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FIFA President: Selecting Qatar to Host World Cup Was a ‘Mistake’

FIFA President: Selecting Qatar to Host World Cup Was a ‘Mistake’

In an interview on Swiss TV, the president of FIFA said that the selection of the country Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup was poor judgment. When asked about why the summer tournament is being held in a desert where temperatures regularly reach 120 degrees, Sepp Blatter bluntly responded, “Of course, it was a mistake. You know, one makes a lot of mistakes in life.” The admission comes months after an investigation by the newspaper The Telegraph found evidence that a former FIFA executive accepted bribes in exchange for granting the tournament to Qatar. (Sepp has denied these allegations.)

Along with the extreme heat—which may cause the entire event to be rescheduled for winter months—there have also been major concerns raised over Qatar’s human rights record. A recent ESPN investigation uncovered the awful working conditions the country’s migrant workers are subjected to, and found that there have been hundreds of deaths during construction of the World Cup venues. Though officials have promised to reform the country’s labor laws, ESPN noted that at the current rate, 4,000 workers will be killed by the start of the 2022 tournament because of the terrible conditions …

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