Mohamed bin Hammam was the most senior Qatari in world football. Member of the FIFA Executive Committee. President of the Asian Football Confederation. In 2014, the Sunday Times obtained millions of secret documents from his offices — emails, bank statements, accounting records. They told the story of a parallel campaign that ran alongside Qatar's official bid. Around $5 million, ten accounts, named recipients across four continents.

In this episode:

- The "Insight" investigation by Jonathan Calvert and Heidi Blake — what the documents showed and how they got them

- Africa first: payments routed to officials whose votes Qatar needed, in the months before the ballot

- Port of Spain, May 2011: $40,000 cash envelopes handed to Caribbean Football Union delegates — the only piece tested in formal proceedings

- Why no court ever convicted bin Hammam of vote-buying for Qatar 2022, despite two life bans from football

Key documents cited:

- Sunday Times "The Plot to Buy the World Cup," 1 June 2014 onwards

- FIFA Ethics Committee decisions, 2011–2012

- Court of Arbitration for Sport decision, 19 July 2012

Full transcript and source links: thefifafiles.com/episodes/7-five-million-in-cash

Subscribe to the OSN newsletter for source PDFs and behind-the-scenes: thefifafiles.com/newsletter

The FIFA Files is an Open Source Network production. Every document tells a story.