By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – As the Asian Cup moves towards its eagerly awaited conclusion, one of the elephants in the room is the extent to which the United Arab Emirates, as hosts, are putting on a show worthy of being viewed as potential sharers of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Despite the highly sensitive geo-political situation in the Gulf, FIFA president Gianni Infantino continues to bang the drum for 48 teams which would likely mean only one thing: the tournament having to be staged in part by Qatar’s neighbours.
A final decision on whether to expand is due to be made by the FIFA Council in March and this week the UAE’s sports chief Mohammed Khalfan al-Romaithi said he would welcome an approach if – and it’s a big if – the ongoing bitter diplomatic and trade boycott of Qatar led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE is resolved.
“I think the right way is to solve the problem,” al-Romaithi told Reuters. “Bring back the relationships, be brothers again like we were, and then we can support. If the problem is solved I think the UAE would welcome the World Cup here.”
“If the relationship comes back to normal and all problems are resolved, we would be more than happy to help the Qataris.”
Easier said than done. There have been next to no Qatari fans at the Asian Cup and a group of Qatar-based journalists were sent back before the tournament began. But Romaithi, who is challenging the present incumbent Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa for the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation on April 6, appeared to play down the fact that Qataris, who used to travel freely between the two countries, are actually banned from the UAE unless they receive a special permit.
“I assure you we have no problem receiving any Qatari who will go through the proper channel,” he added somewhat unconvincingly. Tell that to the journalists who believed they had all the correct paperwork, none of them were even Qatari citizens.
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