Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter Admits “Qatar World Cup is a mistake”
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter is finally realizing what the rest of the world has already known, that hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is “a bad choice,” according to an ESPN report.
Blatter was the FIFA President at the time Qatar was named the host country back in 2010 and is speaking out about his decision less than two weeks before the 2022 World Cup is set to begin.
Since the announcement of Qatar being host to the world’s biggest sporting event there have been nothing but issues surrounding Qatar. For starters, there was talk of corruption which became well-known when Blatter was accused of corruption during his time in charge of FIFA.
Then there are all the issues surrounding the building of the stadiums and the treatment of migrant workers. According to a report from The Guardian over 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since 2010 with at least 37 deaths directly connected to the construction of the stadiums.
Qatar never had the infrastructure to host such a big event, and in an interview with Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger, Blatter called out the host nation as an unfit place to host the World Cup.
“It is too small of a country,” said Blatter. “Football and the World Cup are too big for it.”
There are also controversies about the rights of people in Qatar, especially the LGBT+ community. Recently, one ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar expressed that homosexuality is “damage in the mind.” Qatari law states that homosexuality is punishable by death in the Middle Eastern country.
After all the recent issues Blatter, who was the president of FIFA for 17 years, finally admitted his mistake 12 years later.
“It was a bad choice, and I was responsible for that as president at the time,” said Blatter. “Thanks to the four votes of Platini and his (UEFA) team, the World Cup went to Qatar rather than the United States. It is the truth.”
Qatar won the vote to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup 14-8 over the United States, who will be co-hosting the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico.
It will be interesting to see how the impact of the World Cup selection of Qatar will affect future host selections.
The 2022 World Cup will begin in Qatar on November 20 when hosts Qatar take on Ecuador and will end with the World Cup Final on December 18.
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