Sepp Blatter on Monday condemned Europe’s media for relentlessly “attacking” 2022 World Cup host Qatar. Speaking at the Asian Football Confederation’sawards in Kuala Lumpur, the FIFA President defended the Arab country’s right to host the tournament. “It is not fair when the international media and especially European media are taking up thefocus of an Arab country here in Asia, and attacking, criticizing this country,” Blatter said. “We are defending it. We have taken the decision to play a World Cup in the Arab world and we have takenthe decision to play in Qatar and we will go and play this. … in 2022 in Qatar.”
While Blatter received loud applause at the end of his speech, it did not go unnoticed by the European mediathat the FIFA President had as recently as last week criticized Germany and France for pushing Qatar’s bid to host the tournament to suit their “economic interests.” Blatter had alsoblamed European construction companies for doing business in the country after an Amnesty International report pointed out that migrant workers were being treated like “animals.” He calledthe conditions for these workers “unacceptable.”
Rights groups, meanwhile, have called for a boycott of the 2022 World Cup in the wake of Amnesty’s report, which said workerssuffered exploitation and hazardous conditions. Qatar, meanwhile, has called the allegations “exaggerated.”