**FIFA president Sepp Blatter has admitted that it was "a mistake" to choose Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup.

**Blatter said that the technical report into Qatar's bid had warned that it was too hot but despite that, FIFA's executive committee had voted for the Middle Eastern country.

The FIFA president said it was now "probable" that it would be played in the winter rather than the summer due to the heatBlatter told Swiss TV station RTS: "Yes, it was a mistake of course, but one makes lots of mistakes in life. "The technical report into Qatar said clearly it was too hot but the executive committee - with a large majority decided all the same to play it in Qatar."

There have also been numerous corruption allegations about the bidding process for the tournament and reports of alleged abuses of the rights of migrant workers employed on World Cup projects.

Blatter insisted however that Qatar had not "bought" the World Cup - the bid did spend large amounts of money on sponsorship and development programmes. He added: "No, I have never said it was bought, but that it was due to political considerations."

A report in the Daily Mirror in March claimed that over a thousand people have died in Qatar during their £39 billion building spree for the 2022 World Cup.

In a Special Report for Eurosport last September, Philippe Auclair exposed the unseen human cost of holding the World Cup in Qatar. "Qatar can boast of the highest GDP per capita in the world - $106,000 (£68,000) in 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund. But this figure doesn’t reflect the huge disparity between the incomes of Qatari nationals and the non-national transients who make the overwhelming majority of the population, and whose lot is a sorry one," wrote Auclair.

"The recruitment process itself is highly suspect, relying on a system of sponsorship via placement agencies which is widely abused; passports may be confiscated on arrival; and, once in situ, those immigrants are routinely denied basic rights granted to workers in most parts of the world. They are de facto non-citizens. Football has, so far, chosen to ignore this.

"According to all independent reports, those migrant workers toil six days a week (no summer break for them), 10 hours a day, for less than $10 (£6.40) a shift. They are crammed in rudimentary camps mostly devoid of decent sanitation and – not a luxury in Qatar – air conditioning.

"Though official statistics are not available, credible evidence has emerged tosuggest a staggering death rate among the young, fit men who come to work there."

Lol, he tell this because he is very silly. Fifa is like his house and everybody does what Blatter wants...
He voted USA, while he was aware that Qatar will get the world cup. Sarkozy-Platini and the prince met in the president house ( L' élysée ) to discuss about this, we are talking about money here and building contracts....
France and Germany contributed to give Qataries the WC, and Blatter was smart to not take the responsability of this even if he took a huge amount of money probably...
So since he is affraid from Platini to take his place, and since its impossible to play any sport in Qatar in the summer.....

Anyway, i dont like his atitude fooling people, he voted USA only because everybody were voting Qatar.
In 2006, he gave it to Germany while that was promised for Africa, just to not get beaten by Beckenbauer in Fifa elections, then he gave it to South Africa while Morocco had the best project and favours of Europeen countries.

Those people are the worst, gangsters in disguise preaching love and humanity rights while they are corrupted and criminals, when Europe will be free from all this hypocrisy.

@tiki blablabla illuminati illuminati, blablabla fifa evil 666, blablabla sarkozy terrorist. Stop being so cynical all the time that would do you some good.

@KingHenry

Wtf? Lol.

Back to the topic, the case for Qatar being just too hot for the WC isn't the big problem. I mean, Brazil is pretty f*cking hot too.

The problems lie elsewhere. Qatar, as a nation, has had nearly no footballing history. The FIFA World Cup should be held at a nation where the footballing culture is rising to the top or has already been established. I mean, look at Brazil 2014. The final of this World Cup will be held at the Maracana, where legends like Zico, Pele, Carlos Alberto, and Rivellino were crowned kings. Who wouldn't want to play a WC final in the Maracana? It would be much better to hold the World Cup at some nation like Uruguay (who have already won 2 World Cups) or Belgium (who have a team full of up-and-coming talents).

I'm pretty sure that holding the WC in the winter would f*ck up the schedules of all the leagues too. You'll see all of Europe's big leagues forced to bend their schedules around the WC, and the oncoming summer transfer window will be shortened (along with preseason). The entire flow of football will be ruptured, and it will take at least two years to fully recover again. Players will be exhausted from playing club football, then going to the WC, then coming back and continuing their club season. On top of that, they'll start the next season without any preseason to rest and prepare for. It's pretty damn annoying

Blatter is a complete retard (I think he proved how retarded he could really get with the public 'joke' about Cristiano Ronaldo), but the summer heat is the least of the problems with Qatar. To be honest, if Qatar really is fixed at being the 2022 hosts, I'd much rather have it be in the summer with air conditioned stadiums (so that the annual flow and culture of football isn't disrupted) than have it held in the winter.

