Sepp Blatter is no stranger to those who watch football as he served as Fifa president from 1995 to 2015 before He was forced to resign due to accusations of illegal financial practices, during a press statement to Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, he admitted that he agreed in the executive committee that Russia should get the 2018 World Cup and the USA that of 2022″
This was coupled with the controversies about low-paid migrant workers who were ‘forced’ due to the fact that they couldn’t return home empty handed and had to work to send back money to their loved ones. This might have been the reason for the mass exploitation of the workers which many fans and football players didn’t support.
“The choice of Qatar was a mistake,” Blatter said in an interview with Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, his first since being cleared of fraud charges in July following a £1.7m payment to the former UEFA president Michel Platini.
“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.”
“I can only repeat: the award to Qatar was a mistake, and I was responsible for that as president at the time,” he said.
“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 organization. That’s not his job. There are two organizing committees for this – a local one and one from FIFA.”
Sepp Blatter said he wouldn’t have awarded the hosting to Russia and Qatar respectively as the two countries had violated human rights and safety.
