Sepp Blatter Says Nicolas Sarkozy Pressure on FIFA to Give Qatar World Cup Linked to $14B Fighter Jet Deal
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter called the decision to host the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar a “mistake” that happened after the personal lobbying of the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tages-AnzeigerBlatter said FIFA’s Executive Board originally wanted to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and World Cup 2022 to the US “It would be a gesture of peace if two long-standing political rivals were to host the World Cup one after the other,” Blatter said.
But before the 2010 FIFA Congress, Blatter said he was contacted by Michel PlatiniUEFA president at the time – European football’s governing body – who said that the plan would no longer work.
Platini, a former French footballer, is said to have told Blatter that he had been invited to the Paris residence of French President Nicolas Sarkozy shortly after Sarkozy met the Crown Prince of Qatar. Blatter insists Sarkozy told Platini: “Let’s see what you and your colleagues from UEFA can do for Qatar when the World Cup is awarded.”
Blatter added that Platini told him: “Sepp, what would you do if your President asked you for something?” In December 2010, the 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar instead of the US according to Sarkozy’s alleged lobbying. “But of course it’s also about money,” Blatter said. “Six months later, Qatar bought fighter jets from France for $14.6 billion.”
Sarkozy, who served as president of France from 2007 to 2012, was convicted in 2021 in two separate corruption trials. Both are unrelated to the allegation detailed by Blatter. Blatter himself faced unrelated corruption charges over payments to Platini, but the couple deleted by a swiss person court in July.
The accusations against Sarkozy were made less than two weeks before the opening of the most controversial football World Cup in history. Human rights groups have questioned Qatar’s suitability to host the world’s most-watched sporting event based on its human rights record, its treatment of migrant workers and attitudes. country for same-sex relationships.
PR disasters continued to pile up even as the first game approached. On Tuesday, a Qatari ambassador for the tournament told a German television station that homosexuality was “hurt in the mind”, before an official stepped in to interrupt the interview. Western football icons include David Beckham and Gary Neville has also recently endured condemnation for monetizing the contest.
Despite calling the Qatar World Cup a mistake – in part because the Middle Eastern country is “so small” – he insisted that giving the 2018 tournament to Russia was “certainly not a mistake”. He added that the President of Russia Vladimir Putin told him that “we are friends now” after Russia hosted the tournament. Blatter said: “Putin is no longer the person I met then. “I condemn the war instigated by Russia against Ukraine.”
