Blatter reveals ‘influences’ behind Qatar 2022 World Cup
Germany and France applied pressure for a voting process to grant the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, FIFA president Sepp Blatter says.
“There were two political interventions” from former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German President Christian Wulff before the announcement of future World Cup hosts, Blatter said during an interview published in the Germen newspaper Welt am Sonntag on Sunday.
On December 2, 2010, FIFA awarded the hosting of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.
“Sarkozy and Wulff tried to influence their voting representatives. That’s why we now have a World Cup in Qatar,” Blatter said.
According to the report, Blatter said he was tired of being blamed for something he could not have controlled.
“Those who decided it should take responsibility for it,” he noted, adding, “I act on the leadership principal. If a majority of the executive committee wants a World Cup in Qatar then I have to accept that.”
Wulff had also called on the German football federation (DFB) “to vote for Qatar out of economic interests,” the FIFA chief said.“Look at the German companies! Deutsche Bahn, Hochtief, and many more had projects in Qatar even before the World Cup was awarded.”
Former DFB head Theo Zwanziger and Wulff have denied the claims.
Blatter’s revelations came in the wake of a scandal involving some senior FIFA officials. The corruption case was made public on May 28, when Swiss authorities launched a raid on a gathering of senior FIFA members in the Swiss city of Zurich, arresting several of them.
Even before the vote rigging and corruption scandal erupted, Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup was drawing severe criticism over its foreign labor practices and extremely hot weather.
SRK/NT
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