Sepp Batter says Qatar cheated to host World Cup

The disgraced former Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, has claimed that his fellow executive committee (Exco) members ignored advice that Qatar was incapable of hosting a World Cup when they voted to award the competition to the Gulf state.

He alleges Qatar’s shock victory was a combination of a rule-breaking collusion deal and political pressure exerted on Michel Platini, the French Exco member.

The claims are made in Blatter’s recently published book Ma Vérité (My Truth), the 82-year-old’s defence of his 17-year reign as Fifa president, which ended with a six-year ban from football.

Blatter says “nobody” on the Fifa Exco, which was superseded by the Fifa council in 2016, read the detailed inspection report on the candidate countries, because they had all already made up…