Sepp Blat­ter, the pres­i­dent of FI­FA when Qatar was award­ed the 2022 World Cup host­ing rights in 2010, told Swiss news­pa­per Tages Anzeiger that “Qatar is a mis­take,” adding that “the choice was bad.”

The Qatar de­ci­sion has been marred by con­tro­ver­sy, in­clud­ing al­le­ga­tions of cor­rup­tion and hu­man rights vi­o­la­tions, since it was an­nounced.

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Blat­ter, who led FI­FA for 17 years, has al­so been em­broiled in ac­cu­sa­tions of cor­rup­tion dur­ing his tenure. He was cleared of fraud by a Swiss court in June. The pros­e­cu­tors have ap­pealed the rul­ing.

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“It is too small of a coun­try. Foot­ball and the World Cup are too big for it,” Blat­ter said of Qatar, the first coun­try in the Mid­dle East to host the tour­na­ment.

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He said FI­FA amend­ed the cri­te­ria it used to se­lect host coun­tries in 2012 in light of con­cerns over the work­ing con­di­tions at tour­na­ment-re­lat­ed con­struc­tion sites in Qatar.

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“Since then, so­cial con­sid­er­a­tions and hu­man rights are tak­en in­to ac­count,” he said

Blat­ter said he will be watch­ing the tour­na­ment, which kicks off in less than two weeks, from his home in Zurich