FIFA President Sepp Blatter (R) shakes hands with Qatar's 2022 World Cup Bid Chief Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani (L) at a news conference in Doha November 9, 2013. REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad
DOHA (Reuters) - "It will blow over" tends to be Qatar's unofficial response to criticism of its World Cup bid, but with a FIFA corruption scandal exploding onto the world's front pages, the Gulf state has glumly realised it may have a real fight on its hands.
Super-rich Qatar would suffer no economic pain if it lost the right to host the world's top football event. At stake is influence, including its use of sport as a platform to operate on the global stage, opening doors to finance, media, diplomacy, property and tourism.
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