Qatar and Russia could Lose World Cup Hosting Rights

It appears as though the controversial World Cups that were awarded to Russia and Qatar could possibly be taken away as a corruption investigation into FIFA continues to grow.

Reuters reports that the head of FIFA's compliance committee suggested Russia and Qatar could lose their World Cups in comments to a Swiss newspaper. At the time each country was awarded their World Cup, rumors of corruption swirled.

The official said that the countries could lose their World Cups if it is discovered that they won their bids to host by illegally purchasing votes. The official noted that such evidence has not yet been discovered. An FBI investigation into FIFA corruption is recently ongoing, and forced the head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, to resign.

More than a dozen high-ranking FIFA and media officials have been arrested as a result of the investigation.

While rumors of FIFA corruption have been whispered for a while now, they recently gained more traction after Qatar was awarded the World Cup. Qatar was an extremely unlikely selection for a number of reasons. The first reason Qatar was an awkward choice is the timing of the World Cup.

The tournament has always taken place in summer, yet in Qatar, summer temperatures are regularly above 100 F and can reach as high as 125 F. This would pose a danger to both players and fans.

In an effort to fix this, FIFA said the tournament would instead be held in the winter. The only problem being winter is the most important time of the year for the major European leagues.

Another problem with Qatar is its long and documented history of using slave labor.

Numerous media reports have shown that workers from abroad are treated heinously, and it is believed thousands have died in the construction of World Cup stadiums. BBC journalists working to report on those issues have also been arrested and harassed by security officials.