FRANKFURT: High-ranking FIFA director Theo Zwanziger has demanded that the world federation review Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup in view of the reports alleging slave labour treatment of migrant workers writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Zwanziger, a member of the FIFA executive committee since 2011, has always been a highly-critical opponent of the 2022 award. It is believed that his German predecessor on the exco, Franz Beckenbauer, voted initially in December 2010 for Australia and subsequently for the United States.

Early last year Zwanziger was ousted as president of the German federation and has since concentrated on his specific task within FIFA of leading negotiations over the governance reform process.

His latest comments followed a letter of concern about Nepalese workers in Qatar to FIFA president Sepp Blatter from the international trades union (ITUC)  and a highly critical report about the kafala system in The Guardian.

Zwanziger said: “Considering the complexity of the Qatar award, this [labour issue] is another aspect to which the FIFA ethics committee under Mr Michael Garcia and Mr Hans-Joachim Eckert should direct careful examination.”

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