FIFA President Sepp Blatter has confirmed that "human-rights criteria will be used in assessing bids to host future World Cups," according to the London INDEPENDENT. The news follows criticism of the human-rights record of 2022 host Qatar and is "belated acknowledgement" from Blatter that FIFA must modernize, as he faces a re-election vote in May. Blatter: "I will tell you, that human rights and other rights will be part of the basic conditions to organize the competition. That will be new for the next World Cup -- the World Cup 2026." Blatter, attending the Asia Cup final in Sydney, admitted that FIFA had "learned some valuable lessons from the controversy-tinged process of voting for two World Cups -- 2018 and 2022 -- in one sitting" (INDEPENDENT, 1/31). REUTERS reported Blatter "often talks about being the head of the 'football family' but if the boos that greeted his appearance at the Asian Cup final on Saturday are anything to go by, he is not too popular with his Australian cousins." He was "roundly jeered when he was introduced to the crowd at the trophy ceremony after Australia beat South Korea 2-1 in extra time." Blatter was standing alongside Asian Football Confederation President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, who had "provoked the ire of many in Australia when he was quoted in an interview as saying some Gulf nations wanted the Socceroos out of Asia" (REUTERS, 1/31).
