Zakaria Abdelkafi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The French authorities have opened a corruption investigation into the circumstances that led to Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup.
The investigation, which will be led by a judge, follows a three year operation by prosecutors specializing in financial crimes into the decision in December 2010. More than half of the 22 members of FIFA’s executive committee who voted have since been either accused of corruption or prosecuted for it.
French investigators have particularly focused on the case because of a meeting that took place at the Élysée Palace, the official residence of France’s president, a month before the vote.