Sepp Blatter has cast further doubt over the legitimacy of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process by claiming there was an agreement in place to award the tournaments to Russia and the USA before voting had begun.
In December 2010, the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively by Fifa’s executive committee but Blatter, the suspended Fifa president, has suggested there was an agreement in place regarding who would host the competitions.
A number of countries, including England, spent millions of pounds during a process that has since been tainted by alleged corruption.
Blatter’s claim prompted an angry response from the FA chairman Greg Dyke, who said they would now investigate the possibility of recovering the £21m spent on the failed bid – £2.5m of it public money.
In a remarkable interview published by the Russian news agency, Tass, Blatter described at length his difficult relationship with the Uefa president, Michel Platini.
The pair have been banned from football activity for 90 days by the Fifa ethics committee who – as well as Swiss criminal authorities – are investigating a £1.35m payment made to Platini by Fifa in 2011. Both men deny wrongdoing.
Blatter, 79, believes Fifa would not have become engulfed in a crisis had the USA been awarded the 2022 World Cup instead of Qatar, saying the intervention of the then-president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, proved crucial in changing the pre-planned course of events.
“In 2010, we had a discussion of the World Cup and then we went to a double decision,” said Blatter. “For the World Cups, it was agreed that we go to Russia because it’s never been in Russia, eastern Europe, and for 2022 we go back to America. And so, we will have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers.
“And everything was good until the moment when Sarkozy came in a meeting with the crown prince of Qatar, who is now the ruler of Qatar [Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani]. And at a lunch afterwards with Mr Platini, he said it would be good to go to Qatar. And this has changed all pattern.
“There was an election by secret ballot. Four votes from Europe went away from the USA and so the result was 14 to eight. If you put the four votes, it would have been 12 to 10. If the USA was given the World Cup, we would only speak about the wonderful World Cup 2018 in Russia and we would not speak about any problems at Fifa.”
Dyke, giving evidence to the culture, media and sport committee on Wednesday, said: “We will look in detail at what Mr Blatter says. I suspect the response [from him] will be ‘I was misquoted’, but if he says that then I think there is something to investigate.
“There’s nothing Mr Blatter says that surprises me much. If he is saying ‘we wanted Russia’ and it looks like he wanted that fixed before the vote, it’s suggesting that it was all fixed anyway.”
Asked if the FA would look to reclaim the bid costs, Dyke replied: “We will obviously go back and look at it. I think it would be a good idea. But get the bid costs back from whom? From Fifa? I agree it would be very nice to get taxpayers’ money back.”
He also accused Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) President Michel Platini of being the direct cause of the scandal that has shaken the foundations of the highest organisation of world football.
“At the beginning, it was only a personal attack. It was Platini against me,” Efe quoted Blatter as saying in an interview with Russian news agency TASS from Zurich.
Blatter stressed that Platini “wanted to be FIFA president” but “he had not the courage to go as the president”.
“UEFA is affected by anti-FIFA virus for years before my presidency. They have an anti-FIFA virus,” the Swiss declared.
He recalled that before Platini was elected to head the UEFA they were “best friends”, but then he “suddenly” did not invite him to the opening of the European Championship in 2008.
“And since then I never went to UEFA competitions because it’s non-respect, not to me as a person, but to the office and the people I represent,” he said.
At the same time he came out in support of the Frenchman maintaining that the two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) Platini received from FIFA, which caused his temporary suspension, was payment for work and does not represent a criminal act.
The Swiss said that he proposed working with him after the 1998 World Cup held in France, but Platini, who is also temporarily suspended for 90 days, asked for a million francs a year, an exorbitant figure for FIFA.
“We have made some contract where he got some money, but not one million. He was working until he was elected in 2002 to FIFA Executive Committee and UEFA Executive Committee.
“He stopped his working contract because he was then an official of FIFA,” he said.
In 2010, Platini asked FIFA to pay its debt, to which Blatter asked for the head of UEFA’s own estimate of the amount.
“He said we owe him two million Swiss francs. And then I analyzed that and I said okay, it’s a contract we have made.
“And it’s a principle I have in my life that if you owe money to somebody, then you pay it,” he said.
