Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 9y

Eric Cantona questions point of staging 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Eric Cantona has told RMC he sees no good reason why the 2022 World Cup should be played in Qatar, arguing that football has little future in the Gulf state.

On Thursday, a FIFA judge cleared Russia and Qatar of corruption in their winning bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in a report, clearing the way for those events to be staged as envisaged.

FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert formally ended an investigation into the bidding contests almost four years after the vote by the governing body's executive committee when he published the 42-page report.

But FIFA investigator Michael Garcia blasted Eckert's report, saying it "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed" in his own report, and said he would appeal.

The developments deepened the controversy over the decision to award the tournament to Qatar, where there is little public interest in football.

That was also the case when the 1994 finals were awarded to the U.S., but former Manchester United star Cantona, 48, said the potential of the game in that country had made that a sensible move.

"I think it's extraordinary," he said. "In 1994, it was about giving the World Cup to a country where football could develop."

He argued that if the 2022 tournament was to go to a "non-football" country it should have returned to the States, adding: "There is real potential due to strong South American immigration. In the universities, there are more and more people playing.

"What can develop in Qatar? Why stage a World Cup there? If you give it to a country that's not a football country, give it to a country where football needs developing. I don't see it there really."

#INSERT type:image caption:Cantona sees little value in staging the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. END#

Since retiring from football in 1997, Cantona has established himself as an actor and has also begun making documentaries.

His latest, which looks at football and immigration, will be shown on Canal+ and includes interviews with his mother, who was born in Spain, as well as the Algeria-born father of Zinedine Zidane.

Former France captain Zidane is now coaching at Real Madrid's Castilla reserves setup, and Cantona said: "He was a great player. He has something to pass on.

"He has, above all, a great passion. He has done things with a lot of humility at the start by taking charge of the reserve team. He's learning, too. He can be a great coach, and he has a lot of personality."

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