2022 World Cup remark court case

Next week German court will hear a case in which Qatar is suing former German FA (DFB) and ex-FIFA executive Theo Zwanziger for referring to the 2022 hosts as 'cancerous growth on world football'. On Tuesday the Dusseldorf regional court said in a statement that the hearing will start on 02 February with disputed amount of 100.000 euros, with the verdict not expected the same day. The DFB president until 2012 and FIFA executive member until 2015, has been a long-standing critic of Qatar hosting the World Cup and called for it to be stripped from the tournament in the past. In Hessischer Rundfunk's radio interview last June when asked in connection with corruption allegations against FIFA, whether the World Cup vote should be reviewed, he stated that 'I always clearly said that Qatar is the cancerous growth on world football'. Because of those words, Qatar FA stated that Zwanziger's statement showed collective disrespect and was slanderous. On the other hand he defends his saying that the remark was not referring to Qatar as a nation but rather to FIFA who award the process and vote result.
Meanwhile Zwanziger is one of three former DFB officials probed by German authorities on suspicion on tax evasion with a payment to FIFA around Germany's hosting of the 2006 World Cup.