In December, FIFA president Sepp Blatter revealed that several nations in the Middle East were interested in staging games during the tournament and said he had met with officials in Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait on the issue, although Qatar would have to suggest the move first.
Platini, who has also called for a winter World Cup to be considered in 2022, said he thought it would be a good idea for the Qatar competition to be opened up to other countries.
“I hope it will be a World Cup of the Gulf. It could be the World Cup of Qatar but played in the Gulf,” said Platini, who also called for a winter World Cup to be considered. “I think we need political people (for it to happen), but I think so.”
Neither the winter tournament suggestion nor the cross-Gulf idea was discussed in public during last year’s World Cup bidding process, but 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.”
Platini also urged England to stop complaining about the country’s defeat to Russia in its 2018 World Cup bid and referred to the process behind the new appointment of Football Association chairman-elect David Bernstein as being “very strange”.
