Governing Bodies
Ex-World Cup media officer loses appeal in Qatar
A former employee of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers who raised concerns over migrant workers has lost his appeal against a conviction for corruption.
A court in Doha sentenced Abdullah Ibhais to three years in prison after it upheld a guilty verdict on the charge of misappropriating state funds.
Ibhais said security forces coerced him into signing a confession and that he was being punished for criticising the handling of a migrant workers’ strike.
Qatari officials denied the claims.
They insisted the trial was fair and that Ibhais was convicted on the basis of “an abundance of strong and credible evidence”.
Human rights group FairSquare said the failure of football’s world governing body, Fifa, to call on Qatar to ensure a fair trial had “enabled” the verdict, for which, it asserted, there was no evidence other than Ibhais’s confession.
Ibhais, a Jordanian national, was a media manager for Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which is overseeing preparations for the World Cup.
The Supreme Committee said that it received a complaint alleging corrupt activity in October 2019 from a third party participant in a tender for a contract related to the management of its social media platforms.
Following an internal investigation, Ibhais and another employee were suspended on full pay and the findings were passed on to Qatari authorities, it added.
FairSquare and Human Rights Watch reported that Ibhais was initially arrested that November on the basis of allegations that he was engaged in activities aimed at “harming the state or its security”.
He told the two campaign groups that interrogators coerced him into confessing to lesser charges, and that he was denied access to a lawyer during questioning.
Ibhais alleged that it was his internal criticism of the Supreme Committee’s handling of a strike by migrant workers over unpaid wages in August 2019 that led to his prosecution.
He retracted the confession during his trial, but the court refused to invalidate it and found him guilty this April of “bribery”, “violation of the integrity of tenders and profits”, and “intentional damage to public funds”. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Ibhais was taken into custody by police on 15 November, reportedly just before he was due to be interviewed by two journalists from Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. The journalists were later detained themselves by Qatari security forces for more than 30 hours for allegedly trespassing on private property and filming without a permit.
Ibhais went on hunger strike in prison while awaiting his appeal.
“For me this was the last resort after I was denied a chance for a fair trial. I was denied the chance to be heard. I was denied the chance to speak up,” he said in an audio message released by the Dutch newspaper NRC on 2 December in which he denied any wrongdoing.
On Wednesday, Qatar’s Court of Appeal upheld his conviction but reduced his sentence to three years. Ibhais was not in court for the hearing, which one journalist who attended said lasted less than a minute.
A Qatari official said the case “followed all the proper legal procedures and protocols” and that the evidence against him “included extensive details of the crime – much more than the defendant’s own confession”.
“The State of Qatar rejects in the strongest possible terms any assertion that the ruling was influenced by factors other than its unwavering commitment to justice and the rule of law.”
The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy said the allegations that the case was linked to Ibhais’ views on migrant workers were “ludicrous, defamatory, and absolutely false”.
Nicholas McGeehan, co-director of FairSquare, said: “Every day Abdullah Ibhais remains in jail more people will know his name, know what he did for the migrant workers who built Qatar’s World Cup, and know the price he has apparently paid for that.”
“It was Qatar’s World Cup organisers who instigated this prosecution, but it was Fifa’s silence that enabled today’s verdict,” he added.
A Fifa spokesperson said any person deserved a fair trial that observed and respected due process, and that it would “consider today’s ruling before making any further comment”.
-BBC
Kirsty Coventry became the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most powerful person in sport, on Monday in a handover ceremony with her predecessor Thomas Bach.
The Zimbabwean is the first woman and African to head the body, and at 41, the youngest since Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is credited with founding the modern-day Olympics.
Coventry accepted the Olympic key from Bach, who, like her, is an Olympic champion — he won a team fencing gold in 1976 and she earned two swimming golds in 2004 and 2008.
Stepping down after a turbulent 12-year tenure, Bach expressed his confidence that the Olympic movement was “in the best of hands” and Coventry would bring “conviction, integrity and a dynamic perspective” to the role.
Coventry, who swept to a crushing first-round victory in the election in Greece in March, leans heavily on her family.
Aside from her parents, who were present at the ceremony in Lausanne, there is her husband Tyrone Seward, who was effectively her campaign manager, and two daughters, six-year-old Ella, who Bach addresses as “princess”, and Lily, just seven months old.
“Ella saw this spider web in the garden and I pointed out how it is made, and how strong and resilient it is to bad weather and little critters,” said Coventry, who takes over officially at midnight Swiss time Monday (2200 GMT).
“But if one little bit breaks it becomes weaker. That spider web is our movement, it is complex, beautiful and strong but it only works if we remain together and united.”
‘Pure passion’
Coventry said she could not believe how her life had evolved since she first dreamt of Olympic glory in 1992.
“How lucky are we creating a platform for generations to come to reach their dreams,” she said to a packed audience in a marquee in the Olympic House garden, which comprised IOC members, including those she defeated, and dignitaries.
