FIFA head says Germany, France wanted Qatar for World Cup
(ANSA) – Rome, November 22 – Critics of the controversial decision to award the 2022 World Cup to the Middle Eastern State of Qatar should blame France and Germany, the head of international soccer’s governing body FIFA said Friday.
Joseph Blatter said that these are leading European nations with business interests in Qatar and lobbied hard for it to be selected as the site of the World Cup with all its attendant infrastructure construction projects.
The choice has been very controversial, in part because Qatar’s extremely hot climate makes sporting events more difficult.
“The countries that have control in Europe, namely France and Germany, have lobbied so the World Cup was awarded to Qatar for their many economic interests,” said Blatter, who was in Rome for an audience at the Vatican with Pope Frances. “It is too easy to download all the responsibility onto FIFA,” for the Qatar choice, he added during a press conference.
FIFA is also aware of concerns raised by human rights watchdog Amnesty International about conditions for workers on sites related to the World Cup, he said. Amnesty has expressed concerns about what it called widespread exploitation of migrant workers employed on projects related to the soccer tournament.
Gay and lesbian groups have complained about the choice of a country where homosexuality is illegal. Amnesty has reported that more than 1.3 million foreigners are employed in the country and many working on the World Cup project are often forced to work as much as 12 hours a day, seven days a week, at temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, Blatter acknowledged that racism is a issue in soccer but said that reflects a more widespread problem beyond sport.
“Racism should not exist, it is a terrible thing, but it comes from our society,” said Blatter.
Soccer in Italy has been plagued with the problem of racism against black players.