Blatter refuses to speculate on Qatar 2022

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called for patience as questions remain over whether Qatar could be stripped of the 2022 World Cup.

The governing body’s ethics committee are investigating claims made by a report in the Daily Telegraph in relation to alleged bribes.

The report said former FIFA executive committee member Jack Warner and his family requested payments from his Qatari colleague Mohamed Bin Hammam not long after the World Cup vote.

Blatter said he would wait for the ethics committee to report back instead of speculating.

“I can only answer what I have said and I am not a prophet to see what will come out of any problems we have in international football,” he said.

“This problem (alleged bribes) is now dealt with by independent party and let them deal with this problem.

“Once dealt with we come back and then we can have this dialogue about the responsibilities or not.”

Blatter plans to visit Qatar in the coming months after the 2022 tournament organisers were criticised for mistreating workers.

The 78-year-old distanced FIFA from being responsible.

“In Qatar we are speaking about the problems of the workers in Qatar,” Blatter said.

“We insist that the responsibility first lies on the state of Qatar, secondly on the companies they are employing and the workers.

“When I compare it to FIFA we have 400 people working for us and I would say the president is responsible for them and their welfare so the big companies working there are responsible for the workers.”