World Cup 2022 has begun with Ecuador beating Qatar – and one fan of the South American nation has used the occasion to taunt the opposition fans about how they won the hosting rights.
The tournament in the Middle East has been shrouded in controversy, most recently in the first half when an opening goal was disallowed – which Gary Lineker and the BBC pundits called "absurd". Qatar is have faced accusations of buying the tournament ever since they were awarded the competition back in 2010, with widespread allegations of bribery.
Ecuadorian fans seemed bemused by their hosts at best, chanting that they wanted beer – but one Ecuador supporter appeared to want to wind up the Qatari fans he was sat among, making gestures of rubbing his fingers together.
The Ecuadorian fan's actions didn't go down particularly well with the home supporters. One fan behind the fan shouted, "Shut up" at his actions, as he responded by telling him to "relax".
The video of the action has gone viral on social media. Later, the pair were seen to have made up.
Recently, FIFA has had to address these suggestions of bribery once more, with Qatar's bid for the World Cup coming into the spotlight further.
"It was a bad choice and I was responsible for that as president at the time," former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter told Swiss outlet Tages Anzeige. "Thanks to the four votes of Michel Platini and his [UEFA] team, the World Cup went to Qatar rather than [rival bidders] the United States. It's the truth."
"I think there is a lot of disinformation," Qatar coach Felix Sanchez disagreed at a press conference on Sunday. "The internet is a great tool but it is also very dangerous from my point of view. For many years, we've been preparing, training.
"We are together we are strong and cohesive and nobody will be able to destabilise us with this criticism so we are not affected at all."
