SAO PAULO — Football chief Sepp Blatter resisted calls to order a re-vote for the 2022 World Cup Thursday, saying no decision could be taken until FIFA completes a probe of Qatar's winning bid. Speaking in Sao Paulo, Blatter declined to comment directly on mounting corruption revelations embroiling Qatar's win at a controversial 2010 vote. Blatter said FIFA would make no ruling until officials had assessed the findings of the corruption investigation headed by US lawyer Michael Garcia. “I am not a prophet,” Blatter said. “We must wait for the results of the investigation.” Blatter also reminded reporters that FIFA had already assured Qatar this year that the tournament would go ahead. “All I would add, is that this year, in March, the executive committee of FIFA said that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was not in question,” he said. FIFA's executive committee voted to give Russia the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 event at a vote in Zurich four years ago. Garcia is looking into whether there was corruption in the awarding of the tournaments. The 2022 vote has come under renewed scrutiny after The Sunday Times allegations that Qatari former Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam paid more than $5 million to win support for his country's bid. Asia's top Olympic official Thursday said the accusations against Qatar were motivated by “racism.” Pressure for action grew, however, as UEFA President Michel Platini said a new vote should be called if corruption was proved. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah, President of the Olympic Council of Asia and the Association of National Olympic Committees, strongly defended Qatar. The attacks were “racist actions toward Qatar and Arabs, revealing the malice of those parties in a way that has no justification,” the International Sports Press Association quoted the Kuwaiti sheikh as saying. “We will confront all such acts of racism and we will stand with Qatar so that no-one removes its right to organise the 2022 World Cup in Doha,” he added. “I stand by my brothers in Qatar,” the sheikh declared. FIFA investigator Garcia met Qatari World Cup committee officials in Oman this week, a source close to the meetings said. He is to hand his report to a FIFA ethics committee on June 9, the day before the world body starts its annual congress in Sao Paulo. FIFA ‘confident' about World Cup: Blatter FIFA President Sepp Blatter threw his support behind Brazil's troubled World Cup preparations Thursday, insisting he was “confident” the tournament would be a success. “We at FIFA, we are confident, it will be a celebration,” Blatter told reporters in Sao Paulo, the city which will host the opening match of the finals on June 12. Blatter's comments came as Sao Paulo was plunged into transport chaos after a strike by subway workers Thursday. It was the latest in a series of strikes and protests which have plagued Brazil in the build-up to the World Cup. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke also vowed to stage a successful tournament. “We have everything ready for June 12, we have the best base camps for the teams,” Valcke said. “There are no risks for the opening weeks of the competition which are the most challenging because there are the most teams,” he added. “We are in control, we have nothing to fear in the coming days.” Blatter meanwhile said he believed the febrile atmosphere of social unrest which has gripped Brazil in the build-up would subside once the competition got under way. “I'm an optimist,” Blatter said. “After the tournament kicks off I think there will be a better mood.” No guarantee on readiness: Brazil sports minister Meanwhile, Brazil's Sports Minister said it was impossible to promise his country would be ready for next week's opening match of the World Cup. “When you are dealing with an event as big as the World Cup there is no way for you to put a diploma on the wall saying you are ready,” Aldo Rebelo told reporters in Sao Paulo. “You have to be prepared every day,” the normally upbeat Rebelo added. “Everything needs to be working 24 hours. I am not going to hang a diploma on my wall and say ‘Here is my diploma, everything is ready.' We have done everything within our capacity so that things are as close as possible to ready.” — Agencies
