"Qatar was a mistake" - Sepp Blatter

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Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter spoke about the decision to hold the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. According to Blatter, at the time, the choice should have been made in favor of the USA, but then UEFA President Michel Platini assigned his vote to Qatar at the request of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Soon it became known that Qatar bought fighter jets from France, for which they paid tens of billions of dollars…

Qatar received the right to host the World Cup 2022 in 2010. The tournament will be held from November 20 to December 18, and 32 teams of the planet will compete.

“Qatar is a very small country, for which football and the World Cup are too large-scale events. Choosing Qatar was a mistake. We discussed in the Executive Committee that Russia would host the 2018 World Cup, and the USA would host the event in 2022. It would have been a peace gesture if the long-time political opponents had taken turns.

But before the FIFA congress, Platini called me and told me that our plan could not be implemented. Michel was invited to the palace of President Sarkozy, who had previously received the Prince of Qatar. Sarkozy asked Platini: “Maybe you can do something for Qatar when they choose the host of the World Cup.”

Platini asked me what I would do if my president asked me to do something. I replied that I had never thought about it because Switzerland does not have a president. In the end, it turned out that way. The World Cup went to Qatar, not the USA, thanks to Platini’s votes. Maybe it was about money. Half a year later, Qatar bought fighter jets worth 14.6 billion dollars from France,” Sky Sports published Blatter’s words.

Lastly, Joseph Blatter was the president of FIFA from 1998 to 2015, and Michel Platini was the president of UEFA from 2007 to 2015. The officials had to leave their positions after the corruption scandal.