Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the decision to award the 2022 World Cup final to Qatar was a “mistake”. In 2010, the FIFA Executive Committee voted 14–8 for Qatar to host the tournament before the United States. “It was a mistake,” Blatter said in an interview with AFP’s German sports subsidiary SID. “It was based on a decision I made when I was president, and so I share the responsibility for that.”
Blatter says he voted for the United States to host the 2022 tournament and blames then-UEFA President Michel Platini for voting in favor of Qatar at the behest of then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Blatter said Sarkozy had recommended to Platini that “he and his people should vote for Qatar.” Platini has denied the former president of FIFA’s version of events.
Platini told French investigators that shortly before the vote when he attended a lunch with Sarkozy and the then Qatari Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at the Elysee Palace, “the President (Sarkozy) never told me about any country or country.” Didn’t ask to vote for the other, but I got the impression that they supported Qatar.”
The Qatar World Cup is the first to be held in the Middle East and the first during the Northern Hemisphere winter. It takes place from 20 November to 18 December.
The vote to award the tournament to Qatar was surrounded by allegations of corruption. “I didn’t care if someone was affected here or there,” Blatter said, adding that as the voting process progressed, he realized “other forces were at work”.
“The Qataris didn’t give gifts to the people who voted, they gave them to their countries,” Blatter said.
Blatter was FIFA president for 17 years, but was forced to step down in 2015 due to allegations that he illegally arranged for the transfer of two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) to Platini, which was to be transferred to FIFA from his post. He was also forced to resign from the post.
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FIFA initially banned Blatter from football for eight years, which was later reduced to six when Platini was paid. Blatter’s ban was extended until 2028 for breaching FIFA’s code of conduct.
Blatter and Platini were found not guilty of fraud at a trial in Switzerland in July.
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