Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the decision to award the 2022 World Cup final to Qatar was a “mistake”. In 2010, FIFA’s executive committee voted 14-8 for Qatar to host the tournament for the United States. “It was a mistake,” Blatter said in an interview with AFP’s German sports daughter SID. “It was based on a decision when I was president, so I bear part of the responsibility for it.”
Blatter says he voted for the United States to host the 2022 tournament and accuses then-UEFA president Michel Platini of turning the vote in favor of Qatar at the behest of then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sarkozy had recommended to Platini “that he and his people vote for Qatar,” Blatter said. The former FIFA president’s version of events has been denied by Platini.
Platini told French investigators that while he attended lunch at the Elysee Palace shortly before the vote with Sarkozy and then-Crown Prince of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, “the President (Sarkozy) never asked me to serve for any or all. other country, but I got the impression that he was supporting Qatar.”
The Qatar World Cup is the first to be held in the Middle East and the first during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It takes place from November 20 to December 18.
The vote to award the tournament to Qatar was surrounded by corruption allegations. “I didn’t care if anyone was affected here or there,” Blatter said, adding that during the voting process he realized “other forces were at work”.
“The Qataris didn’t give gifts to the people who voted, they gave them to their country,” Blatter said.
Blatter was FIFA president for 17 years but was forced to resign in 2015 amid allegations that he had unlawfully arranged a transfer of two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) to Platini, who was also forced to resign from FIFA.
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FIFA initially banned Blatter for eight years, later reduced to six, over the payment to Platini. Blatter’s ban was extended until 2028 for violation of FIFA’s code of ethics.
Blatter and Platini were found not guilty of fraud at a trial in Switzerland in July.
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