I noticed Qatar have won the Asian Cup beating Japan in the final. Have they suddenly found a group of very talented young footballers or nationalising some from South American for example to make sure they can compete in in their own World Cup?
The UAE have made a complaint about whether some the Qatar players are eligible to play. A few years ago they opened an academy in Qatar and started importing youngsters from all over the world. I guess after a while they'll be eligible to play for Qatar. Not sure if any of the current crop are from the academy though. Edit: it's only 2 players that have been questioned, 1 from Sudan and 1 from Iraq so hardly the next big thing!
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/exclusive-qatars-secret-880m-world-cup-payments-to-fifa-m6k8j8z3n Who would have thought it ?
I'm not sure how it's possible to play a world cup on an invisible line that encircles the whole world anyway. Crazy idea.
But it doesn't make it acceptable. Corruption and unfairness wherever it may be needs to be rooted out. Barcelona for all their posturing on human rights and the history of Catalonia should be embarrassed to be sponsored by a regime that impinges on human rights every day.
It's not acceptable, but it's life. Money corrupts. Always has and always will. You can highlight on a forum, but when corruption goes to the very top, it's impossible to stop. Eventually it does get found out, regimes tumble, another takes its place and the sequence starts again.
FIFA still keen on having 48 teams at the 2022 World Cup.... I can see them having the top 16 ranked teams through automaticity leaving the rest to fight it out for the remaining spots across the globe.
