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By Andrew Warshaw
October 9 – Asian football’s most powerful administrator has revealed he would have preferred the votes for the next two World Cups to be split.
Mohamed bin Hammam (pictured), head of the Asian Football Confederation, says he favoured the 2022 decision being put back until 2016 in order to reflect the normal protocol.
FIFA is voting on both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments on December 2 in Zurich, the first time venues for two World Cups have been decided at the same time.
The change has been made for commercial reasons but many observers still cannot work out the rationale- with Bin Hammam top of the list.
“Frankly speaking it looks to me like it was based on a commercial point of view,” said Bin Hammam.
“I hear that it can generate much more revenues if we can combine the two.
“I personally was of the view that we have to separate it and spread them.
“But the decision has been taken to combine them.
“I now, of course, am one of the people who decided to bring them together, but we should have decided [different] days for two different competitions.”
Bin Hammam questions whether deciding on the venue for the World Cup 12 years in advance is politically sound, pointing out that the make-up of FIFA’s 24-strong voting Executive Committee will have changed well before then.
“To decide something for 2022, it is a long time,” he said.
“You don’t know what will happen in these 12 years.
“I was of the opinion that 2022 should be decided in 2016.
“At that time there could be a different Executive Committee in place.
“In my opinion we have taken the right of some people who will be on the committee in 2016 to making [the decision].
“If we are deciding 2022 this year, what is to prevent us from next year deciding 2026?”
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