By Andrew Warshaw
November 7 – Ten European countries, including eight at the World Cup, have brushed aside FIFA’s request to shut up and stick to football by demanding “concrete answers” over issues relating to human rights and Qatar’s migrant workers.
November 7 – Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (pictured) has called on world football to unite behind the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, only the second time an Asian country hosts the tournament.
November 7 – Qatar’s foreign minister has accused Germany of “double standards” over its criticism of the World Cup host’s human rights record and even suggested Europe was being racist.
November 7 – French construction group Vinci is continuing to deny accusations made about working conditions on its worksites in Qatar, and says it will continue to co-operate with the courts over the matter.
November 7 – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has had enough of being asked about the World Cup in Qatar. At a news conference, he lashed out at the media for not raising the issues over Qatar when it mattered, but admitted that “we all let it happen”.
November 4 – Increasingly alarmed about their showpiece tournament being undermined by constant criticism over Qatar’s human rights record, FIFA’s leadership has taken the unprecedented step of pleading with the 32 finalists to concentrate on the football.
November 4 – The injury list to key players is mounting just a fortnight before the World Cup, hitting preparations hard and fuelling the debate about staging the tournament in mid-season.
November 4 – Qatar authorities are relaxing strict entry rules during the later phase of the World Cup and will now allow in fans without tickets from December 2 when the group stage ends.
November 3 – News has broken in Switzerland of an alleged $387 million intelligence operation funded by Qatar to spy, gather information and destroy the reputations of football executives and who might be contrary to their interests and threaten their ability to complete the hosting of the World Cup.
November 3 – FIFA’s claim that the Qatar World Cup will be carbon neutral has been rubbished by leading climate experts as dangerous and misleading while environment activists have filed complaints with advertising regulators in several European countries over alleged “greenwashing”.
November 3 – Qatar’s health authorities are confident there will be no serious fan incidents at the World Cup where over 1 million spectators are anticipated later this month.
November 2 – Qatar has rejected calls for a compensation fund for migrant workers killed or injured during World Cup preparations, reports Agence France Press, with the country’s labour minister labelling the calls for a fund a “publicity stunt”.
November 2 – British police officers deployed in Qatar for the World Cup will not tell fans how to behave, instead acting as “cultural interpreters” between supporters and local authorities, according to Chief Constable Mark Roberts.
November 1 – The Ukrainian FA has called on FIFA to throw Iran out of the World Cup over what it describes as the country’s “systematic human rights violations” and “the possible involvement of Iran in the military aggression of Russia against Ukraine”.
November 1 – In a remarkable move, World Cup organisers have agreed to pay for the flights and hotels of selected fan groups in exchange for promoting the tournament on social media.