Sepp Blatter just gave an utterly bizarre interview to a Russian state-owned news agency

Sepp Blatter has given an interview with a Russian state news agency in which he appears to have suggested that Fifa executives had decided the 2018 World Cup was destined for the country before the official vote took place.

In a wide-ranging Q&A with Tass, the suspended Fifa president also launched a scathing attack on Michel Platini, Uefa and the European media in general who, he claimed, made a concerted effort to discredit him:

I became the primary target of the attack because since three years already, and specifically after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Uefa did not want me as the president. It was a conducted attack on the Fifa president.

Blatter, being Blatter, also said a whole host of truly bizarre things:

Fifa is so well organised that even big opponents in Germany have to say that Fifa is better organised than the German football.

He also appeared to claim that the Fifa president needed more power over who those who serve under him:

All other members are elected by their Confederations. So, therefore, I am the boss of the government that has not been elected by me.

He seems a little confused about exactly what Fifa is, explaining:

You cannot destroy Fifa. Fifa is not the Swiss bank. Fifa is not a commercial company.

And then saying later:

Since I became president of Fifa, we have made Fifa a big commercial company. And this naturally provokes envy and jealousy.

Blatter took aim at those in the Ethics Committee for suspending him:

This is not justice. I put these people into the office, where they are now in the Ethics Committee and they don’t even have the courage to listen to the secretary general, Platini or me.

And the Swiss media:

I was bitterly affected by how I was abandoned by my own country. The Swiss media got very aggressive against me because I am from a very small canton, Valais, in the mountains and some of the people here think those coming from the mountains eat with their fingers. Primitive.

But he did express his love for Vladimir Putin:

Vladimir Vladimirovich is a good friend of Joseph Josephovich. You know what I like in Russia also is that in difficult situations I still have the full support of President Putin. This is good. And I support him in all discussions, in all situations.

And for Russia in general, really:

My first time when I visited Russia was in 1973. There was the Universiade [sports competition] in Moscow. And later on I came to the Olympics in 1980 and we were received in the Kremlin by Mr Brezhnev. We had the impression that he was moving on roller-skates.

And the Uefa secretary general:

There are people in Europe, especially in the northern parts, who say that if they bring Infantino, that’s the end of Europe. Most of the national associations don’t like Infantino. But all I should like him for is because he’s coming from the village where I’m coming from.

And he finished off with a warning for football fans everywhere:

If God is with me, I do hope that I’ll be back as president of Fifa.

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