Shocking as Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter Admits Making a Mistake By Awarding Qatar World Cup Rights

• Former FIFA president Sep Blatter has confessed that it was a mistake to award Qatar the World Cup hosting rights
• The disgraced ex-FIFA boss insists the United States of America would have been the best country to host the competition
• The 2022 FIFA World Cup will begin in 12 days time, as 32 countries battle for the ultimate prize in the Gulf nation

Sepp Blatter has admitted that FIFA was wrong to award Qatar the hosting rights of the 2022 World Cup.

The Gulf country will host the World Cup from November 20 to December 18, after close to a decade of preparation.

Qatar's hosting of the tournament has been subject to various controversies, including reports of poor treatment of immigrant workers.

Blatter, who was boss during the awarding of the World Cup host to Qatar, believes his former office made a mistake in the decision.

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"The choice of Qatar was a mistake," Blatter told Swiss outlet Tages-Anzeiger. "At the time, we actually agreed in the executive committee that Russia should get the 2018 World Cup and the USA that of 2022.

Blatter believes that if two political opponents had hosted the Mundial one after the other, it would have served as a stepping stone towards peace.

The former world football boss also believes Qatar is too small a country for the scale of the World Cup and the sport.

Blatter added that to him, it was clear that granting Qatar hosting rights was a mistake; a bad choice.

"What I'm wondering: why is the new FIFA President [Gianni Infantino] living in Qatar? He can't be the head of the local World Cup organisation. That's not his job. There are two organising committees for this - a local one and one from Fifa."

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Platini: World Cup was fixed

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that former UEFA President and France legend Michel Platini has revealed that the 1998 World Cup draw was tampered with.

Platini, who is currently under trial together with former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, has confessed that there was a scheme to ensure that hosts France didn’t meet pre-tournament favourites Brazil until the final.

Platini is one of the few players to have won the Ballon d’Or at least three times, for his exploits in 1983, 1984 and 1985. After retirement, he served as the head coach of the French national team from 1988 to 1992.