Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter says the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was a “mistake”.
Blatter, 86, was president of world football’s governing body when Qatar was awarded the tournament in 2010.
The Gulf state has been criticised for its stance on same-sex relationships, human rights record and treatment of migrant workers.
Blatter said he was “right” to have said at the time that the tournament “should not go” to Qatar for 2022.
In an interview with Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger, Blatter added Qatar is “too small of a country” to host the tournament and that “football and the World Cup are too big for it”.
The Qatar World Cup, the first to be hosted in the Middle East in the tournament’s 92-year-history and the first during the Northern Hemisphere winter, takes place from 20 November to 18 December.
Fifa’s executive committee voted 14-8 for Qatar to host the tournament ahead of the United States 12 years ago, at the same time Russia was awarded the 2018 event.
