Qatar’s World Cup 2022 risk is more reputational than financial

Bad publicity appears to be the biggest threat to Qatar should the investigations into alleged Fifa corruption find evidence of graft. Whatever happens in the long run, the country is firmly set on boosting its own footballing credentials.

An illustrated aerial view of the Al Wakrah stadium being built in Qatar. Qatar 2022 / HH Vision via Getty Images
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As investigations into alleged corruption continue at Fifa over the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the question of what might happen if Qatar loses the latter event throws up intriguing permutations.

The Qatari organisers insist the tournament will go ahead and to further boost a global presence helped by football sponsorships with top clubs such as FC Barcelona and Paris St Germain, a big effort is being made to build a national team to justify the country’s role on the pitch as 2022 hosts. This includes nurturing the tiny domestic pool of talent and attracting and naturalising promising foreign players via the Aspire Academy.

Formed in 2004, the state-owned talent-spotting programme claims to assess 400,000 young footballers a year across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Promising young players are scrutinised at centres throughout Africa and in Paraguay, Thailand and Vietnam. The best two players from each country are selected to be trained at an Aspire academy, in Senegal.

In 2012 Aspire bought a club in the Belgian second division, KAS Eupen, which is being used to give first-team senior experience to promising graduates from the Senegal and Doha academies.

“It is, of course, one of the longer term goals of the Academy that some of our graduates will represent Qatar at the Fifa World Cup 2022,” it says.

The Aspire facilities also attract leading clubs, including Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Everton and Liverpool in recent years, to Doha for warm weather training or to compete in junior competitions, further polishing the Qatari global image.

And thereby lies the crux of the matter. Where Qatar Inc stands to lose the most, if the Fifa corruption allegations are proven true and the country is stripped of the World Cup, is in its brand image. There could be a reduction in confidence among international clubs, players and companies, perhaps leading to cancellation of sponsorships – which would seriously damage Qatar’s reputation. Doha’s ambitions to diversify its economy through becoming a financial hub to rival neighbouring Dubai would also probably be dented.

“The loss of the event would not be positive, as Doha has been struggling to create itself as an economic hub to match the Dubai International Finance Centre,” says Elias Moubarak, the head of finance at the law firm Trowers & Hamlins in the UAE.

“Bad publicity will not encourage people to move to the Qatar Financial Centre for example, and I think it would generally [have] a negative impact on Qatar’s objectives.”

Losing the world’s most watched sports event could also undermine confidence at home.

“First and foremost Qatar would see it as an embarrassing loss, and [they] care about that far more than financial implications,” David Roberts, a lecturer at King’s College London and the author of Qatar: Securing the Global Ambitions of a City State, told the middleeasteye.net news website last month. “They would be livid if [they] lost it.

Fifa and its staff would do well to be worried, too. “I’m sure Qatar would try to sue Fifa – and if anyone can they can – back to the Stone Age,” he adds.

Other implications of Qatar losing the 2022 World Cup are more tied to Michel Platini’s decision to run for Fifa presidency following Sepp Blatter’s resignation this year as the head of football’s world governing body.

Platini, a former French football star and the current head of the European body Uefa, voted for Qatar to host the 2022 event. His election as Fifa president would benefit Qatar; a win for Platini would constitute de facto support for Qatar.

A decision to remove the 2022 finals from Qatar would also create myriad spin-off court cases.

Research by MEED shows that work worth US$1.23 billion directly linked to the World Cup has already been commissioned.

The more contracts Qatar signs for the event, the more difficult – and costly – removing the finals becomes. A legal minefield would emerge.

And in that case, the only real winner of the World Cup 2022 would be the legal profession.

business@thenational.ae