The World Cup in Qatar is just weeks away, but the debate doesn’t stop. Human rights, inhuman conditions for the workers, around 15000 workers killed during the preparations for the tournament… all these problems are causing protests from fans all over the world, and many TV pundits also. And now we have another big ‘player’ who admits giving Qatar the organization of the tournament was a mistake – Sepp Blatter. The Swiss was in fact the FIFA president in 2010 when the Gulf state was chosen for the tournament and he now ‘opens up’ about the choice he and other delegates made. “The choice of Qatar was a mistake. 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 long-standing political opponents had hosted the World Cup one after the other. It’s too small a country. Football and the World Cup are too big for that” Blatter said in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. This was Blatter’s first interview since being cleared of fraud charges in along with the former UEFA president Michel Platini and he made sure that no one can blame him for the outcome. In fact, he revealed Platini’s role in the sudden change. “A week before the 2010 FIFA congress, Michel Platini called me to say that our plan would not work. He was invited to the palace of President Sarkozy who had just had lunch with the Crown Prince of Qatar. Sarkozy told Platini: ‘Look what you and your UEFA colleagues can do for Qatar when the World Cup is awarded.’ I then asked him: what now?’ Sepp, what would you do if your president asked you for something? ‘ I then told him that the question didn’t occur to me because we don’t have a president in Switzerland. It turned out exactly like this: thanks to Platini’s four votes, the World Cup went to Qatar instead of the United States. That is the truth. Of course it was also about money. Six months later, Qatar bought fighter jets from the French for 14.6 billion dollars” revealed Blatter. Still, the former president tried to be fair, at least formally, and admitted his guilt for the whole affair, but also commented on the current president Infantino. “I can only repeat: the award to Qatar was a mistake, and I was responsible for that as president at the time. Now that the World Cup is imminent, I’m glad that, with a few exceptions, no footballers are boycotting the World Cup. For me it is clear: Qatar is a mistake. The choice was bad. What I’m wondering: why is the new FIFA president Gianni Infantino living in Qatar? He can’t be the head of the local World Cup organisation. That’s not his job. There are two organising committees for this – a local one and one from FIFA” admitted Blatter. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6797795##