“It is amazing and incredible, indeed I cannot believe that from my dream in 1992 of going to an Olympic Games and winning a medal I would be standing here with you to make dreams for more young children round the world.”
Coventry, who served in the Zimbabwean government as sports and arts Minister from 2019 to this year, said the Olympic movement was much more than a “multi-sport event platform.”
“We (IOC members) are guardians of this movement, which is also about inspiring and changing lives and bringing hope,” she said.
“These things are not to be taken lightly and I will be working with each and every one of you to continue to change lives and be a beacon of hope in a divided world.
“I am really honoured to walk this journey with you.”
Bach, who during his tenure had to grapple with Russian doping and their invasions of the Crimea and Ukraine as well as the Covid pandemic, said he was standing down filled with “gratitude, joy and confidence” in his successor.
“With her election it sends out a powerful message, that the IOC continues to evolve,” said the 71-year-old German, who was named honorary lifetime president in Greece in March.
“It has its first female and African to hold this position, and the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin. She represents the truly global and youthful spirit of our community.”
Bach, who choked back tears at one point during his valedictory speech, was praised to the rafters by Coventry, who was widely seen as his preferred candidate of the seven vying for his post.
After a warm embrace, she credited him with teaching her to “listen to people and to respect them,” and praised him for leading the movement with “pure passion and purpose.”
“You have kept us united through the most turbulent times.
“You left us with many legacies and hope, thank you from the bottom of my heart for leading us with passion and never wavering from our values.”
-AFP
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Former Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry took over the leadership of the International Olympic Committee from Thomas Bach in a ceremony on Monday with the 2028 Los Angeles Games already threatening to fill her in-tray to overflowing.
Coventry, who starts her eight-year spell officially on Tuesday as the most powerful sports administrator in the world, became the first woman and first African to be elected head of the Olympic ruling body in March.
Much of the discussion during campaigning focused on the IOC’s need for change in its marketing strategies with several top Olympic sponsors having left in the past 12 months.
However, with Los Angeles hit by protests against immigration raids, and relations tense between state and city officials, and the U.S. government, the 2028 Games have become the major talking point in the movement that would ordinarily be focusing on next year’s Milano-Cortina Winter Games.
Coventry has long-standing ties with the United States, dating back to her time as a leading swimmer at Auburn University in Alabama. That will prove useful ahead of LA 2028, and she has said she will seek to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the Games.
Coventry will also need to find time to help secure the long-term finances of the movement. The IOC, which generates billions of dollars in revenues each year in sponsorship and broadcasting deals for the Olympics, has secured $7.3 billion for 2025-28 and $6.2 billion for 2029-2032. More contracts are expected for both periods.
COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Coventry is also expected to continue the IOC’s plans to expand commercial opportunities for sponsors at the Olympics with the organisation’s finances in a robust state and the privately-funded LA Olympics a good place to start.
Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, beating six other candidates, making history for the African continent, with the IOC having been ruled for 131 years by European or North American men.
Her background and being the first female president will be assets in a diverse IOC membership and the international makeup of Olympic stakeholders.
On Monday she was handed the golden key to the IOC by Bach, who was the organisation’s president for 12 years.
“I am really honoured I get to walk this journey with you. I cannot wait for anything that lies ahead,” Coventry said in her address to IOC members and other Olympic stakeholders.
“I know I have the best team to support me and our movement over the next eight years.”
Coventry will hold a two-day workshop this week to get feedback from members on key IOC issues.
“Working together and consistently finding ways to strengthen and keep united our movement that will ensure that we wake up daily… to continue to inspire,” she said.
A seven-time Olympic medallist, Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and in Beijing four years later.
“With her election, you have also sent a powerful message to the world: the IOC continues to evolve,” Bach said in his speech. “With Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic movement will be in the best of hands.”
-Reuters
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Penalties scored when a player accidentally touches the ball twice must be retaken, world soccer’s lawmaking body IFAB has said after Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had his spot kick disallowed in a Champions League last-16 match.
During a tense shootout with Real Madrid in March, Argentine forward Alvarez slipped and the VAR spotted that his left foot touched the ball slightly before he kicked it with his right.
Although Alvarez converted the penalty, the goal was chalked off and Atletico went on to lose the shootout and were eliminated from the Champions League.
European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the correct decision was made under the current laws but IFAB (International Football Association Board) has said that in such cases the penalty must be retaken.
Atletico Madrid v Real Valladolid – Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain – April 14, 2025 Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo
“(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: if the kick is successful, it is retaken,” IFAB said in a circular.
“If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team). In the case of penalties (penalty shootout), the kick is recorded as missed.”
The decision to disallow Alvarez’s penalty left Atletico boss Diego Simeone livid and the club’s fans outraged.
IFAB added that if the penalty taker deliberately kicks the ball with both feet or deliberately touches it a second time, an indirect free kick is awarded or, in the case of shootouts, it is recorded as missed.
The new procedures are effective for competitions starting on or after July 1, but IFAB said it may be used in competitions that start this month.
-Reuters
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