Why the US Could End Up Hosting the 2022 World Cup
June 2, 2014— -- The United States may end up hosting the 2022 World Cup as a result of a FIFA investigation that could strip Qatar of the right to host the tournament.
Indeed, a brewing global scandal may reverse a 2010 vote that rejected the U.S. bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup after the tournaments were awarded to Russia and Qatar, respectively.
FIFA, which governs the global soccer competition, is investigating allegations of bribery and corruption that may have been involved in the decision that awarded the tournaments in the first place.
2014 FIFA World Cup TV Schedule
This comes after The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that a "senior FIFA insider" had provided "hundreds of millions of emails, accounts and other documents" detailing payments totaling $5 million that Qatari official Mohamed bin Hammam allegedly gave to FIFA executive board members to support the bid.
At the time, Bin Hammam was a member of FIFA's executive committee -- but was expelled two years ago by FIFA for financial corruption during his time as president of the Asian Football Confederation.
The Qatar 2022 organizing committee's said in a statement on Sunday that Bin Hammam, who is also a Qatari, had "played no official or unofficial role in the bid committee."
Neil Buethe, a U.S. Soccer spokesman, told ABC News he had no comment.
The only time the U.S. hosted the World Cup was in 1994, with games played in nine cities across the country.
Robert Tuchman, president of sports and entertainment marketing firm Goviva, said the U.S. "absolutely" has a chance at hosting the World Cup should FIFA decide to order a re-vote.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
