Qatar football officials have denied categorically a report that they were planning a lucrative world club championship every second summer on the road to the 2022 World Cup.

The ‘Dream Football League’ was supposedly being launched next month, according to The Times. It would be backed by the Qatari royal family and elite clubs such as Manchester United and Barcelona could be offered as much as US$261m.

Not true, according to French spoof website which accused The Times of ‘lifting’ its fiction – quoted from a non-existent source balled Agence-Transe-Presse – and not true according to the Qatar Football Association and Qatar 2022.

A QFA statement said: “With regard to the story published in today’s edition of The Times newspaper . . . the Qatar Football Association and other Qatari football entities can confirm that we have no involvement in any such initiative and have heard nothing to suggest such a concept is genuine.”