FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura has red-carded Qatar’s critics who still can’t digest the fact that the country will be hosting the World Cup in 2022.
Six years after Qatar was voted by FIFA as the host of the event, vested interests continue to target the country on issues such as human rights, workers’ welfare and the perceived lack of freedoms.
But Samoura, a former top official with the United Nations’ World Food Program dismissed such concerns with contempt, saying Qatar has made tremendous progress on these issues and that much of the criticism levelled at it now carries little weight.
“The World Cup in Qatar is a done deal,” Samoura told journalists yesterday after chairing a LOC meeting at the Museum of Islamic Art.
“I am not going to waste my time responding to critics if it’s criticism just for the sake of criticism,” added Samoura, who was asked if FIFA was still under pressure from certain quarters over the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“If it is positive criticism then we can deal with it. Otherwise I don’t waste my time,” she said.
The Senegal native was impressed with Qatar’s enthusiasm to deliver an event of exceptionally high standards.
“I was very impressed by the level of progress and co-operation between the LOC and FIFA and the measures taken to ensure the rights and welfare of workers,” she said on her first official visit to Qatar.
Samoura also said that FIFA “respects” Qatari culture over the sensitive issue of selling alcohol in stadiums at the 2022 World Cup.
However, she added FIFA has not yet discussed with World Cup officials in the Gulf about what would be sold in stadiums during the tournament and was a long way off making a final decision.
Her comments were the first by FIFA following remarks this week by Qatar’s most senior World Cup official, Hassan al-Thawadi, who said in an interview that 2022 organisers were against alcohol being made available in stadiums.
“We do respect the customs and culture of the country,” said Samoura, following a meeting between FIFA and Qatari officials.
“The last thing FIFA would like to be accused of is that it does not pay attention to these kind of customs.”
The issue of alcohol threatens to be the latest controversial issue surrounding the Qatar tournament.
In his interview al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said: “We are against the provision of alcohol in stadiums and their surroundings.”
He also ruled out drinking in “streets, squares and public places”.
There would not be a total alcohol ban, but drinking would be permitted only in “far-away places”.
However, Qatar’s position could potentially lead to problems for FIFA and one its major sponsors, including beer giant Budweiser.
In the run-up to the tournament in Brazil in 2014, it was widely reported that FIFA demanded alcohol be served at stadiums, which was against Brazilian law at the time.
The South American hosts finally relented.
Asked if Budweiser might eventually be provided with compensation if there was an alcohol ban in stadiums, Samoura said there had been no decision taken as yet.
On a lighter note, she chided journalists who bring up the alcohol issue at every press conference saying they like to focus on “controversial issues” rather than talk about far more important topics, like Qatar’s legacy programme (With AFP inputs)