SEPP BLATTER has admitted that he thinks giving the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was a mistake.
Qatar was given the right to host the tournament in 2010 amid allegations of bribery and corruption.
The hosts have also been criticised due to their human rights record, including the treatment of migrant workers and laws affecting the LGBTQ+ community.
The tournament also had to be switched from the traditional summer slot to the winter in order for the desert temperatures to be low enough to play in.
Blatter, who was the FIFA president from 1998 to 2015, was banned from football for six years due to corruption but has since been cleared of the charges.
He has now said that the decision to award Qatar the tournament was a mistake.
The 86-year-old also revealed that the plan was to give the 2022 World Cup to the USA as a “gesture of peace”.
Blatter told Swiss outlet Tages-Anzeiger: “The choice of Qatar was a mistake.
“At the time, we actually agreed in the executive committee that Russia should get the 2018 World Cup and the USA that of 2022.
“It would have been a gesture of peace if the two long-standing political opponents had hosted the World Cup one after the other.
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON FOOTBALL
“It’s too small a country. Football and the World Cup are too big for that.
“For me it is clear: Qatar is a mistake. The choice was bad.”
Blatter has also fired a shot at current FIFA president Gianni Infantino for living in Qatar.
He added: ‘What I’m wondering: why is the new Fifa president [Gianni Infantino] living in Qatar?
“He can’t be the head of the local World Cup organisation. That’s not his job.
“There are two organising committees for this â a local one and one from Fifa.”
