Michel Platini calls for World Cup of Gulf

UEFA president Michel Platini has called for the 2022 World Cup to be played across the whole of the Arabian Gulf rather than just in Qatar.

His call is likely to fuel the controversy sparked by Fifa president Sepp Blatter saying he expected the tournament to be played in the winter - neither proposal was suggested during last year's World Cup bidding.

Platini has also labelled English football administration as "strange" but denied that resentment at Britain's special status within Fifa led to England's humiliating 2018 World Cup defeat. He said: "I hope it will be a World Cup of the Gulf. It could be the World Cup of Qatar but played in the Gulf."

Asked why such drastic changes could be considered when they were never mentioned during the bidding campaign, Platini added: "Who will remember the words in 12 years? In 12 years everybody will be happy to have a very well-organised World Cup and not remember what's happened before. When I organised the World Cup in France we did (things) differently from what we proposed in the bid."