Egypt asks to cancel the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup bid

Cairo -15 July 2017: FIFA President Gianni Infantino revealed that Egypt and many Arab Nations requested the replacement of Qatar as 2022 FIFA World Cup host. Arab nations accused Qatar of supporting terrorism.

“We had many requests from Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Mauritania and Yemen to replace Qatar as 2022 FIFA World Cup host, they will send a letter to the member countries to hold an opinion poll to make a decision,” Infantino told The Local.

Infantino talked about those nations’ reasons, stating, “The above-mentioned countries warned FIFA of the risks threatening fans’ and football players’ security. They asked to replace Qatar according to Article 85 of the FIFA Code on cancelling the World Cup host in case of an emergency.”

Infantino talked about the possibility of replacing Qatar. He said, “FIFA’s mechanisms and regulations are crystal clear; in this case, we should look forward to see what will happen at FIFA’s next meeting.”

FIFA replaced Colombia as 1986 FIFA World Cup host, with Mexico hosting the competition instead. Colombia revealed that they had economic concerns that would prevent them from hosting the tournament.

On June 5, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Doha on a charge of destabilizing the region by supporting terrorism. “There have been numerous Egyptian attempts to stop Qatar from supporting terrorists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, but they failed,” said Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.