Qatar’s 2022 bid gets Bin Hammam backing

Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam, pictured, said he would vote for Qatar to host the World Cup in 2022.

Fifa’s 24 executives will choose who hosts the 2018 and 2022 World Cup events on December 2 in Zurich.

Underlining his desire to see the tournament return to Asia for a second time, the AFC head said his vote would go to the other three Asian nations bidding to host the 2022 event if Qatar was not in the running.

“I have one vote… And frankly speaking, I will vote for Qatar but if Qatar is not in the run, I will vote for another Asian country,” Bin Hammam said.

“I am president of Asia so it is my duty to see that World Cup will be hosted in Asia no matter which country,” he said on the sidelines of a football forum in Singapore.

Qatar, South Korea, Japan and Australia — all members of the AFC — are bidding to host the 2022 World Cup.

The World Cup was played in Asia for the first time in 2002 when South Korea and Japan co-hosted the event, which rivals only the Olympics as the world’s biggest sporting spectacle.

England, Russia and the United States are bidding to host the World Cup either in 2018 or 2022, as are Spain-Portugal and Holland-Belgium. If Europe gets 2018, the continent will be excluded from the 2022 race.

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