DOHA: World football body Fifa made the right decision in awarding the World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, UEFA president Michel Platini said in a newspaper interview published yesterday.
The head of European football’s organising body told Germany’s e-paper Welt am Sonntag that politicians were “making things too easy” with calls for a Russian boycott in 2018 over the conflict in Ukraine, a sport website iol reported.
Platini also defended his vote as a member of Fifa’s executive committee for Qatar in 2022, and repeated calls for the tournament to be moved to the cooler winter months.
“With Qatar and Russia I chose countries which never had the pleasure of holding a World Cup,” Platini said. “With the development of football in mind it was the right decision.”
Platini said he was “completely happy” to have voted for Qatar and said “it was my decision,” dismissing allegations that he had been put under pressure by the French government to vote for Qatar. Platini meanwhile said that his decision not to stand against Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency was because he had not finished his job as head of European football’s organising body.
The Peninsula
