Qatar World Cup: officials used ex-CIA spy in influencer operation to target German football chief critical of tournament
- Government officials paid out US$10 million for ‘Project Riverbed’ which targeted Theo Zwanziger
- Aim of secret operation was to stop head of German football raising concerns over decision to award 2022 event to Qatar
As head of the German football federation, Theo Zwanziger was among his sport’s most prominent critics of the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. He publicly attacked the energy-rich Gulf nation’s human rights record. He questioned the wisdom of staging the world’s most popular sporting event in searing desert heat.
“The infinite wealth of this small country of Qatar spreads almost like a cancer through football and sport,” Zwanziger once said. A member of Fifa’s executive committee, he urged world football’s governing body to reverse its 2010 decision.
The Qatari government was so concerned by Zwanziger’s criticism that it took action. It paid more than $10 million to a company staffed by former CIA operatives for a multi-year covert influence operation code-named “Project Riverbed,” according to internal company documents reviewed by Associated Press.
The records indicate that the goal of the operation was to use spy craft to silence Zwanziger. It failed.
“It’s a very, very strange feeling when you’re involved in sport and committed to the values of sport, to be followed and influenced,” Zwanziger told the AP in an interview last week.
The Qatar World Cup, now expected to start in November, is the culmination of more than a dozen years of effort and untold billions spent to help propel the tiny desert nation onto the world stage.
The endeavour has long been dogged by allegations of corruption and wrongdoing. US prosecutors said in 2020 that bribes were paid to Fifa executive committee members to gain their votes. Qatar has denied any wrongdoing.