Kabul, December 03: Many of the nations competing at next summer’s World Cup will use private security firms – including war-zone specialists who operate in Iraq and Afghanistan – to safeguard their players and officials.
Sources within the private protection industry have told The Independent that high-profile football associations from Europe and South America have already hired firms that will use ex-military personnel, some of them special forces veterans, to look after players and their families during the tournament.
These companies will provide round-the-clock armed bodyguards, bulletproof vehicles, hijack prevention advice and “crisis management” squads that can handle kidnap situations. Kidnap insurance is also offered by some agencies but by nature is ultra-secretive; public knowledge that a specific party is insured typically means that policy becomes nullified.
These revelations come amid fears there could be “gaps in the coverage” provided by the organisers. A number of football associations from around the world and senior figures within international administrative circles have ongoing concerns sparked by lapses at last summer’s Confederation Cup, which was effectively a small-scale test event for 2010.
–Agencies