@dynastian the heat is a real problem, it's way way hoter than brazil in the summer. The kind of hot that kills you. It is a desert climate after all if I'm not mistaken. The biggest issue with Qatar is that this country is full of shit, they don't respect human rights at all. Who gives a crap about footballing culture when Qatar uses modern slaves to build its stadiums and hundreds of workers die on the job ? The 2022 world cup is litterally tainted with blood. Platini and the bunch are scum.

^ watch your mouth, you don't know shit about Qatar.

@Zakzook

Actually, I think KingHenry has a valid point here. It's been proven that Qatar uses poor workers to build stadiums, and human rights are violated as the workers keep on dying in the midst of their work, but yet nothing is done for them. And as far as I'm concerned, Qatar has laws against homosexuality. Whatever your stance may be about homosexuality, you can't deny that every person has the right to their own sexuality, and any laws against it can be considered as a violation of human rights.

"A report in the Daily Mirror in March claimed that over a thousand people have died in Qatar during their £39 billion building spree for the 2022 World Cup."

• This should say it all. Whether it is exaggerated or not, many many people have died while building the stadium. That's not something you can excuse. The World Cup should not have deaths related to its name.

^ Nothing is done to Homosexuals in Qatar. People hate them, laws don't do much to them. As for the workers, never heard of it. I would like to see any kind of valid proof of these deaths? There are more than 500,000 laborers in Qatar, maybe they're just listing everyone that died while working on the World Cup? You know people die everyday, and it's not always somebody's fault. Moreover, more than 1200 would have died if they stayed in their homeland. These workers come from horrible environments and only accept coming here because it's worse wherever they came from. Oh may I add they can go back home whenever they choose to? They would not even pay for it, the employer would.
Also, the Qatari people are mildly racist (even to me) but it has nothing to do with the government.
Qatar is as good as it gets here in the Middle East.
Sources: Me, I freaking live here.

@Zak: Wow, I didn't know about the racism in Qatar. So even with fellow Arabs they can be racist?

Also, for the temperature thing. Qatar has an average of 42C ( or something around that) in the summer. I don't know if that's too high ( I'm used to it) but it's also very humid at times, which is a much bigger problem. Stadiums will be conditioned so they are not a problem, but I fear that Europeans won't be able to move out of their hotels.

@V, they are not the harmful kind of racist. They just see themselves to be a big deal ( because the country favors them a sh*t ton obviously). Yeah they're racist to others; especially Egyptians by the way. They are not racist to other gulf Arabs ( Emiratees, Saudians, Bahrinies.. etc..). They are all so rich and think they're a class above everyone else that lives here. They think this land is theirs( which it is) and everyone else is privileged to live here; and they DO let you know it. Although the royals and the classier section of them are very respectful and nice. Sometimes they are not trying to be racist but they just are subconsciously used to it.
Also, I'd like to explain why is it a big deal to be a Qatari: It's because you can not become one. My father lived here for 35 years, I lived here for 17 and neither of us has the Qatari passport. You're either born with it or not. Qataries get a lot of stuff from their governments. Like: free education abroad even if it costs 60k$ a year ( they'd also pay the living prices), free electricity and water, etc... They're just born rich.

" You're either born with it or not. Qataries get a lot of stuff from their governments. Like: free education abroad even if it costs 60k$ a year ( they'd also pay the living prices), free electricity and water, etc... They're just born rich."

What the fu...

Damn that is one privileged country.

@Kinghenry Watch this and eat your words, or maybe switch off tv.

Qatar are investing massively in our country, the World Cup given to Qatar or Sarkozy/Obama winning Nobel prizes of peace is the proof that our world is sick, the truth is ugly, should we ignore it ??

Fifa is a dictature and Blatter is 80 yo and still not want to quit.

We are talking about big amounts of money, not kids playing in a garden.

