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Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said that he regrets the world governing body’s decision to pick Qatar as the World Cup 2022 host as the country is too small to host a tournament of FIFA WC stature. He once again put emphasis on the point that he voted for the United States but the meeting between Nicolas Sarkozy and Michel Platini changed the scenario in Qatar’s favour.
The former FIFA President on Tuesday once again drew focus to his claims of Sarkozy putting pressure on Platini and giving his version of a telephone call Platini made to him after the Paris meeting that the World Cup voting plan had changed.
It’s worth mentioning that the US was set to be named as the host for the 2022 edition of the tournament but the votes dramatically swung toward Qatar at a meeting Sarkozy hosted in Paris in the week before the Dec. 2, 2010 vote by FIFA’s executive committee.
French soccer great Platini, then president of the European soccer body UEFA and a vice president of FIFA, was invited by then-state president Sarkozy to his official residence. The crown prince of Qatar, now the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was also there.
“It’s a country that’s too small,” Blatter said of Qatar while speaking with the Swiss newspaper group Tamedia in his first major interview since being acquitted with Platini in July of financial misconduct at FIFA after a trial at the federal criminal court. “Football and the World Cup are too big for that.”
“It was a bad choice. And I was responsible for that as president at the time,” said Blatter. “Thanks to the four votes of Platini and his (UEFA) team, the World Cup went to Qatar rather than the United States. It’s the truth,” Blatter said of the 14-8 voting result.
Blatter also questioned FIFA president, Gianni Infantino’s decision to live in Doha for at least the past year. “What can FIFA say if its president is in the same boat as Qatar?” said Infantino’s predecessor.