Blatter blames Platini for the “mistake” of awarding the World Cup to Qatar

The former president of FIFA Sepp Blatter repeated today, less than two weeks before the start of the Qatar World Cupthat the 2010 election of that country as the venue, when he directed the governing body of world soccer, was a “mistake”, for which he blamed the then president of UEFA, Michel Platini.

“Thank you for the four votes of Platinum and his team, the World Cup go to Qatar instead of at USAthat’s the truth,” he said in a wide-ranging interview published today by the newspaper Geneva Tribunewhere he indicated that the emirate of Persian Gulf “A country is too small, where the world Too big.”

As he already announced last year in another interview, on that occasion in the French newspaper Le Mondewas the then president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, that pressured Platinum so that the votes of UEFA go to Qatarafter the head of the Elysee met with the crown prince of Qatar.

“After six months, Qatar buy a combat aircraft from France worth 14.6 million dollars, it is of course a matter of money,” he said today Blatter.

The former president of FIFA, suspended from his post in 2015 due to accusations of corruption, he added that within the organization, ahead of the double elections of the areas for 2018 and 2022, “the consensus is that Russia got the first of those World Cups (as it were) and the second USA“(The other candidates are Japan, Australia and South Koreain addition to Qatar).

“It is a gesture of peace, if two political rivals for a long time organize world one after the other,” said Blatter in the interview, where he did not regret it Russia hosting the World Cup in 2018: “They are good organizers,” he said.

In the interview, Blatter recognized his bad relationship with the current president of FIFA, Gianni Infantinothat he said he did not understand “that he currently lives Qatar“, which further complicates the preparation for world: “He cannot be the local director of the organization at the same time,” he said, adding that the Italian-Swiss did not respect him and “avoided” him.

Despite his criticism of Qatar 2022, Blatter expressed his satisfaction with the fact that, “with some exceptions”, there are no boycotts of soccer players at the World Cup in Arab countries, and assured: “At the first whistle of the referee, we will not talk about everything. this problem, only about sport “.

Asked about his recent acquittal – with Platinum– in the corruption process that cost him his job, Blatter he assured the interview that he was “relieved” after a trial “where I always knew he was innocent”.

Despite the acquittal, the Federal Criminal Court announced of Switzerland As of July, the process against the two former soccer leaders continues, as the Prosecutor’s Office appealed the verdict.