The information had almost gone unnoticed. Today, when reading the latest events in the world of football, it takes on a completely different meaning. At the end of March 2014, UEFA announced in a press release that it had recruited the English agency Vero Communications to support it in “the development of its international communications activities. »
In itself, nothing very unusual. Founded in 2006, Vero Communications has built a solid reputation in the international sports movement over the past eight years. His specialty: applications for major world events. In its hunt, the British agency has pinned the London Games in 2012, those of Rio four years later, the Winter Games of PyeongChang in 2018. It also supports the IRB, the Liverpool club, the UCI and the International Squash Federation, plus a very respectable collection of other clients, mostly sporting institutions, around the world.
Its founder and president, Mike Lee, knows UEFA, its rules and its people well. Before creating Vero Communications, he served as director of communications and public affairs between 2000 and 2004, a time when the house was chaired by the Swede Lennart Johansson. Another good reason for UEFA to call on its expertise today.
The only problem, but a major one: Vero Communications was Qatar's communications and lobbying agency for the 2022 World Cup. It also supported Doha's unsuccessful bids for the 2016 and 2020 Summer Games. Michel Platini, the president of UEFA, therefore recruited last March the agency and the man who largely contributed to Qatar's success in the race to organize the World Cup in 2022.
This information in no way confirms the accusations made by the British press of corruption of the French leader. Michel Platini may have chosen the expertise of Mike Lee and the recognized know-how of his agency without having received bribes from Qatar. However, the relationship between the UEFA president and Vero Communications raises questions. Dangerous connections, if not doubtful.
Not without interest detail: Vero Communications has removed the Qatar 2022 logo from its website, www.verocom.co.uk, on the page dedicated to the long list of its customers. A customer who has suddenly become very annoying.
