ZURICH: Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA when Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup hosting rights in 2010, told Swiss newspaper Tages Anze­iger on Tuesday “Qatar is a mistake,” adding that “the choice was bad” , again citing a meeting between Nicolas Sarkozy and Michel Platini for swaying key votes.

The Qatar decision has been marred by controversy, including allegations of corruption and human rights violations, since it was first announced.

Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, has also been embroiled in accusations of corruption during his tenure. He was cleared of fraud by a Swiss court in June. The prosecutors have appealed the ruling.

“It is too small of a country. Football and the World Cup are too big for it,” Blatter said of Qatar, the first country in the Middle East to host the tournament.

The 32 teams will play 64 games in eight stadiums in and around the city of Doha which has been transformed since 2010 by massive construction projects to prepare for the World Cup.

Games start on Nov 20 with about 1.2 million international visitors expected to arrive in Qatar during the World Cup. With limited places to stay in the host nation, some will commute in from neighboring states.

“It was a bad choice. And I was responsible for that as president at the time,” said Blatter, who has long said he voted for the United States. Its bid was beaten by Qatar in the final round of a five-candidate contest to be 2022 host.

It became part of FIFA lore that an expected US victory swung toward Qatar at a meeting Sarkozy hosted in Paris in the week before the Dec. 2, 2010 vote by FIFA’s executive committee.

French great Platini, then president of European football body UEFA and a vice president of FIFA, was invited by then-state president Sarkozy to his official residence. The crown prince of Qatar, now the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was also there.

Blatter on Tuesday repeated his claim that Sarkozy put pressure on Platini, and again gave his version of a telephone call Platini made to him after the Paris meeting that the World Cup voting plan had changed.

“Thanks to the four votes of Platini and his [UEFA] team, the World Cup went to Qatar rather than the United States. It’s the truth,” Blatter said of the 14-8 voting result.

Blatter did not specifically refer to criticism of Qatar on labour and human rights issues since 2010.

He said FIFA in 2012 amended the criteria it used to select host countries in light of concerns over the working conditions at tournament-related construction sites in Qatar. “Since then, social considerations and human rights are taken into account,” he said.

However, he did question why his successor as FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has moved to live in Qatar for at least the past year.

Blatter noted growing calls, by rights groups and several FIFA member federations including the US and England, to create a compensation fund for families of workers who died or were injured. Qatar’s government has resisted the calls and described them as a “publicity stunt.”

“What can FIFA say if its president is in the same boat as Qatar?” Blatter said of Infantino choosing to live in Doha.

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the interview.

Blatter, who went to Moscow during the 2018 World Cup as a guest of Russia while he and Platini were suspended by FIFA from football, told the Swiss newspaper reporters he would watch games in the coming weeks on television at his apartment in Zurich.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2022