FIFA president Sepp Blatter is having a hard time brushing away allegations that Qatar bribed two FIFA voters with $1.5 million each to back its successful bid for the 2022 World Cup that arose from evidence given to a Parliamentary hearing by the Sunday Times. The allegations sparked calls for a revote on the 2022 World Cup hosting duties that Qatar initially won by a considerable margin. At first, those calls seemed futile, but according to Blatter, it might not be an impossibility after all.
From our friends at Eurosport:
[Blatter] said: "This is an idea circulating already around the world which is alarming. But don't ask me now yes or no, let us go step by step. It's like we are in an ordinary court and in an ordinary court we cannot ask: 'if, if, if'."
Blatter, speaking in an interview at FIFA headquarters, added: "We are anxiously awaiting for these evidences or non-evidences in order that we can take the adequate steps.
"We will organise and the newspaper have agreed that we will bring this whistleblower here to Zurich and then we will have an investigation of this."
Yes, bring the whistleblower to the headquarters of the people he's whistleblowing against. There's no way that could possibly go wrong or end with him in a secret dungeon.
That aside, it's kind of amazing that Blatter isn't completely shutting down talk of a revote before it gets louder. Is it diplomatic lip service because he's days away from a re-election vote or is he genuinely considering a fresh vote if these allegations prove too strong to ignore? It's hard to say. But, again, the fact that he'd even humor the idea of a do over is notable in itself.
Photo: Reuters
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