Sepp Blatter planned for the 2018-22 World Cups to be a joint programme between Russia and USA, in an idea he hoped would deliver him a Nobel Peace Prize. A child of the Cold War, the former Fifa president wanted to be the first to bring the two superpowers together in a common project. The idea wasn’t just that there would be a symbolic handover but also that the Local Organising Committees would work together as one.
The details come in a new book by this writer, States of Play, and take on a new resonance given recent political developments as well as the invasion of Ukraine. Blatter’s plan was spoiled by the Fifa ExCo's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar in the immensely controversial joint process in December 2010. The Swiss official angrily blamed much of this on his one-time protege, then Uefa president Michel Platini, who switched his vote to the Gulf state.
