World Cup 2018-General Discussion Thread

[comme]

This was intended to be a thread starting with details of the potential hosts, but also including any news or pronouncements on who might bid, and stadia developments.

I have set out below the most likely potential stadia for England's bid. Would be good if people could do the same for their own nations. Please only set out likely or confirmed stadia.

Please don't use criteria (such as the maximum of two cities rule, as this has not yet been specified for the 2018 tournament)

England

Major games hosted: 1966 WC, 1996 European Championships, 2012 London Olympics

Potential stadia:
Wembley (London: 90,000)
Old Trafford (Manchester: 75,000)
Stanley Park (Liverpool: 70,000 planned)
Emirates: (London, 60,000)
St James Park (Newcastle: 52,000)
New Notts Forest (Nottingham: 50,000 planned)
Stadium of Light (Sunderland: 48,000)
Eastlands (Manchester: 48,000)
Villa Park (Birmingham: 43,000)
Elland Road (Leeds: 40,000)
Hillsborough (Sheffield: 40,000)
Molyneux (Wolverhampton: 40,000 planned)
Valley (Charlton: 40,000 planned)

Mods: Might be useful to edit this opening post with other bids when posters update them.

[whycareaussieisbest]

AUSTRALIA

Suncorp-Brisbine(55 000)
Telstra-Sydney (90 000)
SFS -Sydney (50000)
Telstra dome-Melbourne (75 000)
MCG-Melbourne (100 000)
Dairy farmers-Townsville 25 000 could be upgraded to 45000
Skilled park-Gold coast 28000 could be upgraded to 45 000
Energy Australia-Newcastle 26000 could be upgraded like the above
Adelaide new stadium 60 000
Perth new stadium 65 000
Bruce stadium- Canberra 26 000 could be upgraded to 45
Wollongong 23 could be upgraded as a bove.

So A lot od stadiums need to be upgraded but i reckon we could still hold it
England will get 2018 but we can always try

[ATLfirefan]

UNITED STATE OF AMERICA

Major Events Hosted: 1904, 32, 84, 96 Summer Olympic; 1932, 60, 80, 2002 Winter Olympics; 1994 World Cup, 1999, 2003 Women's World Cup

New Cowboys Stadium- Arlington, TX- 80k-100k
New Meadowlands- E. Rutherford, NJ- 80k
Gillette Stadium- Boston, MA- 68k
FedEx Field- Landover, MD- 90k
M&T Bank Stadium- Baltimore, MD- 68k
Bank of America Stadium- Charlotte, NC- 73k
New Dolphin Stadium- Miami, FL- 75k
Raymond James Stadium- Tampa, FL- 65k
LP Field- Nashville, TN- 68k
New Saints Stadium- New Orleans, LA- 70k
Reliant Stadium- Houston, TX- 71k
Soldier Field or Olympic Stadium - Chicago, IL- 61k or 80k
INVESCO Field- Denver, CO- 76k
U of Phoenix Stadium- Glendale, AZ- 63k
New LA Memorial Coliseum- Los Angeles, CA- 90k
New Chargers Stadium- San Diego, CA- 70k
New 49ers Stadium- San Fransisco, CA- 75k
Qwest Field- Seattle, WA- 67k

So, from that list it could be narrowed down to the best bids by each city.

[comme]

The other potential bidders that I have heard of are Qatar, Russia, Holland/Belgium, Spain/Portugal, Israel/Palestine Mexico and Canada.

Of these I think we can say that the Qatar bid seems far fetched based on a number of factors. The heat, complete lack of stadia, size (it only has 1.5m inhabitants) all would make a bid virtually impossible.

Israel and Palestine seems pie in the sky as well, for many of the same reasons as Qatar, but also the huge security risk and the fact that most of the Asian nations wouldn't play there.

The others all have a realistic chance, so would be good to know more about their potential bids.

[frasermc]

The other potential bidders that I have heard of are Qatar, Russia, Holland/Belgium, Spain/Portugal, Israel/Palestine Mexico and Canada.

Of these I think we can say that the Qatar bid seems far fetched based on a number of factors. The heat, complete lack of stadia, size (it only has 1.5m inhabitants) all would make a bid virtually impossible.

Israel and Palestine seems pie in the sky as well, for many of the same reasons as Qatar, but also the huge security risk and the fact that most of the Asian nations wouldn't play there.

