Qatar accused of ‘black ops’ plot to undermine Australia’s World Cup bid

A BOMBSHELL report has exposed the “black operations” propaganda campaign that was designed to undermine Australia’s World Cup bid.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - DECEMBER 02: FIFA President Joseph S Blatter names Qatar as the winning hosts of 2022 during the FIFA World Cup 2018 & 2022 Host Countries Announcement at the Messe Conference Centre on December 2, 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

QATAR’S World Cup team used a secret “black operations” propaganda campaign to undermine rival bids in violation of Fifa rules, a British Sunday broadsheet has reported.

The Sunday Times claims whistleblower emails show the bid team paid a PR firm as well as former CIA agents to disseminate “fake propaganda” concerning main rivals Australia and the US during their campaign to host the 2022 competition.

Qatar’s strategy was to recruit influential individuals in order to attack bids in their native countries, creating the impression there was “zero support” to host the World Cup among the population, the paper said.

DOHA, QATAR - MAY 19: Fireworks spell out 2022 for the Qatar 2022 World Cup at Khalifa Stadium on May 19, 2017 in Doha, Qatar. Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy today officially opened Khalifa International Stadium, the first completed 2022 FIFA World Cup venue, five years before the tournament begins. (Photo by Neville Hopwood/Qatar 2022 via Getty Images)

One of the core criteria considered by Fifa, world football’s governing body, is said to be that the bids should have a strong backing from domestic populations.

Bidders are also prohibited from making “any written or oral statement of any kind, whether adverse or otherwise, about the bids or candidatures of any other member association” under Fifa guidelines.

Tomorrow's front page: Exposed: Qatar sabotaged World Cup rivals with ‘black ops’ pic.twitter.com/NHlvIZ3M52

— The Sunday Times (@thesundaytimes) July 28, 2018

But one of the leaked emails the Times claims to have obtained was sent to Qatar’s deputy bid leader Ali al-Thawadi, and allegedly shows the state was aware of plots to spread “poison” against other bidders in the running before Qatar won the right to host the cup in December 2010.

(From L) Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photography during a symbolic transfer of the authority to Qatar to host the World Cup 2022 at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 15, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Yuri KADOBNOV

Such actions went as far as planning a resolution for US congress on the “harmful” effects of the American World Cup proposition during the week of the vote, as well as approaching and paying a US professor $9000 (7723 Euros, £6865) to compose a report on the economic burden the competition would present.

The Sunday Times claimed the documents were leaked to the paper by a whistleblower who worked with the Qatar bid on the World Cup campaign.