The Organizers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar have strongly denied allegations from the U.S. department of Justice that bribes were paid to secure votes for the hosting rights to the tournament.

Suspicion and rumours have long surrounded both the 2010 vote by Fifa’s executive to hand the 2018 world cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

Yet yesterday for the first time, prosecutors set direct, formal allegations regarding both tournaments down in an indictment.

According to the prosecutors, representatives working for Russia and Qatar bribed Fifa executive committee officials to swing votes in the crucial hosting decisions of world football’s governing body.

Qatar’s supreme committee for delivery and legacy (SC), rejected the charges.

“Despite years of false claims, …no evidence has ever been produced to demonstrate that Qatar won the rights to host the Fifa World Cup 2022 unethically or by means that contravened Fifa’s strict bidding rules.