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World Cup host Qatar used ex-CIA officer to spy on FIFA

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2008, CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer, left, and President Jack Warner chat during a news conference in Miami. Just ahead of the 2010 World Cup soccer bid, Diligence, a well-known private investigative firm in London founded by former western intelligence officers, was tasked to obtain communications and financial records of FIFA officials Warner and Blazer, a review of records obtained by The Associated Press show. Blazer, a former top U.S. soccer official who pleaded guilty to FIFA-related corruption charges and worked as an informant for the FBI, died in 2017. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) FILE - Workers walk to the Lusail Stadium, one of the 2022 World Cup stadiums, in Lusail, Qatar, Friday, Dec. 20, 2019. The eight stadiums for the World Cup, all within a 30-mile radius of Doha, are now largely complete. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) FILE - Mohamed bin Hamad Al-Thani, left, Chairman of the 2022 bid committee, and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, hold the World Cup trophy in front of FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke after the announcement that Qatar will host the 2022 soccer World Cup, on Dec. 2, 2010, in Zurich, Switzerland. Qatar has for years employed a former CIA officer to help spy on soccer officials as part of an aggressive effort to win and hold on to the 2022 World Cup tournament, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)