REVEALED: World Cup organisers will PAY groups of football fans to travel to Qatar and post positive comments about the tournament on social media… while they’ll also be asked to report any negative messages too!
- Supporters are being paid by World Cup organisers to attend the tournament
- Fans must sign a ‘code of conduct’ if they decide to take up the offer
- In return, they have been asked to only post positive comments on social media
- They’ve also been asked to report ‘offensive, degrading or abusive comments’
The organisers of the World Cup in Qatar are paying groups of football fans to travel to the tournament this month, saying on Monday they are asking them for positive comments on social media in return.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) confirmed the policy of inviting groups of supporters to the finals as guests after reports by Dutch public broadcaster NOS, who said on Sunday that Qatar was paying for flights and hotels for a group of 50 Dutch fans.
In return these supporters have had to sign a ‘code of conduct’, urging them to post favourable comments about the tournament on social media and to report ‘any offensive, degrading or abusive comments’ by others to the SC, preferably with screenshots.
The broadcaster cited two Dutch fans who said they had been selected by the tournament’s organisers as ‘Fan Leaders’, and who added that they had been asked to pick a group of 50 loyal supporters for the free trip to Qatar.
‘As the tournament nears, we have invited our most active fan leaders to personally nominate a small selection of fans to join us as our guests, as a manner of thanking them for their collaboration,’ a spokesperson for the SC told Reuters.
On its website, the Qatar World Cup describes its Fan Leaders program as a network of around 400 fans and influencers from 60 countries who have offered ‘insights, research, content creation and message amplification,’ for the tournament.
The organisers did not say how many fans they had invited, or provide any financial details.
World Cup organisers are paying for some fans to attend this year’s tournament in Qatar
Organisers want fans to only post positive comments about the tournament on social media
In its code of conduct, the SC asks the Fan Leaders to agree to incorporate its content in their social media posts and to support the World Cup by liking and re-sharing posts by third parties about the tournament.
It also stated that fans are not expected to be a ‘mouthpiece’ for Qatar, but added it ‘would obviously not be appropriate to disparage Qatar, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy or the FIFA World Cup’.
Belgian and French media have also reported that selected groups of fans from these countries were offered a free trip to the World Cup by Qatar.
The World Cup starts later this month and will continue until the final on December 18
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