Claims of alleged corruption in Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid have been published in the German media. Bild newspaper says it has obtained the “suppressed” 2014 report authored by former Fifa independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia. Bild’s report includes details of a $2m (£1.6m) sum allegedly paid to the 10-year-old daughter of a Fifa … Read more
An initial investigation into a British worker’s death at a Qatar World Cup stadium has raised concerns over the construction of the high platform from which he fell. Zac Cox, a rope-access technician, plunged 39 metres (128 feet) to his death in January this year while working on a catwalk at Khalifa International Stadium. A … Read more
Shoppers in Doha were taking no chances on Monday despite Qatari officials reassuring residents there was no need to panic after Saudi Arabia imposed a de facto food blockade. Qatar shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia, and relies heavily on food imports, much of it from Gulf countries. Arab nations including Saudi Arabia … Read more
A dramatic last minute winner gave Al Sadd, skippered by Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez, victory in the Emir Cup final on Friday, Qatar’s biggest domestic cup competition. The match was played in the newly refurbished Khalifa International Stadium, the first 2022 World Cup venue to be completed. Among those watching on in the 40,000-seater air-conditioned … Read more
“Hundreds” of cases of alleged wrongdoing – some involving senior officials – were being looked into by Fifa’s ethics committee before its main investigator and judge were ousted, the two have claimed. Football’s world governing announced on Tuesday it will not reappoint investigator Cornel Borbely and ethics adjudicator Hans-Joachim Eckert. At a news conference on … Read more
Qatar’s metro, once completed, will run hundreds of kilometres across ultra-modern Doha, along the coast and into its expanding suburbs. But whether car-mad Qataris will actually use it remains an open question. Driverless three-car trains are to serve 100 stations, easing into gleaming newly-built destinations with names such as Ras Bu Fontas, Al-Shaqab and Legtaifiya. … Read more