@zakzook it's known that workers in Qatar are exploited, they're even held against their will. No they can't leave whenever they want, and no the conditions they work in don't respect human rights. Middle East has a HUGE way to go until they're up to par with occident in that aspect.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/26/qatar-world-cup-migrant-workers-dead

@tiki I have no idea where you read that sarkozy won the nobel prize, it's not the first time you've brought that up btw. LOL

and yes I realise FIFA is corrupt to the bone, and Qatar is not happening just because they are nice people.

Yeah.. no.. they can leave whenever they want. I think you missed the part where I told you I live here...

@zakzook No they can't. There's this well known story of a french footballer who was not allowed to leave the country.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/foreign-footballers-describe-poor-treatment-in-qatar-a-926920.html#ref=rss

And it's the same with the workers.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/revealed-qatars-world-cup-slaves

Ok, so I've read the first one and a bit of the second. They ,as far as I read, had nothing to do with the government. It's just bad people doing bad sh*t to others while breaking the law. It happens everywhere. Let's take the US for an example. No one would complain if the US was the world cup host but the US has racism and bad treatment to illegal immigrants from South America.

AFP 7 octobre 2011

Le prix Nobel de la paix 2011 a été conjointement attribué vendredi à deux hommes, le Président Nicolas Sarkozy et le Premier Ministre David Cameron, pour leur participation active au cote du peuple libyen, dans leur libération de la tyranie, ainsi que leur courage et leur determination pour l'avenement de la démocratie en Afrique.

Translation :

AFP October 7, 2011

The Nobel Peace Prize 2011 was awarded jointly to two men Friday, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister David Cameron, for their active participation to the side of the Libyan people in their liberation from tyranny, as well as their courage and determination for the advent of democracy in Africa.

If France has a good relationship with Qatar, Israel and other terrorist nations : Its because of one thing, we are just not better.
So yes, Europeen politians and media are bunch of corrupted hypocrits, nothing new here. And Europeen people just trust their media and very ignorant of whats happening outside their country, in Mali it would be impossible for a French to go there in few years, we are stealing their ressources for Arèva our lovely multinational...

Really, we dont have any moral lessons to give to the world...

Libya had as many gold as England, now they had 0, they were stolen 500 Billion Dollars invested in occident, 250 in US and 200 just in Europe, Sarkozy and Cameron took a huge amount to kill Khadafi, not to arrest him...

Its not really my problem if you dont give a sh*t or understand how it works, but dont jump on me like this because i say something ugly, the truth is ugly.

For English people, follow this man and support him. He is the future...

@Tiki

"Qatar, Israel and other terrorist nations..."

I wouldn't call them 'terrorist nations' my friend. They are Islamic nations. It's not the fault of the people that some idiots with 'radical ideas' change the world's perception of the entire nation. Just because radical and extremist terrorism is mostly in the Middle-East doesn't make those nations 'terrorist nations'. 99% of Muslims hate terrorists.

@Zakzook

We're getting political here.

"No one would complain if the US was the world cup host but the US has racism and bad treatment to illegal immigrants from South America."

• Uhh, okay. Give me proof that the US has done things like this because of a sporting event. None of us would be arguing here if we were just talking about governments mistreating immigrants. Every country's government does that. The difference is, Qatar is doing it because of the World Cup. And that's where the conflict arises.

Seriously, where do you think these 100 million dollar worth of stadiums are going to go after the WC? They're not going to be used. Those 60,000 seats are going to remain empty for God knows how long. Do you really believe that the Qatari are that passionate about football that they will go in the tens of thousands just to pack a stadium to watch a local team? If that indeed was the case, Qatari football would be a hell of a lot better than it is now, and their national football team would've achieved something by now. Maybe the Qatari team may have actually qualified for a World Cup by now. But we all know that this is not the case.

A simple fact. Look at South Africa. What are those 100 million dollar stadiums doing now? Just sitting there. What a wonderful use of money. The US would've been a much better choice than Qatar for the World Cup. They have no heat issues (in case you didn't know, 42 C is ridiculously hot, and the average temperature in Europe is less than 20 C), already have huge stadiums built for football, have a developed and increasingly improving football industry, have a tremendous fan base for football, and is a country that people would actually go to to watch the World Cup.

@kinghenry

Come on mate , and France does not use thousands of illegal workers ( who die , get sick , disappear ) that are building France ? When you talk about other country start with your own . Democracy in France is cover up .

Edit; P.S. In France employers take passports from immigrants and making them work without getting paid . Just stop , you are not in position to accuse any country .