HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, then Emir of Qatar, holds the World Cup trophy after the announcement of Qatar hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010.

Reuters

LONDON: A story claiming that six Arab nations had written to FIFA demanding that Qatar be stripped of the World Cup in 2022 was published on what appeared to be a fake version of a Swiss news website, the site's co-founder said on Sunday.

The report, carried on a website resembling The Local, included quotes purporting to be from FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

It said that the six countries, which last month cut ties with Qatar, had collectively written to world soccer's governing body asking it to remove Qatar as hosts under Article 85 of the FIFA Code, which allows for such action in the case of emergency.

"The Local's staff neither wrote, published nor removed the article in question and The Local can therefore not vouch for any of the claims made," co-founder James Savage said in a statement on Sunday.

"Our investigation so far indicates the article appeared on a fake site designed to look like The Local, and never appeared on The Local's own site."

Reuters published stories based on the report, which were subsequently withdrawn.

The Local publishes in English and operates nine news sites across Europe.

(Reporting by Neil Robinson; Editing by Keith Weir)