Sepp Blatter says France and Germany intervened over World Cup votes

France and Germany applied political pressure before the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively, former Fifa president Sepp Blatter said.

In an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Blatter – who in June resigned from the FIFA presidency after more than 15 years in charge – insisted that he should not be made a scapegoat for the controversy surrounding the awarding of the World Cup to Russia and Qatar.

The embattled Blatter also said that before the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively, there were two political interventions, as “[former French president] Nicholas Sarkozy and [former German president] Christian Wulff tried to influence their representatives.

“That is why we now have a World Cup in Qatar. Those who have decided that should take responsibility for it,” Blatter said. German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported that Theo Zwanziger, the former president of the German football federation, had recounted that Wulff had asked about the Qatar’s chances of being awarded the World Cup – which claims have been denied by Wulff himself.

Blatter resigned in June following a US-led investigation into allegations of bribes of more than $150 million and which involve high-ranking Fifa officials over a 24-year span. But despite the surrounding controversy, Blatter has remained defiant.

“Is Fifa responsible from the top down for everything in football, what happens in some village somewhere around the world?” asked Blatter, also a target of the American investigation.

“Everyone has fears, for example of death, but with regard to my work at Fifa I have no fear. I’ve nothing to be afraid of,” said Blatter.

“I’m afraid that they want to wreck Fifa, a work that I helped create,” the 79-year-old said.