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Blatter admits Qatar 2022 WCup may be a ‘mistake’
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Europe’s top soccer leagues yesterday urged FIFA to avoid a “hasty decision” on rescheduling the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
On Monday, Blatter said awarding the World Cup to Qatar may well have been “a mistake.”
The European Professional Football Leagues said “such an important decision (about rescheduling the World Cup) cannot be rushed with artificial deadlines.”
Blatter previously said his executive committee should decide on October 4 that the tournament cannot be played in Qatar’s summer heat. Hepromised to consult leagues, clubs, national federations and players’ unions before deciding when FIFA’s marquee event will be played.
A winter tournament would shut down Europe’s top leagues for weeks.
Staging the tournament in the Middle East has caused much controversy because if it is held over its traditional dates in the middle of the year, players will have to contend with heat at up to 50 degrees Celsius.
Calls to move the World Cup to later in the year, during the European winter, have also been unpopular as it will cause major disruption to domestic league competitions in countries such as Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France.
Asked by insideworldfootball.com on Monday about awarding Qatar the tournament, Blatter said: “It may well be that we made a mistake at the time.”
Blatter added: “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?
“I think it is high time that Europe starts to understand that we do not rule the world any more, and that some former European imperial powers can no longer impress their will on to others in far away places.
“We must accept that football has moved away from being a European and South American sport — it has become the world sport,” he said.
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