The decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was called into question by new FIFA executive committee member Theo Zwanziger on Sunday, with the German saying some of his fellow members had been pressurised by their governments to vote for the bid.
The comments from the 66-year-old president of the German Football Association (DFB) to the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper are significant as he was appointed last week by FIFA to head one of the new committees established to clean up the organisation. Accusations of bribery and corruption over the last year have dogged world soccer's governing body.
Zwanziger, who has been a constant vocal critic of last December's decision to give the tiny Arab state the World Cup, pulled no punches.
"In my opinion the vote for Qatar was decided by some members of the executive committee who are in a very close relationship with their governments, who pushed the political case for Qatar," he said.
"I think the choice of Qatar from a sporting perspective is still questionable because, due to the summer climate and the size of the country, a World Cup should not be held there. "This was also evident in the report of the evaluation committee," he added.
Zwanziger, who was not on the exco when the decision was taken, replaced Franz Beckenbauer on the committee after this year's FIFA Congress but said the German Chancellor had never tried to exert any pressure on his predecessor, although he doubted that was the case in other countries.
He also referred to the infamous email, leaked by former executive committee member Jack Warner, that was sent to the Trinidadian by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke.
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