A senior member of FIFA's executive committee has criticized the decision to vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts at the same time in December.
Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who is one of the 24 FIFA voters, believes it was a commercial decision to guarantee the revenue coming into the organization for a significant period.
"To decide something for 2022 is quite a long time (away). You don't know what will happen in these 12 years," Bin Hammam told the Leaders in Football conference in London on Thursday.
"Secondly I was of the opinion that 2022 should be decided in 2016. At that time there could be a different executive committee in place and we have taken away the right of some people who should be in the decision making seats then."
Bin Hammam will be backing his homeland, Qatar, for the 2022 tournament. The Gulf nation's main opposition comes from Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
While the European bidders are also still entered into the 2022 contest, FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes they should get the 2018 edition.
Bin Hammam also told the conference that heexpects China to bid for 2026 if the 2022 World Cup doesn't go to Asia. Successive tournaments can't be held on the same continent.
"China is a great country in the area and great place to host the World Cup in terms of infrastructure, the game (there), the population and the economy," he said.
"Everything is suggesting China is a good place to host the World Cup. They haven't presented a bid for '22, but if Asia doesn't succeed to host '22, they will be interested (for '26)." – Sapa-AP