And Blatter says he is hopeful that he can persuade the game’s senior figures to move the Qatar World Cup to winter, rather than have matches played in temperatures of up to 50 degrees in the summer.
The final decision will be taken in
October, when Blatter will try to have his proposal to switch the
tournament to winter endorsed by the FIFA Executive Committee.
Asked by insideworldfootball.com about
awarding Qatar the event in the first place, Blatter said: “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?
“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 faraway places.
“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.”
Regarding his plan to switch the event
to winter, he said: “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.
“First, we need to see whether the owner of the FIFA World Cup
– FIFA – actually agrees with my recommendation, one that I shall table
at the October 3/4 ExCo meeting, and whether it follows my advice to
change the dates from summer to winter.
“Once the Executive Committee of FIFA has agreed to that, we can take the next step.
“The next steps will include a close
look at the international calendar and to establish what consequences
the change would have. And we would naturally need to speak to and
consult with all interested parties and stakeholders.”
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