By Andrew Warshaw
March 10 – The head of the Asian Football Confederation says western criticism of Qatar as World Cup hosts is being overplayed and, in some cases, has “crossed the line.”
Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa’s comments were made during a recent trip to the Qatari capital, Doha, and will be viewed with considerable interest given that he is the man who has been jointly mandated by FIFA to lead the consultations to come up with most sensible date for staging the 2022 tournament.
“If you look at problems faced by other countries which have hosted the World Cup…they are much greater compared to Qatar’s. I think most of it [criticism] is artificial,” Salman was reported as telling local Qatari media.
Despite FIFA making no secret of the fact that it takes the issue of workers’ rights in Qatar extremely seriously, Salman, himself one of the world governing body’s most senior officials, says some of the criticism has been over the top.
“I think some of the media have crossed the line by focusing on issues that maybe are there but they can be adjusted [resolved] in another way,” he said.
Salman also revealed he is lobbying for more Asian berths at the World Cup. The 47-member confederation has four automatic places plus a playoff.
“I think this is one of our priorities. We hosted the World Cup in Japan and South Korea (in 2002). Now we are going to see a tournament in the Middle East. Of course, it won’t happen at the 2014 edition but hopefully in 2018 or 2022 we can have more countries. We have seen how teams have developed by just appearing at the World Cup. I hope that my colleagues at AFC will have an agenda with other confederations to get what we deserve.”
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