Lol ok just setting the bar on who owns Asia and who doesn't. If anything FIFA might try to expand just for the China market and fluke them in like they did in 2002 but China's team needs a major rehaul and is mostly composed of players in their 30s. Arie Haan, Jose Antonio Camacho, Alain Perrin, and Marcelo Lippi couldn't do it. Cannavaro is going to try now.
If they want to encourage people to go to Qatar they should look at the cost of attending. I expect it will be astronomically expensive. Lack of accommodation being the biggie. Anybody who can afford to attend is not likely to have much trouble getting a visa. https://www.businessinsider.com/qatar-2022-world-cup-hotel-shortage-2016-3?r=US&IR=T That is out of date so the situation may turn out to be better or worse than that. I don't fancy camping in the desert and I definitely wouldn't want to trust to AirBnB in Qatar. Cultural issues means I wouldn't be comfortable and relaxed. Not sure that 60,000 rooms would be enough even if they had them. They're surely going to need a higher than usual percentage of visiting supporters as they're the smallest country to host since Uruguay. A lot more tickets to sell these days.
Qatar would be the smallest country to host, period. The Uruguay World Cup doesn't count with respect to fan attendance. No one not living in Uruguay, Argentina or southern Brazil could even reasonably get there. Either the attendance in Qatar will be a fraction of prior World Cups, or it will be utter chaos, with people staying in makeshift camps, if they're lucky.
The GCC is jam-packed with Indians. Ranging from labour class to billionaires. If we can get the ones already here to attend that will go a long way in filling the grounds. As Russell Peters put it, very non-PC like, "Indians are the Mexicans of the Middle East".
Organizing the World Cup in different parts of the world is a good idea, it's a global event, the biggest sporting event on the planet with the power to unite people all over the world. Surely the Middle East and Australia must come their turns. In the Middle East you have other great places such as Egypt, Turkey and Iran. All so-called football-mad nations in the region and they are good places to travel to, it would be a memorable World Cup experience to say the least (even though I don't know much about authorities allowing women and families to enter into their stadiums). The thing is, Qatar is a small country, a very small geographically (at least the Persian Gulf all together is a reasonable choice). A second major problem is the weather conditions in Qatar during summer time so why FIFA trying to make history here, why the need to change in timetable from June/July to November/December in the first place.
2022 will be held in Qatar. Asian country is hosting another WC (Strictly it is Middle East) Well, I have a feeling that many underdogs will show us great football unlike previous tournaments.
Well, in the last WC held in Asia there were two big surprise Asian nations - Korea and Turkey. Overall, 4 of the 8 quarterfinalists were quite surprising.
That, and Russia 2018 was arguably the AFC's best-ever overall performance, with 4 of their 5 representatives winning at least one game.
I think Russia was Asia's best effort as its the first time they have had 5 qualify, 4 of the 5 won games as you have mentioned, none went home without at least a point and only one blowout which was in the opening game (and that team came back with two stronger performances including a win). In 2002 the host teams went well but the other two not so much.
S.Korea's games were dodgy enough in the WC they hosted. No need to push it and add Turkey, who go through European qualifying. Turkey rarely qualify for the WC (from UEFA). If they became an AFC member they'd stand a better chance. Especially once the WC expands they'd easily qualify (if they switched to AFC, no huge changes for UEFA).
The Financial Times has a piece on this. Seems to be outside the firewall: https://www.ft.com/content/9f85d444-6b9d-11e9-80c7-60ee53e6681d FIFA is an ethics free zone.
So I guess officially the 2nd World Cup Stadium is completed and ready.... Al-Wakra Stadium will be inaugurated by hosting the Emir Cup Final on May 16th and once again could feature Xavi's Al Sadd. One of my big fears was that the stadiums would not be ready on time, but it looks like they will be at this rate. Got my ticket so will post more after the match. https://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/a...be-inaugurated-for-2019-Amir-Cup-Final-in-May
Well, yeah, once they abandoned the cooling technology that they promised in their bid EDIT: I stand corrected - it looks like this stadium will have AC after all. SEGUNDO... ESTADIO LISTO...!#Qatar anuncia que el Al Wakrah Stadium ha sido terminado.El Al Wakrah Stadium utilizará la nueva y revolucionaria tecnología de aire acondicionado para reducir las temperaturas a alrededor de 72 ° F para los fanáticos y los jugadores. #WC2022 pic.twitter.com/P3WEcBz4W7— Elmer Polanco (@PolancoESA) May 2, 2019
Help! https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/qatar2022/preliminaries/#europe This page - if you add up all of the entries for each continent - says that 213 countries will try to qualify for Qatar 2022, despite their being only 211 members of FIFA! It also says 50 countries will compete from Europe, 5 less than last time.
You solved the case. They are moving the World Cup to the UK with 5 automatic bids! (Even though Ireland is not UK they will throw them a Group.)
I think the cooling of the stadiums is doable, they already do this for several smaller stadiums, and can do it for the bigger ones too... That's not really the problem.... it's everything outside the stadium that will be the problem... I guess first there's the training facilities... but just outdoor life in general, you can't cool the entire country. It is boiling hot right now and we've just entered May. It would be absolutely unbearable even with the stadiums cooled in June / July. It gets to over 50 degrees celsius on some days, it would not be safe for the general public.
Those entries are clearly off...for starters, Concacaf doesn't even have 42 members, much less 42 FIFA-affiliated ones. ...unless FIFA peered into a cristal ball, and in a couple months Saint-Barthélémy gets Concacaf membership and all the DOM-TOM sides get fast-tracked FIFA registration (with permission from the French and Dutch FAs)
Why would FIFA's own entry list be off? Does FIFA still publish a list of entrants? I remember printed ones up until 1998.
True, but that is one edition among many that followed the traditional UEFA-domination, with some noteable CONMEBOL exceptions.