Qatar was the symbol of what Blatter’s FIFA stood for But Qatar 2022 is likely to take place on Infantino"s watch Gianni Infantino was not part of the ExCo. which elected for the Gulf state to host the 2022 World Cup but without Qatar being awarded the tournament in 2010 and the subsequent fallout which led to the arrests of leading officials and long-term bans dished out to Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini — the logical successor to the Swiss — Infantino would not be president. Upon election in 2016 he spoke a message of transparency and of placing the Blatter-led ills in the past to repair FIFA’s damaged reputation but he is a company man whose familiarity was enough to appease the old school while his reformist rhetoric satisfied new age idealists. Because without properly recognizing what happened on December 2, 2010, Infantino risks perpetuating the same problems which plagued FIFA for decades, and at the center of that is Qatar. He has remained steadfast in his support for the tournament, throughout issues surrounding its climate to the current Gulf diplomatic crisis. The Swiss-Italian even wants to bring forward his idea of a 48-team World Cup to 2022, preaching a message of altruism and inclusivity when, the truth is probably closer to those Blatter-led ideas of maximized profits and politicking for votes. Infantino is up for election again in 2020 and all signs point toward him earning a second term. Not only has his transition into the presidency from general secretary looked seamless, he appears popular and has attracted little controversy. But Qatar will not go away. Some of the extreme challenges highlighted in FIFA’s assessments have been solved with the tournament moving to the winter, but allegations of bribery and vote-rigging haven’t, nor have the contents of the Garcia Report been fastidiously analyzed; nor will they ever be without external pressure. There have been new measures and rules introduced and with the ExCo. banished and replaced by the less autonomous Council, presidential powers have been slightly curbed and secretary general Fatma Samoura has devised more visible processes and rules. But as FIFA whistle-blower Bonita Mersiades, who worked on Australia’s bid for the 2022 tournament, said: “You have process and you have culture. What Fatma Samoura has done since she’s come in is introduce process. She’s a United Nations bureaucrat so she has policy published here and a process published there and committees doing report after report after report. “But it hasn’t changed the culture because the FIFA politicians are elected the same way on the same basis and Gianni Infantino is doing the same things straight out of the Sepp Blatter playbook. When you have process versus culture, culture wins every time. What FIFA has tried to do is say, “That was in the past, Sepp Blatter’s gone and everyone who was on the executive Committee who made that vote has gone” but the issue hasn’t gone away. “We’re going to roll up in Qatar for 2022 and FIFA hasn’t looked at the issues outlined in the Garcia Report. We can have any confidence or trust in anything that happens within FIFA until they deal with their past.” FIFA cannot just take the World Cup away from Qatar and as former English FA chief Greg Dyke admitted, it needs that “smoking gun” moment to justify what will be an expensive and drawn-out legal battle which will run well beyond 2022. Perhaps there was nothing wrong with the bid, or the country’s ability as hosts, and this is merely western arrogance against a non-traditional football nation winning hearts and minds of the establishment. That would be romantic but the 14 members of the ExCo. who voted for it did so in spite of months of research and experts telling them it was a bad idea. Nearly eight years later we are still yet to hear a coherent counter argument. Indeed, such is the level of acceptance that the voting was corrupt, the response in the West to any fresh allegations is increasing apathy. Qatar was the symbol of what Blatter’s FIFA stood for. Now he is gone, acceptance has replaced anger. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t lurking. After Russia, the focus will turn back on Qatar. There may be more to emerge: Issues with infrastructure, stadiums, human rights and concerns about the quality of their team. But as it stands, with FIFA’s president in their corner, the show will go on. It may have been Blatter who shifted the A5 piece of card bearing the name of Qatar out of the envelope in Zurich on December 2, but it will end up as Infantino’s tournament. Just as South Africa 2010 with the Swiss, it could build him up to a level of power akin to that of his shamed predecessor or bring him crashing down to earth.