By Andrew Warshaw
March 18 – The bid to stage the 2022 World Cup has burst into controversy with the revelation that Qatar have arranged to be last on the list of FIFA technical inspection visits – several weeks after the other Asian candidates.
Insideworldfootball nderstands that Australia, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea have all been earmarked for July while the cash-rich Qataris will not have their facilities inspected until well into September when the weather - the most controversial aspect of Qatar’s bid - will be cooler than in the previous two months.
The Qatar visit on September 17 means FIFA officials will not be in the Gulf state during its hottest months when temperatures can average over 40 degrees.
The hosts for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups are being decided at the same time by FIFA on December 2 at a meeting in Zurich.
Football’s world governing body are shortly to release the inspection team running order but it is understood the four European candidates will be visited consecutively in August straight after most of the Asian contenders, with the United States to follow and Qatar last on the list.
News that Qatar have apparently stolen a march on the other contenders will infuriate their rivals, still angered by the fact that the Qataris struck a deal to sponsor the recent African Football Confederation Congress in Angola to the exclusion of all other bidding countries.
While Qatar and South Korea are the only nations officially bidding for just 2022, it is now widely assumed that the World Cup in 2018 will come to Europe, leaving Australia and the USA also banking on the later event with Indonesia likely to pull out altogether.
FIFA insist there is no conspiracy theory and that the visit to Qatar has been deliberately timed so as not to clash with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan when most of the country’s officials are given time away from work.
Ramadan, however, starts in August and the other Asian countries in the bidding process are being lined up for July.
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