World Cup: 'Qatar is a mistake,' says former Fifa president Sepp Blatter
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Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter headed the organisation when Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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ZURICH – Sepp Blatter, who was the president of Fifa in 2010 when Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup hosting rights, told Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger that “Qatar is a mistake” and that “the choice was bad”.
Fifa’s executive committee voted 14-8 for Qatar to host the tournament 12 years ago, ahead of the United States.
The Qatar decision has been marred by controversy, including allegations of corruption and human rights violations, since it was announced.
“For me it is clear: Qatar is a mistake,” Blatter said.
“At the time, we actually agreed in the executive committee that Russia should get the 2018 World Cup and the USA that of 2022.
“It would have been a gesture of peace if the two longstanding political opponents had hosted the World Cup one after the other.”
Blatter, who led Fifa for 17 years till 2015, has also been embroiled in accusations of corruption during his tenure. The 86-year-old was cleared of fraud by a Swiss court in July but the prosecutors have appealed the ruling.
Asked to clarify why he thought that it was a bad choice to let Qatar host the tournament, Blatter said: “It is too small of a country. Football and the World Cup are too big for it.
“It was based on a decision when I was president, and therefore I bear part of the responsibility for it.”
Blatter said he voted for the United States to host the tournament and blames then Uefa president Michel Platini for swinging the vote in Qatar’s favour at the behest of then French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sarkozy had recommended to Platini “that he and his people should vote for Qatar”, Blatter said.
The former Fifa president’s version of events has been rejected by the Frenchman.
Platini told French investigators that while he attended a lunch at the Elysee Palace with Sarkozy and then Qatari crown prince Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani shortly before the vote, “the president (Sarkozy) never asked me to vote for one country or another, but I got the impression that he supported Qatar”.
Blatter also said Fifa in 2012 amended the criteria it used to select host countries in the light of concerns over the working conditions at tournament-related construction sites in Qatar, the first Middle East country to host the World Cup.
“Since then, social considerations and human rights are taken into account,” he said.
He added that he will be watching the Nov 20-Dec 18 tournament from his Zurich home. REUTERS, AFP
