By Tony Wright
The consultant football Australia hired to aid its World Cup bid says FIFA members lied to them, promising votes they actually gave to Qatar.
And as Australia counts the $60 million cost of its failed bid, the tiny Gulf nation is already reaping the benefits.
Peter Hargitay was paid big money to act as Australia's chief World Cup strategist, and now says the bid was always destined to fail, as they didn't play dirty.
"The most fundamental mistake we made is that we played it clean," he says.
Hargitay suggests the 14 FIFA executive committee members who voted for Qatar, one of the world's wealthiest nations, did so out of greed.
"What motivates people, 14 of them, to vote for a country where the infrastructure to play host to millions of fans still needs to be created?" he asks.
FIFA say it will keep the voting process that has caused so much controversy, meaning just 22 people will hold all the decision making power.
The decision to award the 2022 cup to Qatar is already paying dividends for the tiny nation that has a total population equal to Auckland's.
The local share market has soared, with news brand new road and rail networks are planned, as are entire cities.
The booming economy is thanks to Qatar's massive gas reserves.
"All of the countries here in the Gulf are based on this gas," says Joseph Jamhouri, a Qatari businessman. "Now they are trying for a parallel economy."
Alarmingly perhaps, Qatar has no speed limit on its motorways and suffered 76,000 traffic accidents in the first six months of this year.
Better to travel by camel then, and they have plenty.
Let's hope Qatar are good sports when they host the cup in 12 years' time.
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