Qatar used former CIA officer to spy on soccer officials in bid to host World Cup: report

A new investigation has found that Qatar employed a former CIA officer to spy on key soccer officials who were responsible for picking the host of the FIFA World Cup in 2010, The Associated Press reported.

Kevin Chalker, a former CIA officer who is now a private contractor, not only monitored officials of nations with rival bids but also officials in charge of picking the host country.

The AP investigated hundreds of internal documents and interviewed former associates, who elaborated on how Chalker also monitored critics of Qatar inside FIFA on the country’s behest.

Chalker also employed someone to masquerade as a photojournalist to keep tabs on a rival nation’s bid and used someone as a Facebook honeypot, who posed online as an attractive woman, to get close to a target, the AP reported.

The investigation showed that operatives working for Chalker and Qatar also sought cell phone call logs of one top FIFA official ahead of the 2010 vote, per the AP. 

Former associates also told the newswire that Chalker’s background as a former CIA agent was attractive to Qatari officials in their bid to host the World Cup.

“That was part of his mystique. All these young wealthy Qataris are playing spy games with this guy and he’s selling them,” said a former associate, who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

The Qatari government did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

Chalker declined to comment on his work for the Qatari government to the AP. He also said that some of the documents reviewed by the AP were forgeries.

Qatar, which in 2010 won its bid to host a World Cup in 2022, has seen criticism in the past few years over claims of human rights violations over the treatment of construction workers who built the eight stadiums the teams will compete in.