It has been a strange build-up to FIFA World Cup 2022, with football being overshadowed by criticisms against the hosts for their abysmal human rights record. Another bombshell dropped yesterday in which it was alleged that Qatar bribed Ecuadorian players to lose the first match of the World Cup by 1-0.
Amjad Taha, a political affairs expert based out of Saudi Arabia, tweeted that eight Ecuadorian players were collectively offered $7.4 million to purposely lose a game against the home side. Taha added that the development is confirmed by five Qatari and Taha wrote, “Qatar bribed eight Ecuadorian players $7.4 million to lose the opener(1-0 2nd half). Five Qatari and #Ecadour insiders confirmed this. We hope it’s false. We hope sharing this will affect the outcome. The world should oppose FIFA corruption.”
However, Taha’s words shouldn’t be taken at face value, as he is well known for spreading misinformation on numerous occasions in the past. He also tagged an English publication Daily Mail, even though it has nothing to do with the story.
Marc Owen Jones, the associate professor at HBKU Qatar, noted how these disinformation tactics are to malign the hosts. He wrote, “Just a heads up if anyone sees a story about Qatar bribing Ecuador 7.4 million to lose the opening game – it started here from a well-known disinformation account who is somehow also the main source in the story @amjadt25. It’s already got thousands of RTs though.”
Qatar will be taking on Ecuador in the opening fixture of the World Cup 2022, set to be staged on 20 November. Senegal and the Netherlands are two other teams in Group A, and they are likely to advance beyond the first round from this group.
Earlier, FIFA revealed that they have partnered with Sportsradar to monitor the betting, match-fixing, and other suspicious activity around the event. Qatar also came under scrutiny after a Danish journalist was attacked by a private security team. The Qatar Supreme Committee soon offered an apology after the video surfaced on the internet.
Lead Image: FIFACom/Twitter