The others all have a realistic chance, so would be good to know more about their potential bids.

comme,

are you suggesting that Spain would entertain co-hosting with Portugal?

i'd have thought the Spanish would want to host it independently. surely they would have the stadia and the infrastructure to achieve that?

[comme]

Well according to this they are considering it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/11/27/sfnwcp127.xml

[frasermc]

Well according to this they are considering it

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/11/27/sfnwcp127.xml

thanks for the link comme.

i just found it strange for them to talk of co-hosting. i thought there was bad blood between them after Portugal grabbed EURO2004 from them.

i suppose petty differences are put to one side when chasing the opportunity of hosting a world cup. again though, i thought FIFA were starting to edge away from co-hosting as much as it could.

[Rig1964]

Potential stadia:
Wembley (London: 90,000)
Old Trafford (Manchester: 75,000)
Stanley Park (Liverpool: 70,000 planned)
Emirates: (London, 60,000)
St James Park (Newcastle: 52,000)
New Notts Forest (Nottingham: 50,000 planned)
Stadium of Light (Sunderland: 48,000)
Eastlands (Manchester: 48,000)
Villa Park (Birmingham: 43,000)
Elland Road (Leeds: 40,000)
Hillsborough (Sheffield: 40,000)
Molyneux (Wolverhampton: 40,000 planned)
Valley (Charlton: 40,000 planned)


Don't know where you got that from but I'm not aware of any plans for Notts to share a stadium with Forest??? There are plans for a new Nottingham Forest stadium though.

Out of curiosity by Notts do you mean the Cricket club or Notts County?

[RobTheFool]

Olf Trafford will be closer to 90,000 capacity by 2018, and you could scrap the Emirates for the Olympic Stadium

[comme]

Don't know where you got that from but I'm not aware of any plans for Notts to share a stadium with Forest??? There are plans for a new Nottingham Forest stadium though.

Out of curiosity by Notts do you mean the Cricket club or Notts County?

Sorry I meant Nottingham Forest. I can see why it would be confusing. :)

[comme]

Olf Trafford will be closer to 90,000 capacity by 2018, and you could scrap the Emirates for the Olympic Stadium

There are significant problems in expanding OT any further I believe, due to the position of the South Stand.

Last I heard the Olympic stadium was going to have a significantly reduced capacity after the games, but of course anything is possible.

[Lusankya]

A Confederation who hosted a WC isn't allowed to bid for the next two tournaments, is that still true?

[tomwilhelm]

A Confederation who hosted a WC isn't allowed to bid for the next two tournaments, is that still true?

It is this week...

[ATLfirefan]

For the sake of doing so:

SPAIN

major events hosted: 1992 Olympics, EURO 1964, 1982 World Cup

Possible Stadiums:
^Nou Mestalla (2009)- Valencia- 75k
^Estadio San Memes (2011)- Bilbao- 56k
Nueva Romareda (2009)- Zaragoza- 43k
GipuzkoArena (2009)- San Sebastian- 42k
Estadi RCDE (2009)- Cornellà-El Prat- 39.5k, but could be expanded
^Estadio Santiago Bernabeu- Madrid- 80k
*Vicente Calderon- Madrid- 57.5k
^Nou Camp- Barcelona- 98.9k
*Estadi Olimpic- Barcelona- 56k
^Estadio La Cartuja- Sevilla- 72k
Estadio Riazor- La Coruña- 35.8k, needs expansion
Estadio Nueva Condomina- Murcia- 33k, needs expansion
* indicates second stadium in a city, FIFA only allows one city to have two stadiums

Portugal

major events hosted: EURO 2004

Possible Stadiums:
^Estadio da Luz- Lisbon- 65.6k
Estadio Jose Alvalade- Lisbon- 50.3k
^Estadio do Dragao- 50.1k
^Municipal de Aviero- Aviero- 30.6k, needs expansion
^Estadio Algarve- Faro- 30.3k, easily expandable
^Cidade de Coimbra- Coimbra- 30.5k, easily expandable
Municipal de Braga- Braga- 30.1k, needs expansion
Estadio Pessoa- Leiria, 30k, needs expansion

Portugal doesn't have as many as the other countries that could bid, but would be interesting to see a joint bid between the two countries. Indicated by a ^

[GriffinGunner]

I could've sworn some of this was covered already...

