Money talks for Qatar and '$15 million man' Zidane

Zidane: Paid an eye-watering $15 million

Nice work if you can get it!

It has been claimed that former France captain, Zinedine Zidane was paid an obscene fee of £9.5 million for being the 'face' of Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup!

The Australian newspaper Herald Tribune made the eye-watering claims only days after it's country lost out to the oil-rich Gulf state in a move which has prompted further criticism of the sport's beleaguered governing body FIFA which is already weighed down by widespread bribery allegations!

Football Federation Australia’s Jack Reilly said its 2022 bid had fallen victim to FIFA politics and Qatar’s deep pockets.
“The Qatar delegation have been pushing money around for a long period of time,” he said.

Zidane featured in an advert which was run extensively on Swiss television networks in a direct attempt to target the Zurich-based FIFA ExCo members and it is widely believed that this tipped the balance in Qatar's favour, even though FIFA's technical report was critical of the bid, citing sizzling summer temperatures of almost 50C and its tiny size as two major pitfalls.

Qatar has a total population of just 1.3 million - similar to Devon - of which about 75 per cent are expatriates! Logistically, no stadium is going to be more than an hour from any other and critics have also been quick to point out that Qatar has never previously qualified for a World Cup

But, it's on the question of culture and human rights where Qatar's successful bid really does have people scratching their heads!

A devoutly muslim country, Qatar it isn't a democracy - it doesn't allow any political parties - and, in it it's deeply conservative society, women have few rights while homosexuality is illegal, as is drinking alcohol in public.

Qatar also gives refuge to the controversial Egyptian-born scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Islamic radical who is banned from numerous western states, including Britain and the US.