From Andrew Warshaw in Nyon
January 12 – The controversial decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has taken yet another unexpected twist with UEFA President Michel Platini suggesting it could be expanded to include other Gulf nations.
Platini is widely assumed to have voted for the tiny Middle East country that swept to victory at last month’s vote despite it having no footballing pedigree to speak of.
Within days of the December 2 ballot, several of football’s most influential voices – not least FIFA President Sepp Blatter – were calling for the tournament to be held in winter, seemingly moving the goalposts AFTER the event.
Now Platini is suggesting it could be staged by the entire region – another aspect that was not mentioned in Qatar’s original presentation.
“I hope it will be a World Cup of the Gulf,” said Platini.
“It could be the World Cup of Qatar but played in the Gulf.
“I think we need political people [for this to happen], but I hope so.”
The charismatic Frenchman categorically denied he was pressurised by French President Nicolas Sarkozy into voting for Qatar in exchange for stronger commercial ties with the oil and gas-rich state.
“Nobody tells me who to vote for,” he says defiantly.
Yet his latest remarks, over lunch at UEFA headquarters in Switzerland, will only serve to fuel persistent rumours that Qatar’s landslide 2022 victory had much to do with collusion and vote-trading.
Platini shakes his head at all the talk of skulduggery.
“Let me tell you one thing.
“A World Cup in Qatar will generate less money than a World Cup in the United States.
“In 12 years everybody will be happy to have a very well-organised World Cup and not remember what’s happened before.”
Platini says the principle of taking the World Cup to fresh territories was exactly the same for both the 2022 and 2018 votes.
“When Russia come and show the map of Europe, with the World Cup in all the west countries, they say ‘sorry, you have 400 million (people) here and…we have never received the World Cup’ – it’s one more important point.”
He totally rejects claims that FIFA members were bought and that they did the dirty on other candidates, not least England who only received two votes.
Critics of the way England were treated, Platini says, should stop moaning.
Drawing a parallel with the way London upset Paris for the 2012 Olympics, he said: “Just because the FIFA members don’t vote for [England] doesn’t mean they don’t like [England].
“When the 2012 Olympics did not come to Paris, did everyone say that the IOC was corrupt?
“The [England] bid was very good, fantastic, but FIFA decided they had to go to east to Russia instead of Spain or England.”
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