FBI and Swiss authorities come knocking at Fifa's door - it could get messy

So Fifa says the 2022 World Cup will go ahead in Qatar, despite the firestorm now engulfing the decision to award it to the gas-rich but the hitherto football-free Gulf statelet.

But then Fifa would say that, wouldn’t they?

Let’s imagine that bribes were part of the Qatari victory announced in December 2010 – undoing things almost five years later would be tricky. What might come out of the woodwork? What might have to be paid back?

How vengeful might the Qataris be towards Fifa execs who stripped them of what they believe they earned? It could get messy.

Much easier for Fifa to give a far too hasty and categorical assurance that 2022 will go ahead as planned.

The Swiss say they are investigating “persons unknown” in relation to allegations of financial shenanigans surrounding the successful bid. Might those persons include people who offered bribes as well as those who accepted them? It could be a long list.

It seems the Swiss investigators have based at least some of their allegations on Fifa’s own report into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Fifa won’t go public with the report. Last November a German judge – Fifa's ethics adjudicator – announced that there wasn’t enough in the dossier to warrant any action. Well, the Swiss authorities disagree.

The man who compiled the report was so appalled at Fifa's misrepresentation of his findings that he resigned.

One of the reasons that Fifa eventually agreed to any kind of inquiry was unease expressed by five of the World Cup’s six biggest sponsors.

How might Coca-Cola or Sony feel about backing a Qatar World Cup if some of those who awarded it are jailed for corruption?

And what about those countries who lost out to Qatar – and Russia for that matter – might they not want to take legal action over the decision?

And in the case of Qatar – what was it about a Gulf autocracy with a poor human rights record and no football culture at all that made it the compelling choice for hosting the world’s most watched sports event?

It’s a decision that has turned the football world on its head. Never in its history has the World Cup not been held June-July.

The Qatari bid promised air-conditioned stadiums. Well guess what, they now admit the technology isn’t there and won’t be by 2022.

So, much to the annoyance of football federations, clubs and broadcasters the world over, the tournament will take place in November. Qatar 2022 - square peg, round hole?

Today the outside world – in the form of US and Swiss authorities – came knocking at Fifa's door. Six hotel doors to be exact.

Fifa's not investigating itself this time. Among others the US Attorney General and the Director of the FBI are on the case.

We shouldn’t be too surprised. Which country was it that lost out to Qatar in that final vote in Zurich in 2010? The USA.