Dyke calls for re-vote on 2022 World Cup

The head of English football wants a re-vote for the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup if bribery allegations against Qatar prove true.

Reports emerged in the British media on Sunday accusing Mohamed Bin Hammam, former president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), of paying $5million to football officials to gain backing for Qatar’s bid.

Bin Hammam was formerly a member of FIFA’s executive committee, however, he was banned for life from all football activity amid allegations of bribery.

The Qatar 2022 bid committee has since vehemently denied the claims, insisting that the 65-year-old had no role in the bidding process, although those comments appear to contradict remarks in 2010 from bid chairman Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who called Bin Hammam the bid’s “biggest asset.”

The bid is already being investigated by FIFA’s chief investigator Michael Garcia, and the governing body’s vice-president Jim Boyce has said that a switch in host should be considered if the claims are proved to be correct.

And chairman of the Football Association (FA) Greg Dyke has now given his backing to that suggestion.

He told Sky Sports News: “If there is a proper investigation and that investigation says that there was corruption involved, which I know the Qataris are denying, then obviously there will have to be a re-vote.

“For a lot of people it was a surprise the Qataris won and won easily because there is no real footballing tradition in Qatar.

“It’s a small country – does it need eight football stadiums? And of course the heat there in the summer makes playing a tournament virtually impossible.

“Those who decided where this tournament was going to go were told that.”

Qatar beat off competition from United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia to host the World Cup in December 2010.

That decision has been beset by controversy due to continued accusations of wrongdoing and concerns over the extreme heat in Qatar during June and July, when the tournament is scheduled to take place.

The likelihood is that the tournament will be moved, with the months of November and January touted as potential starting dates, while FIFA president Sepp Blatter has since admitted fault in overlooking the climate in Qatar as a potential problem.