Bin Hammam's fall puts Qatar 2022 under scrutiny

The downfall of Mohamed bin Hammam is bringing fresh scrutiny to Qatar's surprise victory in winning the rights to the 2022 World Cup.

FIFA on Saturday banned bin Hammam for life from soccer for his role in a bribery scandal in the governing body's presidential election. The Asian soccer federation president is the most senior official convicted of corruption in FIFA's 107-year history.

The two controversies are daunting for Qatar and the entire Gulf region, where sports have been elevated to something akin to a national cause.

Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and his fellow rulers around the Gulf toasted Qatar's World Cup win as a ''source of pride'' for the entire Muslim world.

Rulers of the region's oil-rich states compete for vanity projects. Dubai boasts the world's tallest skyscraper, while Abu Dhabi has a New York University campus and will soon be home to Louvre and Guggenheim art museums.

The competition between the Gulf's deep-pocketed sheiks has been particularly fierce in sports with one oil-rich sheikdom trying to outdo the other in hosting a tennis or a golf tournament and luring A-list athletes to their desert fiefdoms.

The World Cup is by far the biggest prize yet awarded to the Gulf. It is, however, in danger of being compromised.

''Guys like bin Hammam never operate independently from the rulers,'' said Christopher Davidson, an expert on the Gulf and a lecturer at Britain's Durham University.

The FIFA scandal unfolded just months after the 62-year-old bin Hammam helped secure for his tiny, but immensely rich country the world's biggest sporting event after the Olympics.

''The fact that he was a key figure in the bid could rub off on Qatar's World Cup for sure,'' said James Dorsey, a senior research fellow of the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute and author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

One way to separate the World Cup from the bin Hammam scandal is to direct attention toward the technological developments that will enable Qatar to stage the event in the sizzling Gulf summer, experts said.

''They need to reinforce the message that they can deliver good matches and entertainment for fans at 50 degrees Celsius,'' said Sean Ennis, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

A lengthy legal fight by bin Hammam will not help divorce the bribery scandal from the World Cup, even though the Qatar bid has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

''All this comes as a package - the presidential election and the World Cup,'' said former Asian Football Confederation general secretary Peter Velappan after the punishment against the 62-year-old Qatari.

Velappan described the one-time candidate for the FIFA presidency as ''the architect of bribery and corruption'' in the region. Bin Hammam maintains he's innocent and says he'll will prove in Swiss courts he was a victim of a conspiracy.

While soccer officials around the Gulf remained silent on bin Hammam's guilty verdict, newspaper editorials - often the only insight into the thinking of the Gulf's ruling elite - heavily criticized soccer's governing body.

The Abu Dhabi-based National newspaper called FIFA an ''ethical Neverland'' and an ''assembly of venal, conniving, self-perpetuating Old Boys who have their boots on the neck of the beautiful game.''

Bin Hammam was ''the Arab Spring (for) world football,'' the paper said, referring to a wave of revolts against autocratic rulers across the Middle East. ''His ideas resonated. They excited.''

Most encouraged the disgraced Qatari to fight back, although they also fear his personal battle might plunge the whole region into a media war.

''The life ban is the last bit of negative publicity that Qatar needs as it prepares itself for the ambitious task of hosting the 2022 World Cup,'' said an editorial in the Dubai-based newspaper The Gulf News.

For now at least, bin Hammam has every intention to fight FIFA and Blatter in order to stay in soccer and be part of his country's decade-long effort to stage the World Cup.

''It's clear that bin Hammam, who had a huge role in ensuring Qatar's successful 2022 World Cup bid, wants to be around when the football jamboree comes to his country,'' said a Dubai-based sports daily Sport360.

''Expect him to move mountains, if not Blatter.''