FIFA president admits Qatar World Cup may be a mistake

Sep 6, 2013; San Jose, COSTA RICA; United States forward Clint Dempsey (8) celebrates after scoring on a penalty kick in the first half against Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas (1) in a FIFA World Cup Qualifier at Estadio Nacional. Costa Rica defeated the United States 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

FIFA’s World Cup bidding process is already tainted with bribery allegations. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar provides a whole different set of challenges like figuring how to keep players and teams cool in a very hot climate.

Deadspin noticed this interview and Blatter’s repeated attempts to try and explain the decision behind trying to get it to moved to Winter and the notion that Europeans are attached to the concept of playing in their summer climate and might need to consider bending to the needs of the rest of the world.

From Insideworldfootball.com:

"President Blatter, when you took the initiative and unilaterally announced that the FIFA World Cup cannot be played in Qatar’s summer months, many people agreed. But when you offered to take the matter to your Executive Committee (FIFA’s Board) and urge it to postpone the World Cup to winter, initially all hell broke loose. Did you expect such a violent reaction?JSB: Well, to be honest, I was not completely surprised because Qatar, like all other bidding nations, had bid for staging the World Cup in summer. After many discussions, deliberations and critical review of the entire matter, I came to the conclusion that playing the World Cup in the heat of Qatar’s summer was simply not a responsible thing to do – despite the fact that I know full well that Qatar has the means to develop the best cooling technology. That is why I went public and suggested that the FIFA ExCo should review the period when the event shall be staged and see what consequences it would have to play in winter."

"…but Mr Blatter, your ExCo knew full well, already on December 10, 2010, that a summer World Cup would be impossible to be hosted in Qatar’s scorching summer…JSB:… that may well be so, and it may well be that we made a mistake at the time. On the other hand, you must also consider political and geo-political realities. The World Cup is FIFA’s biggest if not only global event. Who are we, the Europeans, to demand that this event has to cater to the needs of 800 million Europeans above all, when there are over 7 billion people who populate this planet and of who 6.2 billion are not European, but who must at all times succumb to our diktat? I think it is high time that Europe starts to understand that we do not rule the world anymore, and that some former European imperial powers can no longer impress their will on to others in far away places, and we must accept that football has moved away from being a European and South American sport: it has become the World Sport that billions of fans are excitedly following every week, everywhere in the world."