The report that Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation against Jerome Valcke, the banned former FIFA secretary general, and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the head of Qatar’sbeIN Media, isn’t just a stain on FIFA — the latest in a long list of scandals related to corruption in the handling of media rights deals — but it’s another problem for embattled Qatar, which isscheduled to host of the 2022 World Cup.
On top of that it is a potential black-eye for French soccer as Al-Khelaifi is the president of big-spending Paris St. Germain.
TheSwiss Attorney General suspects Valcke of accepting “undue advantages” in connection with the award of media rights for the 2026 and 2030 World Cup competitions from Al-Khelaifi. Valcke,who is serving a 10-year ban from soccer, was also accused of accepting “undue advantages” from an unnamed businessman in connection with media rights for the 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030World Cups, Valcke and BeIN Media have denied any wrongdoing and were said to be cooperating with officials.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Valcke were forced out of theirpositions and dozens of soccer officials have been indicted or pleaded guilty in soccer corruption cases. On top of that, the New York Times
The beIN Media Group is based in Doha and has media businesses around theworld, including beIN Sports and Miramax in the United States. Amid charges of widespread vote-fixing, Qatar was controversially awarded the 2022 World Cup in 2010, though Al-Khelaifi is the firstQatari facing formal charges.
The 2022 World Cup has come under threat because of Qatar’s continued boycott by Gulf rivals Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and Egypt ina diplomatic dispute over Qatar’s cooperation with Iran, among other things.
Qatar won the 2022 hosting rights over the favored USA in part because it convinced then-UEFA presidentMichel Platini to vote for it. Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been linked to Qatar’s World Cup winning bid. In the aftermath of the December 2010 vote, Qatar SportsInvestments — owned by the state — bought Paris St. Germain and beIN Sport was launched in France.
BeIN Sport currently has 3.5 million subscribers in France but faces an uncertainfuture. It will lose UEFA Champions League rights in France next season to SFR Sport. The French league is about to conduct an auction for Ligue 1 rights, beginning in 2020, and beIN Sport is not onlyexpected to face competition from long-time cable rival Canal-Plus and SFR Sport but American companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon seeking streaming rights.
Al-Khelaifi’stroubles come after a summer he orchestrated PSG’s record-breaking purchases of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. They also follow those of Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian president ofreigning French champion Monaco. He is accused of influencing police officers and members of the Monaco justice department in a case involving Frenchman Yves Bouvier whom Rybolovlev accused offraud in an art deal.
Qatar, unlike Saudi, has a Christian church and nice jails. Small country with nice beaches, plenty of cheap tickets if folks don’t go……
Also, Qatar helped establishing the most feared terrorist Islamic organazations in Syria. Directly, it established Al-Nusra front and indirectly, it helped establishing and strengthening ISIS.