Ulrik Pedersen
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter referred to as the choice to host the 2022 soccer World Cup in Qatar a “mistake” which happened after the private lobbying of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In an interview with Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Blatter stated FIFA’s Govt Committee initially needed to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to the U.S. “It will have been a gesture of peace if the 2 long-standing political opponents had hosted the World Cup one after the opposite,” Blatter stated.
However earlier than the 2010 FIFA Congress, Blatter says he was contacted by Michel Platini, the then-president of UEFA—the physique which governs European soccer—who stated that the plan would now not work.
Platini, a French former soccer participant, allegedly instructed Blatter he’d been invited to the Parisian residence of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy shortly after Sarkozy had met with the Crown Prince of Qatar. Blatter claims Sarkozy instructed Platini: “See what you and your colleagues from UEFA can do for Qatar when the World Cup is awarded.”
Blatter provides that Platini stated to him: “Sepp, what would you do in case your President requested you for one thing?” In December 2010, the 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar as an alternative of the U.S. following Sarkozy’s alleged lobbying. “However after all it was additionally about cash,” Blatter stated. “Six months later, Qatar purchased fighter jets from the French for $14.6 billion.”
Sarkozy, who served as French president between 2007 and 2012, was convicted in 2021 in two separate corruption trials. Neither had been associated to the allegation detailed by Blatter. Blatter himself confronted unrelated corruption fees over funds to Platini, however the pair had been cleared by a Swiss court docket in July.
The accusation in opposition to Sarkozy comes lower than two weeks forward of the opening of probably the most controversial soccer World Cup in historical past. Human rights organizations have questioned Qatar’s suitability to host the world’s most seen sporting occasion on the grounds of the nation’s human rights document, its therapy of migrant staff, and its angle in direction of same-sex relationships.
The PR disasters preserve piling up at the same time as the primary recreation approaches. On Tuesday, a Qatari ambassador for the match instructed a German broadcaster that homosexuality is “harm within the thoughts,” earlier than an official stepped in to curtail the interview. Western soccer icons together with David Beckham and Gary Neville have additionally not too long ago endured condemnation for being profitable from the competitors.
Regardless of calling the Qatar World Cup an error—partially as a result of the Center Jap nation is “too small”—Blatter insisted giving the 2018 match to Russia was “undoubtedly not a mistake.” He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had instructed him that “now we're mates” after Russia was given the match. “Putin is now not the individual I met then,” Blatter stated. “I condemn the battle instigated by Russia in opposition to Ukraine.”