Former German football federation (DFB) chief Theo Zwanziger can for now continue calling 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar "the cancerous growth on world football," a Dusseldorf court said Tuesday in a preliminary ruling.
The regional court said that the statement, made in a radio interview in June 2015, still met the criteria of freedom of speech and took precedence over possible damage to the reputation of Qatar's football association (QFA) which is suing Zwanziger.
A final ruling was announced for April 19.
Zwanziger, the DFB president until 2012 and executive at the ruling body FIFA until 2015, has been a long-standing critic of the Qatar World Cup and has called for it to be stripped of the tournament.
He made the statement leading to the court case in an interview with Hessischer Rundfunk when asked in connection with corruption allegations against FIFA whether the World Cup vote should be reviewed.
"I always said that Qatar is the cancerous growth on world football. It all started with that decision" to elect Qatar World Cup hosts, he said.
The QFA said Zwanziger's statement showed collective disrespect and was slanderous, and sued Zwanziger for a nominal damage of 100,000 euros (108,000 dollars).
Zwanziger said the remark was referring not to Qatar as a nation but rather FIFA's awarding process and vote result.
"I never wanted to insult a person from Qatar," Zwanziger said Tuesday.
The awarding of Qatar for 2022, and Russia for the 2018 World Cup, is being investigated by Swiss prosecutors in one of the ongoing corruption probes.
Qatar is also under heavy criticism from human rights groups and trade unions over the treatment of migrant workers, with many of them working on World Cup-related projects.
Zwanziger meanwhile is one of three former DFB officials probed by German authorities on suspicion of tax evasion in connection with a payment to FIFA around Germany's hosting of the 2006 World Cup.
