Batter after agreeing that the decision to award World Cup to Qatar was a mistake, added that it was a gesture to reconcile two long-standing political opponents
By Kehinde Okeowo
Former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, has said that the host of this year’s World Cup, Qatar, is too small a country to be given the right to stage the global tournament.
Blatter made this known while speaking with the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, where he admitted the decision to award this month’s World Cup to Qatar was a “mistake”.
The 86-year-old was in the saddle as the head of the world football governing body when its executive committee voted for the tournament to be played in Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively.
Ahead of this year’s World Cup, there have been concerns about lowly-paid migrant workers and discriminatory laws against same-sex relations.
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Blatter insists he didn’t vote for Qatar, but instead wanted a “gesture of peace” by having the two tournaments in Russia and then in the USA.
Reacting to the criticism, the FIFA former boss, agreed the decision was an error, saying it was, however, a gesture to reconcile Russia and Qatar who are known long-standing political opponents.
He said, “The choice of Qatar was a mistake.
“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,”
The Swiss also agreed with his critics that oil-rich Qatar is too small to host the World Cup.
“Qatar is too small a country” and “football and the World Cup are too big for that,” he added.
