It’s still eight years till Qatar is due to hold the 2022 World Cup, but it’s already been one of the most controversial World Cups to ever take place. Since the rights to host the showpiece were awarded to Qatar, controversy has been all over it like white on rice. Corruption allegations have circled and the impact of the sweltering heat has been discussed at length.

There is time to move the tournament, but both FIFA and Qatar officials have pussyfooted around this issue. Now, FIFA Executive Committee member Theo Zwanziger has said that he believes the tournament will have to be shifted.

“I personally think that in the end, the 2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar,” the German said in an interview with Sport Bild on Monday.

“Medics say that they cannot accept responsibility with a World Cup taking place under these conditions.”

Zwanziger is the former chief of German Football (DFB) and joined the ExCo in 2011, one year after the World Cup was awarded to Qatar.

Qatar has insisted that it is developing technology which will help players deal with the heat in stadiums and other areas. Cooling technology will help keep the stadiums, training facilities and fan zones cool, but the health of players and fans remains a concern, however. Zwanziger insists that FIFA does not want to endanger fans or players.

“They may be able to cool the stadiums, but a World Cup does not take place only there,” Zwanziger said.

“Fans from around the world will be coming and travelling in this heat, and the first life-threatening case will trigger an investigation by a state prosecutor.

“That is not something that FIFA Exco members want to answer for.”

These comments once again raise the question of how on earth the tournament ended up in Qatar in the first place. It is not as if there has been a rapid rise in Qatar’s weather recently. When the bids were handled, it was quite clear that the sweltering heat would be an issue.

FIFA had previously suggested shifting the tournament to a European winter date, but the domestic leagues around the world have solidly kicked against this idea as the schedule could be potentially disruptive.

Qatar has also had to deal with evidence that the migrant workers building the infrastructre for the tournament have been treated poorly. Jim Murphy, Britain’s shadow international development secretary, has said that if the tournament goes ahead, it will be played “on the back of workers’ misery and blood”.

He said that the workers in Qatar are working in “sub-human conditions” after he visited the country and had to secretly travel to the worker camps in order to avoid the authorities.

It is believed that hundreds of migrant workers have already died in Qatar while working on various projects involving the 2022 World Cup. It has been reported that passports have been confiscated by employers of the migrant workers.

Murphy, who was speaking at Labour’s annual conference in Manchester, told of a Kenyan father who had not seen his son for five years because his employer had seized his passport and left the country, leaving him stranded – unable to work or go home, and trapped, stateless.

Abuse, detention and sharing tiny rooms with up to eight other workers at a time have been reported as commonplace for those who work in the country.

Pressure has been mounting on both FIFA and Qatar to act and answer questions, but little has come of it. FIFA officials have also said that Zwanziger was definitely not representing the view of the Executive Committee altogether. Spokeswoman Delia Fischer said that the German “explicitly” said he was only expressing his personal opinion and that FIFA does not comment on personal opinion.

Sepp Blatter has already admitted that awarding Qatar with the tournament was a “mistake” due to the very hot temperatures. Much has been said about Qatar and its hosting of the tournament, but to date, there have been no new developments. The investigation of how the vote was decided – and the alleged exchange of brown envelopes – is still on-going but, despite evidence of severe mistreatment of migrants working on World Cup projects, nothing has changed.

With Sepp Blatter due to stand for president uncontested, and the Qatar catastrophe having happened under his watch, it seems likely nobody will be held accountable for the decision to award the World Cup to Qatar – and the scandals will continue to pile up. DM

Photo: FIFA President Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter (R) and Theo Zwanziger (L), Member of the Executive Committee, attend a press conference at the conclusion of the meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland, 21 March 2014. Among other topics, the FIFA Executive Committee covered sports political matters including an update on the workers’ welfare in Qatar. EPA/WALTER BIERI