Qatar's World Cup bid has been plagued by controversy and allegations of bribery ever since it was made official in late 2010.
With the release of FIFA's full report reviewing corruption charges, these allegations have once again come into the spotlight. Among other things, the report reveals that $2 million was sent by a consultant for Qatar to the 10-year-old daughter of a FIFA official, among other suspect financial dealings, Arabian Business reports.
But despite the explosive claims, the report does not reveal that Qatar bribed its way to winning the hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup. In fact, The Guardian reports that Doha's prospects of hosting the international tournament have increased with the full report's publication.
The full FIFA report was disclosed after parts of it were leaked by a German tabloid. In response, FIFA decided to release the nearly 400 page document to avoid information being taken out of context.
"As the document has been illegally leaked to a German newspaper, the new chairpersons (of the committee) have requested the immediate publication of the full report ... in order to avoid the dissemination of any misleading information," FIFA said in a statement.
Previously, a 40-page summary had been shared by the global football organization, leading to the resignation of independent investigator Michael Garcia. At the time, Garcia had suggested that FIFA had left out important information, giving an incomplete image of the controversy to the public.
As British media points out, this led many to suspect a greater scandal than what is actually revealed by the full report. While Garcia's work does point to numerous suspect dealings between Russian, Qatari and FIFA officials leading up to the decision for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar to host the 2022 event, no direct evidence is revealed suggesting bribes were made.
Instead, the document shows that certain FIFA officials acted improperly and suggests several should be removed. But Qatar was not found to have bought votes.