By Andrew Warshaw
December 5 – UEFA chief Michel Platini has again denied that he bowed to government pressure to vote for Qatar to stage the 2022 World Cup. Almost exactly three years since the vote in December, 2010, Platini, who has made no secret of which country he supported in the secret ballot, is still having to fend off suggestions that he did not make an independent decision.
Reports have constantly claimed he made a deal with then French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris in an effort to enhance trade relations between the two countries. But Platini says this is untrue even though he admits he attended a dinner at which the then Emir of Qatar was present .
Speaking to a Spanish newspaper, Platini said: “I received a call from the president of the Republic of France, which is my country as everyone knows. When I arrived I met the Emir of Qatar and the prime minister of the emirate. No-one had told me of their presence.
“We dined together but just as I say that no-one told me the Qataris were going to be there, I can state hand on heart that President Sarkozy did not ask me to vote for Qatar as host of the 2022 World Cup before, during or after that meeting.”
Nevertheless, admits Platini, he could read Sarkozy’s body language.
“I could understand for myself that Sarkozy was interested in Qatar organising the World Cup but he never asked that of me.”
The UEFA boss, who as such is automatically a FIFA vice-president, has been in the forefront of moves to switch the 2022 tournament to winter – a decision that won’t be made until after next year’s Brazil World Cup. But, he says, there is no chance of Qatar being stripped as hosts. “Perhaps we can change the month but not the country.”
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