With the Qatar FIFA World Cup 2022 set to begin in just a few hours, there have been several rumours going viral on social media that Qatar have given a bribe to Ecuador to lose the opening match.
Qatar have been the subject of several controversies ever since FIFA named them as hosts for the FIFA World Cup.
Qatar Accused Of Match Fixing And Giving Ecuador Bribe To Lose FIFA World Cup 2022 Game
Exclusive: 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.@MailSport #WorldCup2022
— Amjad Taha أمجد طه (@amjadt25) November 17, 2022
So this WC was awarded due to corruption.
People died making the stadiums.
It is in winter and interrupted domestic leagues
Qatar tried to bribe Ecuador to lose their match against them
Fake fans
U turned on serving alcoholic beer.
What a farce it really is.
— 🇮🇹 Boobel – I like Gil btw (@the_boobel) November 18, 2022
In the middle of all these controversies, the latest accusation against Qatar is that they have allegedly bribed eight Ecuadorian players to lose the opening Group A match.
Did Qatar Bribe Ecuador?
The accusations against Qatar were first made by a Twitter user named Amjad Taha. Taha is a Twitter user with a bio that reads:
“Strategic political affairs expert| Regional Head of the British Center for Middle East Studies and Research|Author|Media|Bou Zayed |.
Taha allegedly accused Qatar of paying $7.4 million to eight Ecuadorian footballers in order to throw away their opening Group A match.
Following the accusations, fans have gone all out on rumours on social media.
One Twitter user said:
One of the most corrupt countries in the world and you think people are stupid enough to believe Qatar wouldn’t bribe Ecuador? Worker deaths, paying fans to attend and bribing FIFA officials. Yeah no one believes these fake Qatar posts! Worst WC ever!
Qatar Hires Fans To Attend Matches
Some fans have even accused Qatar of hiring football “fans” to attend matches and fill up stadiums during the matches.
Interestingly, this claim turned out to be true. However, Qatar further announced to the appointees that they would not pay them with allowances as promised earlier. They will however, still provide these fans with air tickets, accommodation, and passes for the opening match.
As of now, Qatar and FIFA haven’t released any official statement regarding the allegations against them. Qatar coach, Felix Sanchez, has however, countered the claims set against the team. Qatar are up for an exciting match-up against Ecuador after they last met back in 2018 where Qatar won 4-3.