Blatter says failure to secure strong African support was a critical blow for Paris and Munich – the latter having a direct link to football.

In an interview with Kicker magazine, Blatter disclosed that German complaints about the 2010 World Cup in South Africa led to Munich's hopes of staging the 2018 Winter Games being scuppered when the vote took place at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Durban last year.

"Allow me to reveal something to you which I predicted to Lord Mayor of Munich Christian Ude prior to the award of the 2018 Winter Olympics," said Blatter. a member of the IOC since 1998, the year he was elected as the head of FIFA.

"In the build-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, [Bayern Munich President] Uli Hoeness and company griped and moaned to the point where it couldn't get any worse.

"I advised Ude that Paris lost the 2012 Olympics to London because they failed to court the African votes.

"In the case of Munich, Issa Hayatou (pictured right), President of the African Confederation (CAF), clearly told Franz Beckenbauer before the award in Durban, 'you can't count on a single African vote for the Olympic Games in Munich.

"'We've not forgotten the way you tried to destroy the African World Cup.'

"And so it came to pass.

"You will never host the Olympic Games without the 12 African votes."

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