Platini: 2022 World Cup could be shared
Reuters - Wednesday 12 January 2011, 15:00
NYON - UEFA president Michel
Platini has said that he believes the 2022 World Cup could be
shared by Qatar with other countries in the region.
"The World Cup is Qatar's but I think maybe it could be the
World Cup of the Gulf," he told reporters during an informal
briefing at UEFA headquarters, without naming any potential
co-hosts.
Although Qatar bid to stage the World Cup on its own in 2022
in the summer, the Frenchman said he did not see any problem in
making changes to the tournament once the decision had been
made.
"When we held the World Cup in 1998, we made lots of changes
to the original plan," he said.
Platini, who is also a member of the FIFA executive
committee which chose Russia as 2018 hosts, reiterated his view
that soccer's governing body had been right to take the
tournament to new regions.
The Frenchman has already said he would be happy to see the
tournament staged in January or February rather than June.
Players and coaches have expressed concern about conditions
in the Middle East summer even though Qatar has promised to
build air-conditioned stadiums using cutting-edge technology."
Platini said he could not explain why England had only
received two out of 22 votes in the 2018 contest and Australia
only one in the 2022 contest despite having technically strong
bids in both cases.
"I don't know, people made a choice... it's like going into a
restaurant," he said.
"You can choose beef, fish, chicken or veal, but you can't
always explain why you choose one and not the other."
Platini then questioned the foreign ownership of football
clubs in the English Premier League and said Spain was his
favourite model.
"I think the owner of the club has to have some kind of
identity with the region and with the supporters," he said. "I
like the Spanish system, where the supporters are also members
of the club."
Platini, who will stand unopposed to retain the presidency
of UEFA in 2015, shrugged when asked if he intended to one day
run for FIFA presidency.
"How can I talk about being president of FIFA when I want to
be president of UEFA until 2015," he said.