Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani said bung claims against his nation had been made by countries that had lost out in “a fair competition”.
The sheikh, who ruled Qatar when the Gulf state was awarded the 2022 tournament, insisted no bribes were paid.
“We dealt with this in a fair competition and there was no corruption,” he said.
He claimed his nation was being singled out because of racism, adding: “See how they don’t talk about Russia with Qatar.
“We support, of course, Russia to have their turn in 2018. But we see the talk is all about Qatar because it comes to a small, Arab, Islamic country.”
“We dealt with this in a fair competition and there was no corruption”
Sheikh Hamad
His comments are the first response from Qatar’s ruling family since US investigators charged 14 Fifa officials and sports company execs with money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud last week.
Swiss investigators have launched a separate criminal probe into claims of corruption over the voting to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Neither investigation prevented Sepp Blatter, 79, from being re-elected to a fi fth term as Fifa president at the congress of football’s governing body on Friday.
