ZURICH, July 17 (Reuters) – FIFA President Sepp Blatter set
out to mend his relationship with Germany on Tuesday by
clarifying comments which appeared to suggest the country could
have “”bought” the right to host the 2006 World Cup.
The 76-year-old Swiss wrote a letter to Bild newspaper,
explaining that what he was trying to say in an interview
published on Sunday was that World Cup hosting decisions were
always surrounded by suspicion.
In the interview with Swiss paper Sonntagsblick, Blatter
remembered that Germany were awarded the tournament ahead of
South Africa in 2000 after the Oceania representative on FIFA’s
executive committee, Charles Dempsey, abstained from voting.
“World Cups being purchased? There I am reminded of the vote
for the 2006 World Cup, where somebody left the room at the last
minute. And so suddenly instead of 10-10, the vote stood at 10-9
in Germany’s favour,” Blatter was quoted as saying, although the
actual final vote was 12-11.
““I’m happy that I did not have to cast the decisive extra
ballot. But, well, suddenly someone stood up and left. Perhaps
in that case, I was also too well-meaning and too naive.
““No I don’t suspect (that the 2006 World Cup had been
purchased). I’m making an observation.”
In Tuesday’s letter to Bild, Blatter said he wished to put
his comments into context.
“I wanted to say that one can always find a pretext to doubt
the legality of a decision,” he said.
““It shows that with a World Cup hosting vote, you can
always find a pretext to spin a conspiracy theory. Even in
connection with Germany, which delivered a perfect World Cup, a
summer fairly tale of which the whole country can be proud.”
Continued…
