Hosting the World Cup in Qatar was a very bold decision by FIFA. And the point here is not only in the controversial period of the tournament, which will be held in the middle of the club season. The reputation of the region also makes you worry about the safety of fans and players. Take the example of Saudi Arabia: when the Formula 1 Grand Prix was held here, the country was literally subjected to rocket fire!

However, in Europe it is far from always calm. 24 years ago, for example, France found itself at the epicenter of a real terrorist threat. The terrorists planned to strike the country right during the World Cup, and English football players became one of the targets of the criminals.

Only the competent work of the special services saved the lives of Beckham and Owen.

The most brutal tournament

The French won the right to organize the World Cup on their territory, ahead of the representatives of Morocco by 5 votes, in 1992. Together with this unique opportunity, which was awarded to France for the second time in history, the country received an additional burden. Since 1998, the number of teams participating in the tournament has increased from 24 to 32 countries, as well as the number of groups – now there are eight of them.

More matches means more problems for the organizers. Especially when it comes to competitions in France. That tournament went down in history as one of the most bloody and cruel. The attack by German fans cost one of the policemen a normal life – after a month and a half in a coma, he remained disabled forever.

Photo: © Laurence Griffiths / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

And the match England – Tunisia gave rise to numerous lawsuits from shop owners to the authorities and appeals from local residents to the hospital: the British simply demolished and burned everything that came to their hand.

However, a few years later it became known that what happened then in Marseille was just seeds compared to the real threat hanging over the fans and even the players of the tournament.

Arsenal fan’s terrible plan

In the 2000s, it became known that throughout the spring that preceded the 1998 World Cup, law enforcement agencies of European countries arrested terrorists non-stop.

The threat came from a man whose name at the time was scary to pronounce. Osama bin Laden, who had a personal subscription to Arsenal’s home matches in London, supported the Algerian armed Islamic group and planned to commit a number of brutal crimes in the world tournament.

The target of the attack was Marseille’s home stadium, the Velodrome. On June 15, at a match between England and Tunisia, armed criminals were supposed to attack spectators, blow up the bench of the English substitutes and attack the young prodigies of that team – David Beckham and Michael Owen.

Photo: © Shaun Botterill / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

But the terrorists did not plan to stop there:

– In addition, their attention was drawn to two young players who are becoming more and more famous – David Beckham and Michael Owen. This will be the signal for the other brothers to begin the rest of the operation,” publicist Adam Robinson described the scenario of the attacks in his book Bin Laden: Behind the Mask of Terror.

According to the investigation, the attack on the Velodrome was supposed to set off a series of planned actions. Other terrorists were supposed to storm the US National Team hotel in Paris, then they planned to hijack the plane, which was supposed to crash into the Sivo nuclear power plant near Poitiers, which would lead to a nuclear explosion.

It’s just a terrible story that you can’t believe.

Effects

Neither the players nor the managers of national teams knew about the existence of this plan. While hundreds of supporters of terror were detained in Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France, English football players calmly finished the season in their clubs, not suspecting anything.

As a result, the founders of football beat Tunisia (2:0), but stumbled over the first stage of the playoffs, losing to Argentina on penalties. In 2009, Glen Hoddle, who coached the national team at the World Cup in France, said he was only told of the plot years later.

Photo: © SVEN SIMON / Sven Simon / Global Look Press

Joseph Bodansky, who was serving in the US Congress at the time and was engaged in combating terrorism, would later note that the thwarted plans of bin Laden caused the bombings of American embassies in Africa in 1998. The perpetrator took revenge.

The scenario planned by the associates of the main terrorist in history became the most brutal plan of attack on a sporting event in its scale, which had no analogues since then.

According to the organizers of the tournament in Qatar, the guests of the tournament should definitely not worry about their safety. The young stars of the English team – Foden, Mount and Bellingham – can only not repeat the failure of the 1998 team.