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FIFA executive brands Qatar World Cup 'a blatant mistake'

A bit of sense with this man.

FIFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE  member Theo Zwanziger has called the decision to award Qatar the World Cup in 2022 a “blatant mistake”.

Qatar’s bid was favoured over those of the USA, South Korea, Japan and Australia, but concerns regarding the viability of playing in the country’s searing summer temperatures were raised immediately.

As a result, a move to play the tournament in Qatar’s winter has been mooted.

Zwazinger was not part of the committee that made the decision but the German believes that it should be allocated elsewhere if the country is not  a suitable host.

“It was a blatant mistake,” the 68-year-old told Sportbild magazine.

“If the decision was really a mistake it should be lifted and should not become an even bigger burden for those who are not involved by changing it to the winter.”

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has suggested that the tournament should be moved to avoid the soaring temperatures in the Middle East, but the former German Football Association president does not agree.

“Changing the World Cup to the winter is going deep into the structures of European national federations and also amateur football in Germany,” he added.

“A change in playing schedules does not only affect the Bundesliga but continues affecting lower divisions due to the link with promotion and relegation. The game pyramid is in danger and so is the unity of German football.”

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6 Comments
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    Mute Leo O'Connell
    Favourite Leo O'Connell
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    Jul 24th 2013, 5:53 PM

    It amazes me how already rich people such as blatter sell them selves for more money so that Qatar can stage this tournament…. It’s easy for him to say that everything must be restructured while he sits on his fat lazy, stupid and corrupted ass, that decision was unbelievable, how is this man the ultimate pioneer for football!?!?

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    Mute P O Leary
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    Jul 24th 2013, 6:01 PM

    This is one of the most stupid decisions in football. I would love if European Football Associations started sending letters to Fifa stating they will be unable to send teams to the tournament due to the unavailability of players because of club Duties. No club competition should be changed.
    The dogs on the street know this world cup was bought.

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    Mute Creamy Hamstrings
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    Jul 24th 2013, 6:42 PM

    Look at the face on your man on the left. He looks like an Austin Powers villain!

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    Mute Barra Ó Murchú
    Favourite Barra Ó Murchú
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    Jul 24th 2013, 9:32 PM

    Isn’t alcohol illegal in Qatar?

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    Mute Mark Duffy
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    Jul 24th 2013, 6:52 PM

    Typo in the headline there: ‘blatant’ instead of Blatter. Damn autocorrect!

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    Mute King Mak
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    Jul 25th 2013, 3:43 PM

    Some reports say that this issue is a blatant mistake?

    Up to this moment, almost all have been discussed thoroughly. We know that there were two most influential people in FIFA having different ideas about the 2022 tournament. One aimed at USA while the other the Qatar.

    Also, it is already a truth that the one who wanted to give the holding right to Qatar is Platini because he admitted. As well, he admitted that, before the vote, he had already promised two things to the Qataris heads. One of these two promises is to move the time from summer to winter. Therefore, it is impossible to say that the FIFA voting members did not know.

    Adding to the admittance of Platini, the other lower and middle ranked officials in FIFA knew too. That is why they have a technical report saying that it is a high risk to hold the tournament in Qatar in summer. Apparent and reasonably, no super figure head in FIFA dared say no to Qatar, like telling Australia that Australia is not the targeted choice, because the wealth power of this middle east country which has many influential people, like rich businessmen and the then AFC president. Remember also that when Australia wanted to bid for a winter World Cup tournament for better TV watching rate due to the higher population in the Asian time zone, Blatter turned that proposal of changing to winter down. This suggestion by the Australian bidding team was well reported. Why Australia asked for a change? Maybe, it was because that they have heard that the competitor, Qatar, was asking for a change. Why Blatter turned the change down? Maybe, he was targeting for USA to hold the World Cup in 2022. Anyhow, there is no excuse whatsoever that the senior, middle or junior officials did not know. Actually, almost everyone in the world knows the heat problem in Qatar as far as he/she can use online technology.

    As said above, Blatter did ask Qatar not to apply due to the heat problem, like refusing to recommend Australia to enter the bidding competition, because he could not dare say no to the very influential Qataris and some of the high ranking members in FIFA. Therefore, he was thinking that the technical report would work, working in a way to change some of the minds of the voting members. However, he failed. That was why we could see some of the reports saying that he mentioned about the technical report in a number of occasions after Qatar had won.

    After saying so many facts that almost everyone knew beforehand that there was a heat problem in a country in the middle of a desert, many dare say that this is not a mistake. This is not a mistake as titled. This is the most blatant cheat!

    This is a cheat.

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