Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the decision to award the 2022 World Cup finals to Qatar was a “mistake”.
In 2010, FIFA’s executive committee voted 14-8 for Qatar to host the tournament ahead of the United States.
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“It was a mistake,” Blatter said in an interview with AFP’s German sports subsidiary SID.
“It was based on a decision when I was president, and therefore I bear part of the responsibility for it.”
Blatter says he voted for the United States to host the 2022 tournament and blames then-UEFA president Michel Platini for swinging the vote in Qatar’s favour at the behest of then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sarkozy had recommended to Platini “that he and his people should vote for Qatar”, Blatter said.
In a separate interview with Swiss publication Tages-Anzeiger, Blatter elaborated on Sarkozy’s alleged lobbying.
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“But of course it was also about money,” Blatter said.
“Six months later, Qatar bought fighter jets from the French for $14.6 billion.”
The former FIFA president’s version of events has been denied by Platini.
Platini told French investigators that while he attended a lunch at the Elysee Palace with Sarkozy and then-Qatari crown prince Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani shortly before the vote, “the president (Sarkozy) never asked me to vote for one country or another, but I got the impression that he 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 accusations of corruption.
“I didn’t care if someone was influenced here or there,” Blatter said, adding that as the voting process went on, he realised that “other forces were at work”.
“The Qataris didn’t give gifts to the people who were voting, they gave them to their countries,” Blatter said.
Blatter was FIFA president for 17 years but was forced to step down in 2015 over allegations he unlawfully arranged a transfer of two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) to Platini, who was also forced to resign from his position at FIFA.
FIFA initially banned Blatter from football for eight years, later reduced to six, over the payment to Platini.
Blatter’s ban was extended to 2028 for violations 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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ARNIE TAKES SWIPE AT MEDIA
Socceroos boss Graham Arnold took a swipe at the media’s “negativity” surrounding the announcement of Australia’s 26-man squad for the World Cup.
The squad was locked in on Tuesday 4pm and there were some notable omissions including Trent Sainsbury, Tom Rogic, Adam Taggart and Mitch Langerak.
In the press conference following the announcement, Arnold was grilled as to why those players did not make the cut and provided his reasons for not selecting them.
But in a later radio interview with SEN, the Socceroos boss revealed his frustration at how the media seemed to focus on the negative aspects of the squad announcement.
“That’s the way the Australian media are these days, it’s all about the negativity,” Arnold told SEN Sportsday.
“But for me, it’s about the positivity of the young kids, the next generation.
“Of course, we’re coming up against some great opponents but the only way you can upset those opponents is by having players that can run all day, fight all day, the old Aussie DNA.
“That is when you go out on that pitch, you’ve got to win the 1v1 battles, it’s 11 v 11 but at the same time you’ve got to be able to compete physically with them to be able to get the result.”
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SOUTH AMERICAN NATION GIVEN WORLD CUP GREEN LIGHT AFTER COURT CASE
Ecuador have been given the green light to take their place at the World Cup after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday upheld their qualification which had been contested by Chile and Peru over the eligibility of their defender Byron Castillo.
CAS ruled that Castillo was eligible to play but sanctioned the Ecuador federation (FEF) for the “falsification” of his passport.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirms the eligibility of the player Byron Castillo (Ecuador) but imposes sanctions against the Ecuadorean football federation for a violation of the FIFA regulations,” the court said in a statement.
The ruling ends several months of a battle started by Chile and Peru to displace Ecuador who finished fourth in South American World Cup qualifying to secure the last automatic regional berth.
The complaint centred around Castillo who played in eight of Ecuador’s qualifiers, including both games against Chile.
The Chilean football federation (FFCH) said there was evidence that Castillo, who plays for Leon in Mexico, was born in Colombia in July 1995 and not in Playas, Ecuador in November 1998.
The FFCH alleged “use of a falsified birth certificate, false declaration of age and false nationality”.
