[anderson]

My understanding is that FIFA required all-seaters for 98 and 02. Can anyone confirm whether that's now a standard requirement for hosting a WC?

If so, I'm sure FIFA would make exceptions as it sees fit, but if it really sticks to an all-seater requirement, that really increases the financial resources required to host. You can build, but that's just not feasible for most countries. You can also convert stadiums to all-seaters, but it's still very expensive and usually reduces capacity.

An all-seater requirement may significantly impact South Africa's bid for 2010 (or any other African bid). If the information below is accurate, SA has only three all-seaters, and two of them seat fewer than 40,000:
http://www.worldstadiums.com/africa/...h_africa.shtml.

A number of other countries (Brazil, Mexico) that could potentially step in to save the day in the event that SA fails would also face the same problem.

[RichardL]

I'm sure the all-seater ruling came in as far back as 1990. Germany will be all-seater in 2006, although some of their stadia currently have terracing.

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by anderson
An all-seater requirement may significantly impact South Africa's bid for 2010 (or any other African bid). If the information below is accurate, SA has only three all-seaters, and two of them seat fewer than 40,000:

This is precisely the reason why the various threads regarding whether Africa can host the WC anytime soon are just so facile.
South Africa is the continent's best bet. Yet as you point out, their facilities are so sub-standard as to be laughable when put in the context of hosting the second largest sporting event in the world.
Yes, we know that all this is some 7 years away, but it would be a transformation of truly epic proportions. Tie the time factor to the money factor and general wellbeing of the country together and it becomes almost a vertical uphill struggle.

And then there are those who insist that Morocco, Libya Egypt and various other sundry nations also have an outside chance at hosting it ... then my patience just fades.

[Sachin]

All World Cup stadia must have more than 40,000 seats. I assume they all must be all-seaters as well.

Sachin

[Mayo_Bhoy]

Even the qualifiers have to be played in all seater stadiums. They are so strict on this that it's going to cause major problems for Ireland for the 2006 qualifying campaign as Landsdowne Road's capacity will be restricted to just 23,000. Since standing on terraces was done away with, the FAI have had to install 12,000 temporary bucket seats for competeitive qualifying games but these will not be allowed in future. Even then 35,000 was never a sufficient capacity as pre WC 2002 friendlies attracted 40,000 + crowds.

[anderson]

Originally posted by Mayo_Bhoy
Even the qualifiers have to be played in all seater stadiums. They are so strict on this that it's going to cause major problems for Ireland for the 2006 qualifying campaign as Landsdowne Road's capacity will be restricted to just 23,000. Since standing on terraces was done away with, the FAI have had to install 12,000 temporary bucket seats for competeitive qualifying games but these will not be allowed in future. Even then 35,000 was never a sufficient capacity as pre WC 2002 friendlies attracted 40,000 + crowds.

Interesting point. Requiring all seaters for WC quals really raises the bar for everyone. I can see UEFA being able to enforce that requirement, but do you think that every confederation could do so? Concacaf and CAF have some very small countries with few resources. I wonder whether some of the very early round Concacaf quals among the Caribbean minnows all take place in all seaters. I doubt it, but who knows.

[ursula]

I seriously can't imagine CAF's qualifiers being in all-seaters. Same with many AFC games too.

[CrewDust]

Do all seaters have to be individual seating? Or can they be bleacher seating. For example the Rose Bowl is mostly bleacher seating along with most of the biggest stadiums in the US.

[RichardL]

Originally posted by CrewDust
Do all seaters have to be individual seating? Or can they be bleacher seating. For example the Rose Bowl is mostly bleacher seating along with most of the biggest stadiums in the US.

I don't think bleacher seating is allowed any more. Several Italian stadiums had to install proper seats (among other things) and were apparently not too pleased when FIFA bent the rules to allow the USA bid 4 years later.

[Maczebus]

Originally posted by RichardL
I don't think bleacher seating is allowed any more. Several Italian stadiums had to install proper seats (among other things) and were apparently not too pleased when FIFA bent the rules to allow the USA bid 4 years later.

Why am I not surprised that the words 'USA', 'rules' and 'bent' appear in a single sentence, yet again?