LONDON (AP) ― Qatar is still struggling to convince the world that its winning bid to host the 2022 World Cup was not corrupt, the leader of the country’s organizing committee said Wednesday.
Since becoming the first Middle Eastern country to win the right to host the World Cup last December, Qatar has had to deny a series of allegations of bribery.
A whistleblower claimed that two FIFA executive committee members were paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar, although she later went public to retract the allegations.
“Perception (of corruption) will always be a sense of frustration until we overcome how people view us,” Hassan al Thawadi, the secretary general of Qatar’s organizing committee, told the Leaders in Football conference.
Shaking off the perception of corruption has not been helped by former Asian confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam since he was banned for life for trying to bribe voters during his attempt to unseat FIFA president Sepp Blatter in June.
