“Everything turned out just like that”: Blatter spoke about the presence of corruption in FIFA and UEFA

Over the past few years, the International Football Federation has repeatedly found itself at the center of scandals.

FIFA was accused of corruption and double standards both during the reign of Joseph Blatter and after Gianni Infantino came to his post.

And less than two weeks before the World Cup, the former head of the organization revealed details about the elections of the host country of the 2022 World Cup.

According to him, initially the competition was supposed to be held in the United States, and not in Qatar.

“This is too small a country.

Football and the World Cup are too big for that.

Choosing Qatar was a mistake.

At that time, at the executive committee, we agreed that Russia would receive the 2018 World Cup, and the United States - 2022.

It would be a gesture of peace if two long-standing political opponents organized the world championships one after another, ”the Dutch portal Voetbal International quotes Blatter as saying.

Thus, the former president of the federation again gave reason to doubt her cleanliness.

In fact, he confirmed that elections are largely a sham, and decisions are made long before the official vote.

However, in 2010, an unforeseen situation arose.

A week before FIFA's annual congress, then head of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Michel Platini, announced a change in plans.

“He (Platini. -

) was invited to the palace of President Sarkozy, who had just dined with the Crown Prince of Qatar.

Sarkozy told Platini: "Think about what you and your UEFA colleagues can do for Qatar when the World Cup is awarded," Blatter said.

According to the functionary, during a telephone conversation, Platini asked what Blatter would do if the President of Switzerland asked him for something.

The FIFA president admitted that he had not thought about it before, so he could not answer the question.

However, this did not stop the head of UEFA. 

“That’s exactly what happened: thanks to Platini’s four votes, the World Cup went to Qatar, and not to the United States.

It's true," Blatter said.

Among other things, the former FIFA president expressed the opinion that in the case of the victory of Qatar's bid, the case was not without cash injections.

So, Blatter linked this event and the purchase of fighter jets by the emirate from France in the amount of $14.6 million.

True, not everyone took the words of the former head of FIFA at face value.

Blatter's statements were skeptical of the honorary president of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Vyacheslav Koloskov, who also previously served on the FIFA executive committee.

According to him, he personally attended the conference, during which applications for the 2022 World Cup were submitted.

And then it was the World Cup project in Qatar that made a more vivid impression on him, and not in the USA.

“Blatter has spoken out more than once about a possible World Cup in the United States.

He has been saying for eight years now that it would be better to hold the tournament elsewhere.

How could Platini influence the decision on the venue of the World Cup?

Previously, the executive committee was engaged in this, there were 23 people in it.

The President of FIFA himself does not have the right to vote.

Neither Platini nor Sarkozy could influence this, ”Koloskov told the Championship.

It is worth noting that in recent years there has been a lot of information about the complicity of France in the process of obtaining Qatar the right to host the World Cup.

In particular, the well-known portal Football Leaks published documents confirming the fact of Sarkozy's meeting with Tamim Al Thani, at which the forthcoming elections of the host country of the world championship were discussed.

Moreover, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the country Hamad bin Jasim and the head of UEFA Platini were also present at the Elysee Palace at that time.

In exchange for support, Qatar pledged to acquire Paris Saint-Germain and launch a sports channel in France.

And within two years after the voting, both projects were implemented.

In May 2011, PSG was bought by Qatar Sports Investments, and a year later BeIN Sports began broadcasting.

By this time, Platini and Blatter were still at the helm of UEFA and FIFA, respectively, but in 2015 a scandal erupted that cost both their posts.

The Frenchman was suspected of receiving two million Swiss francs from his colleague, which was declared illegal.

And although the fact of the transfer of money was not subsequently proven, both were suspended from football activities for four and six years, respectively.

Remarkably, the story did not end there.

Blatter and Platini were charged with forgery, breach of trust, mismanagement and fraud, and the case went to the Swiss federal criminal court.

They were threatened with a preventive measure of one year and eight months in prison, but on October 8, 2022, both officials were acquitted.

True, less than two weeks later, an appeal was filed against this verdict.

As for FIFA, scandals continued to surround the organization after Blatter's departure.

In 2018, Der Spiegel provided information according to which Infantino covered up the financial frauds of Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

According to the same Football Leaks, the functionary personally helped the clubs avoid sanctions for violating financial fair play (FFP), which threatened them with exclusion from European competition.

The head of the federation himself did not admit guilt and only stated that this was part of a campaign directed against him, the purpose of which was to “undermine the reputation” of him personally, as well as of Secretary General Fatma Samura.

But if in this case the matter did not go beyond publications in the media, then in July 2020 a criminal case was initiated against Infantino.

He was suspected of holding secret meetings with Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber during an investigation into the FIFA corruption scandal.

And although the investigation chamber of the Federation Ethics Committee stopped the investigation against the president in the second half of August, and he himself avoided removal, the charges were not dropped.