any written or oral statements of any kind, whether adverse or otherwise, about the bids or candidatures of any other member association which has expressed an interest in hosting and staging the competitions\u201d.<\/p>\n
Qatar\u2019s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said it \u201crejected\u201d all the claims made by the paper.<\/p>\n
According to The Sunday Times, the alleged smear campaign included paying a professor 9,000 dollars (\u00a36,900) to write a damning report on the economic cost of a US World Cup, recruiting journalists and bloggers to promote negative stories in the US, Australian and international media, and organizing grassroots protests at rugby matches in Australia.<\/p>\n
The leaked documents also revealed that a group of American PE teachers had been recruited to ask congressmen to oppose a US World Cup on the grounds the money would be better spent on high school sports, the paper claimed.<\/p>\n
Lord Triesman, former chairman of the Football Association and England bid chairman, urged Fifa to \u201clook at the evidence thoroughly\u201d, and said Qatar should not be allowed to \u201chold on to the World Cup\u201d if they were shown to have broken Fifa rules.<\/p>\n
He told the paper: \u201cI think it would not be wrong for Fifa to reconsider England in those circumstances \u2026 We have the capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Qatar bid team has previously been accused of corruption, but was cleared following a two-year inquiry by the Fifa ethics committee.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Qatar\u2019s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said: \u201cThe Supreme Committee rejects each and every allegation put forward by the Sunday Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been thoroughly investigated and have been forthcoming with all information related to our bid, including the official investigation led by US attorney Michael Garcia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have strictly adhered to all Fifa\u2019s rules and regulations for the 2018\/2022 World Cup bidding process.\u201d<\/p>\n