Features

They haven’t been paid salaries for the last two months. Meet two African security guards that work for a company that has several Fifa and World Cup assignments during the tournament in Qatar.

Multi club-ownership (MCO) might make sense as a corporate strategy for Middle Eastern sportswashers or private equity raiders but for just about everyone else, the concept of gobbling up football clubs into one amorphous group does not.

According to Fifa, Qatar 2022 is to be the ‘greenest of all World Cups’. But independent reports show that far from being the first carbon-neutral global sports competition in sports history, as promised by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, the forthcoming World Cup will be the dirtiest ever staged.

Politicians, leading academics and international trade unions have praised Qatar for its reforms since they were given the hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup in 2010, following a corrupt process. But how are things really on the ground?

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President of the French olympic committee (CNOSF), Brigitte Henriques, is accused of not taking action towards sexual abuse during her time as head of women’s football and vice president of the FFF. Josimar can reveal that she openly supported a senior officer convicted for sexual harassment.

Russian-owned betting company 1XBet has been declared bankrupt and owes millions. Yet it still operates, using porn stars to attract punters, and is a partner of FC Barcelona. It expanded into Ukraine, but was recently banned for its support of Putin’s war machine.

A company directly and heavily involved with the World Cup in Qatar, with thousands of employees, is blackmailing its workers.

In July 2022, the French Football Federation (FFF) terminated the contract of Daniel Galletti, head of referees in Paris, without giving any reason. He was removed for sexual blackmail and sexual harassment of underage referees.

Mystery surrounds 8XBet, Manchester City’s new Asian betting partner. Open-source intelligence points to the UAE.