Zinedine Zidane explains Qatar support
Via ESPN Soccernet
PARIS -- Zinedine Zidane insists his decision to back Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid was motivated by a pledge to help soccer spread to the Middle East, rather than the promise of money.
In an interview with sports daily L'Equipe on Wednesday, the former France star who inspired his country to the 1998 World Cup title denied suggestions he received huge sums of money to promote the bid.
"After studying Qatar's project, I wanted to do it and I will tell you why. But first of all I want to touch upon something: money," Zidane said. "Ten, 11, 12, 13 million euros was mentioned. I will say it clearly: That's a load of rubbish. It wasn't even a third of these sums."
Qatar surprised many observers when it beat competition from the United States, Australia, South Korea and Japan to host the prestigious FIFA tournament.
Zidane said he did get paid, but he didn't personally benefit.
"It is a lot of money. But this money is distributed by the Zidane foundation," he said. "I didn't do it for money."
Zidane retired from soccer in 2006, and said he was asked to play for Qatar.
"When I stopped playing football, Qatar approached me and wanted me to play there," he said. "[I was offered] a blank check, I could have written whatever sum I wanted. I didn't want to go and play in Qatar."
However, Zidane said he gave his word to help in the future.
"I said to these people from Qatar: 'One day I hope I can help you in a project that's beneficial for the future of sport, [and] football in particular,' " Zidane said.
"For example, the redistribution of stadiums to developing countries. People will tell me, 'Qatar is tiny,' but through Qatar it's the whole of the Middle East that's concerned."
Qatar's bid secured the backing of Zidane, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, former Netherlands defender Ronald de Boer and Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.
"Why shouldn't they have the right to organize a World Cup?" Zidane said.
Zidane also gave his backing to France's successful bid to host the 2016 European Championships -- but is angry at the players for going on strike at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The team refused to train after striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home for insulting then-coach Raymond Domenech.
"I don't think they yet realize what they did," Zidane said. "For them it was nothing major, when in fact it was serious."
Several players received bans, with former captain Patrice Evra handed a five-game suspension.
What does him supporting Qatar have to do with terrorism? Sometimes I think people writing stupid headlines like that should be banned from the internet. It would do the place some good...
ReplyDeleteNothing at all... it was a joke! Sometimes I think people who take everything serious on the Internet should be banned... It would do the place some good....
ReplyDeleteYou're a fucking clown with that headline if you think it's a "joke"! What are you, 5 yrs old? (sorry, 5 yr olds tend to have more intelligence)
ReplyDeleteLook buddy, don't come at me with your liberal propaganda about not using the word terrorism. Wasnt trying to offend your apparent love of Zidane. I was just making a correlation between Zidane & the Middle East. Thought it was funny and I thought it would get people to read it, which it apparently did. Thank you, good night.
ReplyDeleteWell look...there are jokes and there are "jokes". If you write something like this you probably only did it to attract people to your blog because everyone with a brain would know this headline is way more than just a little provocative and that it shouldn't be a joke. But then again...I find these celebrity death hoaxes about as funny as this. I just don't get this crap. I don't think that just because something is supposed to be a joke, it should be allowed to be said. The fact alone that you came up with a stupid headline like that and thought it was funny says enough about the world and about the relations we all have with each other. It's just plain sad and to me it's about as funny as seeing a dead cat on the street.
ReplyDelete