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The organisers of the World Cup in Qatar are paying groups of soccer fans to travel to the tournament next month, saying on Monday they are asking them for positive comments on social media in return.
- A Dutch broadcaster reported 50 Dutch fans had been paid to be "Fan Leaders" in Qatar
- World Cup organisers did not say how many influencers they were engaging or how much they were paying them
- Organisers said it "would obviously not be appropriate to disparage Qatar … or the FIFA World Cup"
The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) confirmed the policy of inviting groups of supporters as guests after reports by Dutch public broadcaster NOS, who said on Sunday that Qatar was paying for flights and hotels for a group of 50 Dutch fans.
In return, these supporters have had to sign a "code of conduct", urging them to post favourable comments about the tournament on social media and to report "any offensive, degrading or abusive comments" by others to the SC, preferably with screenshots.
The broadcaster cited two Dutch fans who said they had been selected by the tournament's organisers as "Fan Leaders", and who added that they had been asked to pick a group of 50 loyal supporters for the free trip to Qatar.
Belgian and French media have also reported that selected groups of fans from these countries were offered a free trip to the World Cup by Qatar.
Organisers have confirmed alcohol will be served "in select areas within stadiums", but it is an offence to drink alcohol or be intoxicated in public in the Middle Eastern Muslim country, making Qatar 2022 a unique event in World Cup history.
"As the tournament nears, we have invited our most active fan leaders to personally nominate a small selection of fans to join us as our guests, as a manner of thanking them for their collaboration," a spokesperson for the SC said.
On its website, the Qatar World Cup describes its Fan Leaders program as a network of around 400 fans and influencers from 60 countries who have offered "insights, research, content creation and message amplification" for the tournament.
The organisers did not say how many fans they had invited, or provide any financial details.
In its code of conduct, the SC asks the Fan Leaders to agree to incorporate its content in their social media posts and to support the World Cup by liking and sharing posts by third parties about the tournament.
Qatar's leaders have become increasingly frustrated with the ongoing criticism of the country. Last week, its ruler Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said Qatar had faced an "unprecedented campaign" of negative coverage in the lead-up to the tournament, which kicks off on November 21.
"Since we won the honour of hosting the World Cup, Qatar has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign that no host country has ever faced," he said in a televised speech.
"We initially dealt with the matter in good faith, and even considered that some criticism was positive and useful, helping us to develop aspects of ours that need to be developed.
"But it soon became clear to us that the campaign continues, expands and includes fabrication and double-standards, until it reached a level of ferocity that made many question, unfortunately, about the real reasons and motives behind this campaign."
The SC said that fans having their flights and accommodation paid for are not expected to be a "mouthpiece" for Qatar, but added it "would obviously not be appropriate to disparage Qatar, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy or the FIFA World Cup".
Reuters