49erssports.com - The Qatar 2022 World Cup is about to start. The competition that brings together the best countries in the world of football has always been a major concern.
The selection of Qatar as the host makes this edition of the world cup unique and different. Unusually, the competition is played in winter, in the middle of the domestic leagues.
These changes were taken to make the competition more comfortable. The climate of Qatar as a middle eastern country is known to be hot, therefore the competition is shifted to winter.
The decision to choose Qatar was taken in 2010, aka 12 years ago. At that time, the decision was announced directly by Sepp Blatter, FIFA president at that time.
Most recently, Blatter admitted that the Qatar election was a big mistake. What does it mean?
A mistake
The Qatar World Cup this time has been hit by slanted news for a long time. There are strong protests related to the issue of low salaries of migrant workers who are asked to build infrastructure for the sake of the world cup later.
There were concerns that the World Cup might be boycotted, but fortunately the participating countries still showed a professional attitude.
"The choice of Qatar was a mistake," Blatter said, quoted by Tages-Anzeiger via Sky Sports.
"At that time, we in the executive committee actually agreed that Russia would host the 2018 edition and the United States in 2022. This election will at the same time be a gesture of peace."
Luckily there is no boycott
There were concerns about protests from participating countries, but so far it seems that there will be no significant changes. The World Cup starts in two weeks, the competition should be running as it should.
"I can only reiterate this: Voting for Qatar was a mistake and I am responsible for it as the incumbent president," Blatter continued.
"Now that the World Cup is near, I'm happy that no footballer is boycotting, of course with a few exceptions."
"For me, obviously Qatar was a mistake. It's a bad choice," he concluded.