a) Most likely the English bid will use Emirates or some other club facility. The Olympic stadium is scheduled to be reduced in capacity to, IIRC, a 25k athletics facility. Further, the bid would seek to serve as a promotion for the English club stadia and the Premiership, which is why I expect to see them skip over Twickenham, as well. Seeing as the FA and clubs will be partners in the bid, they'll seek to ensure their members reap the benefits as opposed to outside parties.

b) Portugal has been pushing the co-hosting route far moreso than Spain, due probably to the notion that (1) they'll likely never get a chance to host otherwise, and (2) this would allow their national team a free entry to the tournament. According to my friends parents in Madrid the Spanish don't need the Portuguese but are placating the interest in case it adds weight to their chances and, for now, it encourages the cities and local clubs to be more aggressive in upgrading their stadium situations. Further, compared to other co-hosting ideas this would be an imbalanced bid with likely 2, maybe 3 stadiums in Portugal. Thus, the benefits to Spain don't seem to be there.

c) FIFA in general isn't enamored with the co-hosting because it would take away one open qualifying spot from the games and can be an administrative structural mess. The Benelux bid has the benefit of a unified governmental and organizational structure from a history of cooperation, and would be much easier to take geographically and with regards to transportation than the Korea-Japan mess of '02. It appears they'll accept such offers but will scrutinize the bid for a level of viability and coordination that must match up with those of bids involving only 1 entity.

d) If a Spanish-Portuguese shared bid seems likely and one that gains favor in FIFA's eyes, I expect the English bid to have a quick, heated debate about the benefits of adding Scotland to their ticket. Having Murrayfield (67k) and an expanded Ibrox (57k) on the ticket instead of smaller stadiums in, say, Bristol and Norwich, would surely raise the appeal of their bid. The question then becomes, does England want to share the bid with Scotland or risk a European team hosting in '18 and thus having to wait till 2030 (at least) to tender another bid?

[ATLfirefan]

Interesting thought, the England/Scotland joint bid. Definitely England has the stadiums, but Scotland has only 4 Stadiums with capacities in excess of 40k, three in one city.

[wufc]

On a slightly off-topic note, does anyone think that the decision to turn Olympic Stadium in London into a 25,000 seater athletics only facility is a bad decision? I mean there are several clubs interested in turning the stadium into their home stadium, and I just don't see it being used often if it were to just house athletics.

[GriffinGunner]

On a slightly off-topic note, does anyone think that the decision to turn Olympic Stadium in London into a 25,000 seater athletics only facility is a bad decision? I mean there are several clubs interested in turning the stadium into their home stadium, and I just don't see it being used often if it were to just house athletics.Someone could correct me but I think one of the unofficial conditions was that England maintain the facility's viability for athletics. It may be best served as that, anyway, as they'll likely be investing so much into the quality of the track and olympic athletic aspects that it'd be a shame to lose that for such events after the games. Plus, they had viable destinations for the stands that are being removed.

I'd have been surprised if Tottenham really wanted to move so far away, and given the name-rights issue such a move would cost Chelsea a great deal. That leaves West Ham, who couldn't find a financially viable proposal for the redone Olympic stadium.

Interesting thought, the England/Scotland joint bid. Definitely England has the stadiums, but Scotland has only 4 Stadiums with capacities in excess of 40k, three in one city. This remains far-fetched and generally undesirable to the pride of many Englishmen, but as the stakes of the bids may change with co-hosting and disparate rotation schedules. If it guaranteed them the WC, would they be amenable to it?

As for Scottish stadia, Murrayfield would be an acceptable venue in Edinburgh while I picked Ibrox over Hampden and Parkhead. The former would be smaller while the latter has obstructed seating and, I'm told, poor conditions along the old main stand. Besides, Rangers are looking for an excuse to expand.

[The_ChelseaSupporter]

The world's going to end in 2012 so I can't understand why you guys are discussing something that will not happen. :rolleyes:

[frasermc]

I'm told, poor conditions along the old main stand.

what poor conditions have you been told about regarding the main stand?

worth bearing in mind is the point that Celtic Park has been chosen to host the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth games. a new rail link is being talked about direct to the stadium.

also, the dugouts are being re-done at this very minute before this season starts.

Scottish internationals were chosen to be played at Parkhead over Ibrox when Hampden was unavailable.

at the end of the day though it doesn't really matter as i could never envisage a joint England/Scotland world cup bid. if England were dependent on the three or four extra stadia that Scotland could provide then i'd imagine their bid would already be floundering.