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2022 World Cup May Have Been Muddled, but the Idea Was Never Inherently Wrong
Published: November 26, 2013
FIFA president Sepp Blatter struck a populist tone on Tuesday when he addressed an audience at the Asian Football Confederation awards in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Speaking as to the ongoing criticism of his organization’s decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, the 77-year-old told delegates it wasn’t "fair" for international media, and "especially European media," to train their focus so exclusively on an Arab country.
"We have taken a decision to play a World Cup in the Arabic world," he said, as per The Guardian. "We have taken the decision to play in Qatar and we will go and play...in 2022 in Qatar."
It wasn’t the first time Blatter had taken an anti-Europe position in defending the controversial 2022 event, which continues to be censured because of Qatar’s LGBT laws, treatment of migrant workers and seasonal issues that will likely move the tournament from the traditional June-July calendar block to one between November and February.
In an interview with insideworldfootball.com in September, he remarked that Europe had no right to dictate to the 6.2 billion non-European inhabitants of the planet, adding: "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 onto others in far-away places."
Later on Tuesday Blatter added some context to his statements via his Twitter account, reminding his followers that "Asia has huge football [development] potential, with 2/3 of [the world’s] population."
It was a pronouncement almost identical to the one he made at the 2011 edition of the Asian Football Confederation awards in Kuala Lumpur when he said: "Asia contains two-thirds of the world’s population and has incredible potential. A strong Asia is good for world football." (FIFA.com)
Still, ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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