“Maybe football has become so big that it has gotten out of hand, it has created a monster”

the former president of Fifa, Sepp BlatterIn an interview with Die Zeit, he spoke again about his management of world football: “I really tried to always serve football. If I hurt him, I’m sorry. Football will never lose its soul, but maybe It got so big that it got out of control. I made a monster. As for the Qatar World Cup prize, I don’t get money I don’t earn. That is why nothing can be proven against me in all actions taken against me. They never bribed me. The allegations always come crashing down, most recently this past July. I have a clear conscience. It failed to protect football from economic and political influence. But I could not have predicted that it would come this far. What is happening now is the over-commercialization of the game. They’re trying to squeeze more and more lemons.”

“It is no secret that I voted for the United States and against Qatar as the venue for 2022. We had a good relationship with Putin. I also thought it would be a great idea to host the World Cup first in Russia and then in the United States. But there were political forces stronger than me. – he added Blatter – People always think of the flu as in gangster movies, where bags full of money are delivered to a secret location. That was not the case. At that time, we had a consensus in the Executive Committee to award the 2018 Games to Russia and the 2022 Games to the United States. Discuss it in advance. Shortly before the elections, Michel Platini came to me and told me that the French president had advised him to vote for Qatar with his constituency. Four European votes went to Qatar.”

Blatter also spoke about the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy: I asked Platini: Did he order you to do this? He said no, he recommended it to me. The French voted for Qatar. Here’s how it works. French companies played a major role in building the state of Qatar. Sport is a reflection of society as much as politics. Neither athletes nor politicians can be better than humanity.