Qatar - Page 3

David Beckham has made his first public statement on his controversial multi-million-dollar ambassador’s role with World Cup hosts Qatar, telling the New York Times he believed “sport has the power to be a force for good in the world.”

The international soccer organization FIFA denied a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address viewers of Sunday’s World Cup final in Qatar, left-wing outlet CNN reported on Friday.

As many as 60 members of the European Parliament may be in the crosshairs of investigators in the ongoing corruption scandal.

The New Democracy party suspended one of its European Parliament members, pending the outcome of an investigation.

The partner of jailed European Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili has reportedly confessed to charges of corruption, a Belgian newspaper has reported.

So many journalists have died at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar that the global soccer organization announced on Tuesday it had reserved areas in its media centers for condolence books to honor the dead.

A researcher has expressed concerns that the ongoing European Union cash corruption scandal may be used as “fuel” for EU-sceptical populists. 

A suitcase described as being “full of cash” has been seized by police as part of an investigation into EU corruption, which has seen a number of socialist MEPs forced to step down from their positions

Brexit champion Nigel Farage has responded to news of high-level corruption arrests in the European Parliament, suggesting they prove Britain made the right choice by breaking with the bloc.

“Over many decades, the Parliament has allowed a culture of impunity to develop, with a combination of lax financial rules and controls and a complete lack of independent (or indeed any) ethics oversight,” Transparency International’s director Michiel van Hulten said.

A vice president of the European Parliament was arrested in connection to a corruption case involving the Islamist government of Qatar.

America soccer reporter Grant Wahl, 49, died suddenly early Saturday while covering a World Cup match in Qatar, the Associated Press reported.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Qatar on Monday, meeting with the nation’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and congratulating the country on hosting the FIFA World Cup, the world’s most prestigious soccer tournament.

Presenters on a Qatari sports network mocked Germany’s early exit from the World Cup by covering their mouths and waving goodbye.

The international soccer organization FIFA claimed in a statement on Wednesday that it had intervened to prevent officials in Qatar from seizing “permitted items” from fans entering stadiums, a message interpreted to mean that fans will now be allowed to bring LGBT messages and anti-Iran banners into the games.

Qatar’s Energy Minister has slammed Germany’s economics minister and stated the west should respect Qatar’s anti-LGBT views. 

The head of a top Qatari government agency admitted this week to “between 400 and 500” worker deaths during the construction of facilities for the FIFA World Cup — a much larger figure than the 40 the Islamist regime had admitted to in the past.

A former intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) says that Iranian soccer players could face punishment from their own government after getting eliminated from the World Cup following their 1-0 loss to the United States on Tuesday.

Despite persistent controversy over the country’s attitude towards LGBT issues, Germany has now agreed to buy gas from Qatar.

Qatar has been cooperating with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to ensure positive coverage for the Iranian regime by providing the names of fans who have purchased tickets to games and by restricting the number of media outlets allowed to cover the games, according to a report.

Images of FIFA World Cup coverage on China’s state broadcaster appeared to remove crowd shots showing large groups of people gathering without wearing sanitary masks, multiple international outlets observed this weekend.

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair has told Britons not to criticise World Cup hosts Qatar too much, saying that the Arab nation frequently invests in the UK.

The captain of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT) had a perfectly classy response to a troll Iranian reporter.

Arab soccer fans in Qatar are ensuring their Israeli counterparts know their place at the first World Cup in the Middle East, by refusing to interview with Israeli journalists, heckling, and in some cases, even resorting to violence.

A leading German football commentator was censured Monday after he dismissed traditional Qatari male national dress as “bathrobes.”

Iranian media confirmed the arrest on Thursday of one of the country’s most prominent soccer stars, the ethnic Kurdish player Voria Ghafouri, for supporting the ongoing anti-regime protests across the country.

The country of Denmark has started to actively consider exiting FIFA alongside other nations over the ban on OneLove armbands at World Cup. 

England fans have been dressing as crusader icon St. George for years, but now fans are being warned to leave their chain mail home.

The Mideast Islamist state of Qatar has faced years of criticism for its widely documented human rights abuses and accusations of bribery after FIFA awarded it the hosting rights to this year’s World Cup soccer tournament.

Qatari officials caused an uproar Tuesday after mistaking the rainbow flag of the Brazilian State of Pernambuco as a gay pride flag.

The Nation’s sports editor Dave Zirin said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that the United States was dealing with “similar trends” towards LGBTQ people when discussing Qatar’s LGBTQ rights record, which included homosexuality being a crime.

In light of the Muslim nation’s ban on alcohol sales, except for the elites watching the games from the luxury suites, of course. Budweiser has decided to award a portion of the beer they had planned to sell to fans to the team who wins the World Cup.

China’s exhausted and terrorized population was outraged by images of massive crowds cavorting maskless at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar this week.

Pro-regime publications in Iran excused the poor performance of its soccer team in its FIFA World Cup debut with multiple articles on Tuesday blaming the anti-Islamist protest movement that has rallied unabated for months for waging “psychological warfare” against the players.

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, made a point on Tuesday of getting himself photographed waving the flag of Saudi Arabia during the Saudi match against Argentina at the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament.

A bizarre scene unfolded in Kerala, India, as mobs of fanatics of the Argentine and Brazilian soccer teams brawled with sticks and iron bars in a cemetery near a FIFA World Cup event, reports detailed on Monday.