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CoE Parliamentary Assembly to debate call for do-over of Qatar World Cup bid

Xinhua, April 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will hold a general assembly debate on Thursday over a call for FIFA to re-run the vote for the 2022 World Cup awarded to Qatar over allegations of corruption.

The report to be debated, "The reform of football governance," was adopted unanimously by the PACE Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media on Jan. 27, 2015, and found the 2022 World Cup bid to be "fundamentally undermined by illegality."

The rapporteur, Michael Connarty (United Kingdom), examined evidence obtained by the Sunday Times of illegal payments paid to African football officials by FIFA's Qatari Vice President Mohammed bin Hamman, and found that this invalidated the World Cup 2022 selection process to the degree that it needed to be re-run.

In what a Tuesday press release called "a surprise decision," the assembly voted on Monday to move forward the debate by two months from its previously scheduled position.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter had initially been invited to attend the June 2015 PACE session, but he will not be present during Thursday's debate. According to a PACE media officer, this suits some delegates who were reluctant to give such an opportunity to Mr. Blatter, since he is standing for re-election on May 29, 2015, and his opponents would not have the same platform.

The original report also calls on Qatar to respect the rights of foreign workers, particularly those who are involved in construction projects related to hosting the World Cup, the poor treatment of whom has been a subject of controversy in global media amid reports of dangerous conditions and exploitation. Endit