'They want to destroy us,' says Sepp Blatter as he brands Qatar critics racist
Fifa boss launches scathing attack on 'all the destructors in the world'
Fifa president Sepp Blatter launched a scathing attack on those he said were “plotting to destroy” world soccer’s governing body, and branded some of the criticism of the Qatar World Cup award for 2022 as racist.
Blatter was addressing delegates of the African and Asian confederations at their extraordinary congresses ahead of Fifa’s annual congress which starts on Tuesday.
The African congress, which declared its “continued support” for Blatter, who intends to run for a fifth term as president next year, also passed a resolution condemning what it called the British media’s racist attack on its officials.
Once again there is a sort of storm against Fifa relating to the Qatar World Cup. Sadly there’s a great deal of discrimination and racism and this hurts me
Blatter’s comment came in the wake of a series of fresh allegations made by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper about the award of the Cup to Qatar and rumblings from sponsors who are unhappy with the trouble Fifa is facing.
Blatter, without defining who “they” were, told Asian delegates “they want to destroy us; they don’t want to destroy football, but they want to destroy the institution (Fifa)”.
He got a standing ovation when he told the delegates to “show unity in Fifa”.
"Show unity and confirm this unity, it’s the best way to reply to all the destructors in the world,” Blatter said.
Earlier, Blatter spoke to delegates at the African Congress and without naming names described attacks on the Qatar World Cup as “racist”.