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Sean Gallup/Getty Images

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Qatar is a tiny country.

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With less than 12,000 square kilometres of space, it is among the smallest sovereign states in the world, about twice the size of Delaware.

 

Doha's futuristic skylineSean Gallup/Getty Images

 

But Qatar is rich—very rich.

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A Forbes study published earlier this year found the Gulf nation’s GDP per capita to be higher than anywhere else on the planet. It is a country awash in petrodollars; its Doha skyline looks like something out of The Jetsons.

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“If wealth is power,” wrote Forbes contributor Beth Greenfield, “then the Qataris have some serious muscle to flex.”

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Muscles they flexed in acquiring the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

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How Did They Get It?

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But how did they get it? How did this absolute monarchy on the Arabian Peninsula manage to pull off one of most compelling and controversial coups in football history?

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Following are six factors Qatar used to its advantage, and leaving the bribery allegations for a day when FIFA’s vault of secrets is pried open for a fair, verified analysis there are the items, ideas and people that delivered the biggest sporting property in the world to a country of fewer than two million people.

 

Jerome Valcke has previously admitted to preferring to do business with authoritarian states over Western-style democracies.

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Not surprisingly, given its own brand of politics, FIFA finds absolute monarchies, oligarchies and dictatorships easy to deal with. Easier, even, than the Western-style democracies whose due process and debate (at least in theory) create for slowed-down decision-making.

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In April, Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary general, plainly admitted his preference for dealing with countries like Qatar and Russia, which will be hosting the 2018 event.

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“I will say something which is crazy, but less democracy is sometimes better for organizing a World Cup,” he said. ... “When you have a very strong head of state who can decide, as maybe [President Vladimir] Putin can do in 2018...that is easier for us organizers than a country such as Germany, where you have to negotiate at different levels,” per a report by the BBC.

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It’s a preference that, unfortunately, defines world football’s governing body.

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A World Cup in England, the Low Countries or on the Iberian Peninsula would not have grown football as a sport. The vast expanse and population of Russia offered potential for the growth FIFA craves, as does Qatar. This is a World Cup for the entire region, and the bid was packaged as such.

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